Loud House: Infection of the Dead
by MrPotassiumK
Summary: Zombie Apocalypse: A plague has run rampant around the globe, infecting people and turning them into "roamers." In the wake of the apocalypse, the Louds must go through great lengths to ensure their survival, even if it may mean losing their humanity in the process. Who will survive in the end? (Not a crossover, just largely inspired by The Walking Dead)
1. The Fall of Michigan

_**Hey** **guys! This is the first ever fanfiction that I am currently working on! As you guys can see, this is largely inspired by AMC's The Walking Dead. Now, before I started this story, I thought about making this a long series. After finishing this chapter, I kept that thought, and I am excited to keep this going as long as I can, because frankly, I have many ideas that I want to use for this story. Although this story is inspired by The Walking Dead, I will not take a lot of materials from it. In fact, I want to take a more original approach to the zombie apocalypse story. However, that doesn't mean that there won't be similarities here and there! Sometimes, I love placing references, not only to the show, but other pieces of media (such as The Last of Us)! Ideas and opinions are always appreciated. Each chapter is not going to be short, so sit back and relax, because this is going to be a very long series. Enjoy!**_

 _ **(Updated as of 7/18/19)**_

 ***DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE LOUD HOUSE. THE LOUD HOUSE BELONGS TO NICKELODEON.***

* * *

Lori opened her blue eyes, constricting her pupils as she looked at the cloudy skies. She placed her right palm on her right temple and wiped the blood away from her face, catching her breath as she stood up, dusting her shorts before picking up her revolver and hatchet from the ground.

The house was guarded by a spiked barricade like many of the neighboring houses were as well. The homemade tunnel between Lori's house and the house next door were riddled with bullets and burn marks. The battered and burned flag remained waving in the air as the smell of gunpowder and smoke littered the air while gunshots roared in the distance.

Lori limped toward the house. She lifted her foot above a corpse, then her other foot over the puddle of blood beneath it. She walked on the stairs, holding on to the rough wooden rails while she groaned.

She slid the steel door open and entered her home. The sunlight passed through the windows, revealing someone in the couch. Lori raised her revolver slowly.

"How'd you get in here?"

No response. Lori walked closer to the unknown intruder, when suddenly, it turned around. Lori placed her revolver back into her holster.

The intruder growled at her, exposing its missing upper-right limb. Lori glared at its eyes and lifted her hatchet. She swung it at the living corpse and splattered its brains into the couch.

Lori moved the corpse aside and sat in her seat at the couch. She exhaled and looked at the living room TV. She grabbed the remote and attempted to turn the TV on. The shattered screen, however, remained off, only reflecting a desperate woman in the couch and the dead body next to her.

Another dead body roamed near the house, limping on the ramp that led to the porch in front of the house. It created a shadow as it stood in front of the window.

Lori continued to stare at the TV. She saw the reflection on the screen. A tear formed in her left eye. The roamer in the reflection walked alongside the window, eventually making it to the door while Lori's eye shed a tear, sorrowful enough to hold the memories of the tragic years in her past.

 **Chapter 1: The Fall of Michigan**

 **I - The Day Royal Woods Fell**

 _Tension around the world was at an all-time high. With the growing threat of nuclear and chemical warfare, it seemed that the extinction of humanity was near. But all it took was one infection and all hell broke loose: The Apocalypse. Doomsday. End Times. It was the day the dead roamed the entire world. The global population dropped rapidly as the infection spread around the world. The infection slowly made its way in the northern parts of the Western Hemisphere. After the infection reached the tame towns of Michigan to the icy and chilly areas in northern Canada, the infection has touched the entire globe._

A finger continued to press the keys on a typewriter.

 _Every day, a number of survivors suffer a gruesome fate at the hand of the dead ones or through the hands of the living. And only a handful of us survived. The next generation and the future ones to come will wonder how we felt about the whole experience. From beginning to now, this is our story._

-Day 1-

Distractions are what let people's guards down. Unprepared. Vulnerable. A warm and bright June morning in Royal Woods served as a great distraction for the civilians who fell for the illusion that nothing terrible would come. And these civilians included the Loud family.

It was the middle of the week. The Louds were at school, with the exception of Lily and Lynn, who did not skip school, but rather, was fighting an illness.

"Ugh, so weird. I haven't been sick since last year, with that flu going rampant in the house! Why now?" said Lynn with a stuffy nose, as she lied down on the couch. "There better be something good to watch right now."

She untied her dark brown ponytail and let it fall loose into the couch as she grabbed the remote. Just seconds after switching the channel, the screen went from showing highlights of a college football game at the University of Michigan to a breaking news segment.

" _We are recording the following footage from our Channel 4 helicopter. What you're witnessing now is an aerial view of the city of Flint as the necrosis influenza outbreak begins to infect its residents, prompting the local police to respond as well as FEMA. They are met with protest by some of the residents as the scene begins to unfold in violence. A warning to our viewers, some of the events you may witness could be extremely graphic._ "

Lynn coughed into her sleeve before turning her eyes back onto the TV screen.

" _This is Katherine Mulligan reporting at you live at Flint, Michigan at Route 475._ "

"Ugh, I hate this bitch."

" _As you can see, there are FEMA workers entering the school ahead of us where a presumed attack from people coming back to life has occurred, and they are attempting to quarantine the place. Riot police continue to stand outside as protestors confront them, demanding that the government solve this crisis without violence. It's important to note that the necrosis influenza has resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties around the world._ "

"Woah! Sucks to be them."

" _There appears to be a couple more protestors joining–_ "

A scream was heard through the television followed by a gunshot.

" _Oh my God! One of the protestors are showing violent symptoms and is unresponsive to gunshots! Oh my... that man is definitely dead. Both of them actually. But one of them is eating people!_ "

More gunshots popped.

" _Oh my God! Oh my God! There are more of them! A whole swarm of them! I have to–!_ "

The feed cut back to the helicopter as the aerial view showed dozens of the infected surrounding the police and the protestors. Lynn held on to her box of tissues as she tried closing her jaws.

"Jesus..."

* * *

The American flag waved in front of the Royal Woods Elementary School as the streets remained empty of traffic. Inside the school, some of the hallways and clasrooms were vacant as there was a scramble among the faculty members to find substitute teachers.

"I think you can convince your parents to buy us tickets to Comic-Con this year," said Lincoln. And if you convince my parents, then we'll both be able to go!"

"Why me?" asked Clyde.

"My parents always say 'yes' to you. You'll see. And you know what else you'll see? The trailer for the new Ace Savvy movie coming out! Ah, so excited!"

Lincoln and Clyde looked around the hallways as they walked to their lockers. The lack of students killed their excitement.

"Hey, Clyde, don't you think it's strange how so many of our classmates are absent?"

"Yeah! And now that I think about it, some of our teachers didn't come to work today!"

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. Let's ask Girl Jordan over here."

Lincoln and Clyde approached their female classmate and friend, who stood by her own lockers.

"Hey, Girl Jordan," said Lincoln.

"No need for that extra name," she said. "Boy Jordan hasn't been here in days. No one's seen him or heard from him. So, I guess I'm the only Jordan in the school now."

"Yeah, we were about to ask you about that. Do you know anything about what might've happened to all the kids who aren't here? Is there like a cut day or a party or something?"

"There are cut days?" gasped Clyde.

"Yes, but it's not today. You know about that outbreak going around?"

Lincoln and Clyde nodded.

"There's rumors going around that it got through our border security and is spreading around Michigan. Mayor wants to act like nothing's happening. My parents are acting like there's nothing to worry about. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't even be here. Infection of the dead's here, guys."

"Why do they call it that?" asked Clyde.

"'Cause it makes the dead come back to life. I don't know if fighting zombies are like a fantasy for you guys but I won't be having fun. As soon as I get home, I'm putting barbed wire around it. And... I hate barbed wire."

Girl Jordan closed her lockers and waved goodbye at the boys. Lincoln and Clyde looked at each other, their heart rates rising, their palms sweating, they pupils contracting.

"Zombies?" they both whispered.

* * *

In the Royal Woods High School, most of the students and teachers were absent as well, causing the students in the school to wander the halls, looking for their friends to hang out with. Leni walked around the halls, looking for her older sister. Her worried eyes looked at the posters in the walls promoting the prom dance approaching soon. She then looked at the other side of the wall and saw papers taped on it showing the schedule of the finals coming next week. She looked back ahead and saw pictures being taken of the seniors by the school photographers. Her eyes smiled.

Lori held her purse on one arm and stood by Whitney's locker, unaware that Leni was walking towards her. Though the day was nothing out of the ordinary– yet– her blonde hair was wavy down to her jaws, shiny and golden as if she were ready for a classy party. Though she wore no lipstick, her black eyeliner streaked perfectly under her blue eyeshadow, matching the color of her tank top, her flats, and her eyes.

"And so I chose to go to a college in New York, so I could be my boyfriend! But… I still feel like I should've gone with Becky to the field trip…"

Leni passed Lori before turning around, nudging her sister's back.

"Psst. Lori. Do you remember where the bathroom is?" she whispered, interrupting Lori's conversation with her friends.

"Come with me," sighed Lori, walking away from Whitney's locker.

Lori and Leni walked inside the girl's restroom, finding all the stalls empty. The walls on the stalls had posters advertising the sale of yearbooks. Leni walked inside a stall and closed it as Lori stood by a sink, staring into the mirror.

"Your makeup looks great today!" said Leni through the stall.

"What makeup? I mean, besides my eyeliner, eyeshadow, highlights, a little blush, and lip gloss. Eh, maybe I do have a bit of makeup. But yeah, I look pretty, don't I? If I could look this pretty during prom night, then I could beat that rat, Carol Pingrey, and literally become prom queen!

Splashing noises inside the stall continued to fill the silence of the restroom.

"You sure will!" said Leni. "I wish I knew how to use makeup like you!"

"Like you need any," said Lori. "You already look beautiful. Literally too beautiful for makeup."

"Awe, thanks, Lori."

Leni came out of the stalls, her arms open for a hug.

"Maybe wash your hands first?" said Lori.

Both girls came out of the restroom, ready to skip yet another class without a teacher. Lori stretched her arms and smiled. She really couldn't wait to graduate and go to college.

"I'm going to miss you, you know," said Leni. "I can't believe you're going to move in a few months."

"At least you're going to have our room all to yourself. You'd be the first girl in our family to have a room all to their–"

Suddenly, from across the hallway to their right, they heard a bloodcurdling scream. Both girls looked at the end of the hall, where other students ran away from, screaming and yelling and shouting and crying. The students moved and pushed Lori and Leni away as they continued to run away. Lori looked at the group of students before looking back at the end of the hall, taking a step closer. And closer.

"Lori, what are you–?"

"Just stay there!" said Lori.

Lori took one more step closer. Then, a classmate leaped from another hallway into the lockers, placing his face against them while huffing and groaning as he tried to catch his breath. His eyes opened widely as he moved his face away from the lockers, turning toward Lori and Leni, revealing an oval-shaped wound with puncture marks on the edges.

"Louds... help me. Help me!"

Then, their English teacher pounced on the student against the lockers. He had pale skin, blood on his fingers, blood on his mouth, blood on his shirt collar, disheveled hair, and golden eyes. And he bit into the back of the student's neck, causing blood squirt out.

Lori and Leni both screamed in horror as the student screamed in pain. The teacher grabbed the student's arms and pulled him away from the lockers, causing the sisters to observe the student's anguished face.

"Run, Leni! RUN!" yelled Lori.

Lori and Leni ran away from the hall, moving towards the stairwell at the opposite end of the hall. Lori grabbed Leni's hand and opened the doors to the stairwell, taking a glance back. The student begged her to help.

"Don't go! Please! Don't leave me, Lori!"

Lori looked away and closed the door before running down the stairs with Leni, who closed her ears with her hands. Lori looked at her and felt more anxious to get her sister out of the building.

They arrived at the ground floor where she found crowds of students flooding out of the building as the security guards tried to deescalate the panic. As a hand tapped Lori's shoulder, she yelped and flinched before turning around. It was a frightened Luan.

"Oh, thank goodness," sighed Lori. "Are you okay? Did anything happen to you?"

"Yes, I'm okay!" exclaimed Luan. "Nothing happened to me– it was my classmates! Some of them were biting each other, eating each other like a bunch of cannibals!"

"Just like in that video that's been going around... why the hell did the news literally not say anything about it coming to Michigan?"

"I don't know but we have to get outta here! Where's Luna?"

* * *

"Ahh damn it!" grumbled the bus driver. "Busted wheel. Hold on, people, looks like we got ourselves a flat tire! For the second damn time today…"

Luna connected her headphones to her phone and played a song from Mick Swagger as she looked out the city bus.

"Dammit, why did I have to wake up late today?" whispered Luna. "Stupid alarm. Well, screw it. Just go with the flow. No need to stress about timin'. Like Mick Swagger himself said. Or something like that."

Her eyes grew worried again as she turned on her phone. She opened up her contacts and found her crush's name. She gulped as she opened up her messages with Sam. Her fingers hovered above the digital keyboard, though she didn't have it in her to text her.

"What if I just make it more awkward with her?" Luna thought to herself. "Maybe we'll talk about the whole love letter thing when she comes back from her Toronto trip."

Suddenly, a scream coming from the front of the bus caught Luna's attention as she flinched. She stood up while taking out her headphones, looking at the front window. Then, the bus driver was slammed against the window, screaming for help.

The passengers on the bus screamed and hopped off the back exit when a pale and bloody walking corpse entered the bus. Luna felt her heart skip a beat as the growls from the corpse sent chills up her spine. She hopped off the exit and looked around frantically. She quickly jogged away from the exit and along the bus, looking up and through the window, watching the corpse staring at her with its golden eyes.

"What the hell is that?" whimpered Luna.

She jogged to the front of the bus and saw the driver with a massive gash where his eyes and nose are supposed to be at. The driver still moved his arms as if he was struggling to ask for help.

Goosebumps. Luna felt goosebumps across her arms. She was speechless. Her eyes were fixated on his face. And her eyes began to bubble up as she felt a shortness of breath.

The growl from the walking corpse snapped her out of her stupor. She quickly looked around and ran towards the toolbox. She opened it and grabbed a black crowbar, longer than her arm. After grabbing her crowbar, she quickly ran in the direction of her house, everything around her becoming blurry.

* * *

After getting through the large group of students in the front door, Lori, Leni, and Luan went inside Vanzilla. Lori started the van and drove quickly away from her high school and headed to Royal Woods Elementary School. Luckily for her, the school was only a couple minutes away.

"What do you mean he's not picking up?" exclaimed Lori.

"He's not tapping the answer button on his phone– that's what I mean by he's not picking up!" yelled Luan.

"Call someone else! Lisa, maybe! Call her! Call Lisa!"

"Stop barking orders at me! I already tried calling her!"

"And?"

"She told me to not interrupt her education!"

"Guys, calm down..." said Leni.

The van pulled up in front of the school, finding a lack of parked cars. The three sisters quickly left the van and ran inside the school, preparing to warn the security guards. But there were no security guards.

The sisters quickly ran across the hallway. They split up, each looking for a different sibling. Lori ran inside Mrs. Johnson's room.

"Everyone, you have to leave! Now! Lincoln and Clyde, come with me!"

Lincoln, Clyde, Girl Jordan, and Penelope looked at Lori. The other seats were empty.

"L-L-L-Lori?" stuttered Clyde until he bled from his nose and fell unconscious.

"Why? What happened?" Lincoln nervously asked. "Lori, you're scaring me."

He's never seen Lori so distressed before.

"Lori Loud!" gasped Mrs. Johnson. "Long time no see! What are you doing barging in my classroom like this?"

"The stories are true. There are people eating other people like zombies! Yes, I'm being serious! All of you need to leave! I know it's hard to believe but–"

"I believe it," said Mrs. Johnson as she packed up her stuff into her purse. "I'm getting the hell outta here. Thank you. Nice to see you again, Lori. Class dismissed!"

"Does this mean no homework?" asked Penelope.

"Time to barricade my house," said Girl Jordan before running out of the class.

"What?" gasped Lincoln.

"Lincoln, Just look for Lola, Lana, Lucy, and Lisa!" Lori demanded as she grabbed and picked up Clyde.

Leni ran across the hallways with the kindergarten classes.

"Monsters outside! Monsters!"

The kids ran as Lisa slowly came out.

"Second eldest sibling. Where are the others?" asked Lisa.

Leni put no thought into the fact that Lisa believed her, and just dragged Lisa outside to Vanzilla.

"Looks like the necrosis influenza virus finally reached the township of Royal Woods," said Lisa. "Not ideal."

Meanwhile, Luan found Lola and Lana in the hallways after Leni's warnings created panic throughout the whole school.

"Thank goodness, you guys are safe. We gotta leave. Now!" said Luan without cracking a single joke.

Lola and Lana noticed this, and listened to her. They ran outside and found Leni and Lisa inside Vanzilla.

Lori and Lincoln were now looking for Lucy, whose black hair and pale skin should be very distinguishing from any of the kids in the school. However, she just couldn't be found.

* * *

Running was painful. Flashbacks were gruesome. After what seemed to be hours and hours, Luna finally stopped running. She stopped outside of her house and vomited in the yard. She just couldn't believe that a human sank his teeth into the bus driver's face and tore it apart. Except, it wasn't human. It appeared too dead to be a human.

Realizing that she left her keys in her backpack, she knocked on the door loudly.

"Luna? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be at sch–" said Lynn before she got interrupted by Luna.

"Lynn! The most fucked up thing just happened! A dead man just ate my bus driver's face off and I had to fucking book it! I know, I know, it sounds like bullshit! But you shoulda' seen his face! It was–"

Luna was getting ready to throw up again.

The emergency broadcast system blared in the TV, interrupting the breaking news that had interrupted the sports channel. Each alarm caused their hairs to raise as both girls stared at the TV.

"THIS FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE DETROIT POLICE DEPARTMENT. CIVIL AUTHORITIES HAVE ISSUED A WARNING FOR ALL COUNTIES IN MICHIGAN. AT 7:50 A.M., WAYNE COUNTY HAVE ISSUED A REPORT OF AN OUTBREAK OF THE HIGHLY CONTAGIOUS NECROSIS INFLUENZA VIRUS. THE REPORT CLAIMS THAT SYMPTOMS OF THE AFFECTED INCLUDE NASEUA, FEVER, BLOOD LOSS, LOSS OF CONSCIOUSNESS, AND DEATH. THE REPORT ALSO CLAIMS THAT THE AFFECTED WILL ACT IN AGGRESSIVE AND DANGEROUS BEHAVIOR. CIVILIANS ARE ADVISED TO STAY IN THEIR HOMES OR SEEK A NEARBY SAFE-ZONE AND TO AVOID ANY INTERACTIONS WITH THE AFFECTED UNTIL THE SITUATION IS DEALT WITH. STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER DETAIL AS THEY FOLLOW."

Luna and Lynn held each other's hands, not caring how gross they each felt. They found comfort with each other.

* * *

Panic continued to ensue in the elementary school. After the emergency alert broadcast, teachers and faculty members were convinced that they weren't safe. Students ran across the hallways. Some tried calling their parents or older siblings. Some tried looking for their friends or relatives.

The Louds grew more desperate as they were unable to find Lucy among the chaos. Lori tried stopping one of the students to ask where Lucy was, but they all kept running away.

"Lincoln!" yelled a female voice.

Lincoln turned around and smiled widely.

"Ronnie Anne! And Lucy! Thank goodness!"

Lincoln wrapped his arms around Ronnie Anne and Lucy.

"Nice to see you too, Lame-O."

"You must have been so scared for me, Lincoln," said Lucy.

Lori turned around and felt ecstatic as she gasped.

"Boo-Boo Bear! You're here!"

She ran up to Bobby, who walked next to his sister and hugged him. She quickly kissed him on the lips.

"Bobby, how– what are you doing in Royal Woods?" asked Lori softly.

Bobby prepared to answer before being interrupted by Ronnie Anne.

"We need to leave! NOW!" yelled Ronnie Anne, pointing at the windows.

The Louds and Santiagos looked outside of the windows and saw groups of roaming corpses in the far distance. Lori picked up Clyde and ran toward the closest exit. Bobby, Ronnie Anne, Leni, Luan, Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa followed. They all dashed out of the school and into Vanzilla, jumping into their respective seats with Bobby sitting in the passenger seat and Ronnie Anne and an unconscious Clyde sitting next to Lincoln.

Lori set the gear stick out of parking and pressed her foot on the gas pedal. She tried to figure out where to go. Her parent's workplaces were not an option as they were at Lily's future daycare center. Going back to the high school for Luna wouldn't have been wise either. Luan tried calling her, but no one picked up. Lori sighed.

The van headed home.

"Yeah, he's going to be in our house," said Lincoln into his phone. "Great. See you in a few."

Lincoln put away his phone and looked at Lori.

"Clyde's dads are coming to our house."

"And Mom and Dad?"

"They're not picking up."

After a more than a couple minutes, Vanzilla parked in the garage of the Loud residence. At the same time, another car came, parking in front of the house. The McBrides, along with Lynn Sr., Rita, and Lily came out of the car. Lily giggled as she felt the breeze of the air rub against her face as Rita carried her.

"Here you go, Mr. McBride," said Lori, handing Clyde to one of his dads. "He saw me and fell unconscious. I'm sorry about that."

"No worries, Lori," said Howard. "We know about his infatuation with you. Just go home and relax."

"I'm glad you kids are safe," said Lynn Sr. "Now, what is this I hear about a virus going around? What's going on?"

"Calm down," said Rita. "Let's just go inside and barricade our home. Sorry, guys, but we're going to have to stay here for a while until they tell us its safe to go out."

Rita opened the door and found Lynn and Luna inside. Both Lynn and Luna sighed in relief along with the rest of the family. Luna was safe.

"Home sweet home," sighed Lincoln. "So Ronnie Anne, I've been wondering. What are you doing here? Not that I don't want you to be here, but why did you come back?"

"Is that really your primary concern now, Lincoln?"

"Well, we are safe."

"Okay. Bobby and I decided to visit you guys after our mom gave us plane tickets, which was weird 'cause we coulda' just drove here. So we came here yesterday 'cause only the international flights were canceled, so domestic flights were okay! However, the guards kept us waiting in the airport for some reason, and it took us a day to finally leave. After that, Bobby and I headed to a hotel, when we saw what was on the news. We immediately took a taxi and we were about to head to your house, but of course, I completely forgot that you guys still had school, so we took a taxi to your school. Bobby wanted to go to Lori's school, but he wanted to stay with me until I finally made sure you guys were safe. But now…"

Ronnie Anne's voice starts breaking.

"Now I'm scared for my family. What if the… infection… already got to them? You see what the infection is doing to those people out there?"

"They're turning into... zombies," said Lincoln.

The families were all left in shock as they came to the realization that the infected were dead people bitten by other dead people. That's what they were. Zombies.

"What if they couldn't escape the massive horde of zombies that are probably taking over my city?" whimpered Ronnie Anne. "What if they are de–?"

"Ronnie, I wouldn't worry about that. They are probably on their way here, to make sure you guys are safe," interrupted Lincoln.

"Thanks, Lame-O, but I'm still worried about them."

"It's okay, Nini, Lincoln is right. Abuela said that if anything were to happen, she and the others would come here," said Bobby rubbing her sister's head.

Ronnie Anne felt relaxed now.

"Kids! I can't imagine what you guys went through out there…!" Rita started sobbing.

"Mom. Mom, it's okay," whispered Lori. "We're all safe. That is what matters the most. As long as we all stick together, we'll be safe."

"You're right, honey," said Rita, wiping her tears. "You're right."

"Let just stay together and pay attention to the TV. They might tell us how to stay safe from these zombies."

* * *

They stayed inside all day to night time, keeping the TV on, where a reporter reported the news from Detroit. Lori went to turn off all the lights and Bobby followed her with a lit candle on his hands. Rita and Lynn Sr. went to grab all the blankets and turn on the fans. Lucy looked outside at all the corpses wandering in the streets.

"Sigh," she said to herself.

Leni watched Lily sleep. Lynn was fast asleep in her bed. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne slept on the couch. Luan was trying her hardest to tell jokes to Luna but she seems to have lost her sense of humor. Luna just looked at the ceiling on her bed, wide awake, thinking about the bus driver. Lisa read her biology books and studied the zombies' movements outside. Howard and Harold slept in Rita and Lynn Sr.'s room along with Clyde. Lana was in the basement looking for tools and weapons to help fight off the zombies. Lola awaited Lana by the door, looking very frightened.

"Lana, please hurry up. I wanna go to sleep," whispered Lola loudly.

"In a second, Lola," whispered back Lana. "I'm just grabbing my tools and some stuff we can use to fight off the zombies! It would be so cool if we can smash some zombie brains!"

"Eww, Lana, gross! Just get your butt up here already!"

Lana went up the basement stairs and walked with Lola, upstairs to their room. It started raining outside. The Louds, McBrides, and the Santiagos were finally asleep.

The schools were overrun by the zombies who were once students and teachers who failed to escape the school on time. The streets, however, were not completely overrun by zombies yet.

Outside, riot police forces were deployed across town. They struggled to distinguish the newly-turned zombies from the living in the darkness. People threw up in the streets before falling unconscious, before succumbing to the necrosis flu. The infection spread in every house of the town, killing some people, or rather the part that made them people. Phone lines were shut down as many utility poles collapsed in the chaos of the dawn of the infection. Vehicles were abandoned on the roads. Stores were looted, and people started forming protests against the police for killing the "people". Other people who were prepared for an incoming apocalypse grabbed their guns and boarded up their windows. Helicopters were flying above the towns, shining a light at groups of zombies to guide the police in their futile manhunt. And then there were people who hid in the safety of their homes. Like the Louds.

-Day 2-

The morning was partially foggy as the second day of the global apocalypse approached. The police were outside, telling civilians to evacuate to the safe shelters in Detroit. However, there were many people protesting against them, asking them why they still haven't done anything about the schools. There were also people moving the corpses away from the streets and tossing them into a fire. For many hours, it seemed stable though tense in the town.

With supplies already running low in the house, Lori and Bobby offered to run to the nearest supermarket and grab whatever they could find. Many stores and markets were abandoned by their owners since their stores were looted, but the couple still wanted to give it a chance. They grabbed their backpacks and drove Vanzilla to the supermarket.

The shelves rattled as Lori rummaged through empty cans and packages.

"Hmm, do we really want canned tuna?," asked Lori.

"Babe, we need as much as food as we can get. So, yes, we do want the canned tuna," responded Bobby.

"Ugh. This world sucks already. This is about to be the worst week ever."

"It won't be so bad. It's just survivin' a little bit and that's it. Things should eventually go back to normal, right?"

Lori shook her head.

"Who am I kidding?" said Bobby. "It's zombies! World's never going to be the same. We'll never be the same. We could die any day now!"

"Boo-Boo Bear! Don't think like that! I depend on you for hope. As long as we're together, then we won't change. I need to believe that!"

Bobby sighed and took a deep breath.

"All I need is you," said Bobby. "My world's fine with you. I'll cherish every moment we have together, even in the worst of times."

Lori blushed.

"I love you, you know that, right? How did I end up with someone as handsome and caring as you?"

Bobby chuckled softly as Lori grabbed his shirt, kissing him. She released her lips against his as she looked up at him with half-closed eyes.

"You know, if any day could be our last... might as well enjoy every second of our life, right?"

Bobby nodded his head as Lori kissed him again, both lovebirds dropping to the ground slowly.

"Babe, what if someone walks in?" whispered Bobby.

"I locked the doors," said Lori, now sitting on Bobby's lap. "We have this moment to ourselves. And just in case you feel a bit unprotected... I got some pills on my bag. Sp just... relax."

She bit her lips softly as she removed his boyfriend's shirt while softly grinding against him. She then slowly removed her own shirt and bra while Bobby couldn't hold his smile. He then placed his fingers on his girlfriend's head and caressed her. Lori giggled before leaning toward his face, kissing him as they moaned softly.

Dusk started to settle in, and Lori and Bobby were ready to go home with backpacks full of food. Lori leaned her head at Bobby's shoulders, smiling widely as they held each other's hand. They glanced at each other, giggling.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" giggled Lori.

"You make me happy, that's all."

Suddenly, loud bang noises were fired outside. Lori and Bobby stopped smiling and looked outside, slowly opening the curtains. The riot police were opening fire on the protesters. And then the couple watched as the protestors fired back. One of the bullets flew through the window, hitting a shelf a couple aisles away from the couple.

"Babe, let's go!" exclaimed Bobby.

Lori and Bobby unlocked the entrance door and quickly ran towards Vanzilla. More gunshots popped from the rioters, who were now throwing Molotovs at the riot police and nearby buildings.

As Lori headed home, she and Bobby observed the fires spreading through the houses. A couple bodies lied near one of the burning homes. The couple watched in sorrow as a couple rioters jumped over the bodies, waving posters and yelling freely. Then, one of the bodies slowly rose from the ground.

"Oh god, that's a–" gasped Lori.

"Yup. Just focus on the road, babe."

As the town fell into deep turmoil, the couple arrived home and went inside the house.

"It's not safe out there!" exclaimed Lori.

"There were people shooting, firing their guns everywhere!" exclaimed Bobby.

A helicopter was recording what was happening in Royal Woods and it showed the dead protesters and police officers coming back to life. The families were astounded by what they were seeing on television.

"How did that even happen? They weren't even bit or dead from the infection," asked Lori as she watched the zombies wander in the live footage.

Rita looked at Lynn Jr. very worriedly. Bobby and Lori held each other as they continued to watch the news.

The zombies started attacking people, and one zombie pressed his jaws against a guy's arm and ripped it off before the recording was cut by the news station.

"Alright kids," said Lynn Sr. "Go up to your room. Lynn Jr., stay here on the couch, your mother and I will find some medicine for you."

Lynn sighed as her parents walked into the kitchen. She then leaped out of the couch and behind a wall to eavesdrop on her parents.

"What if she's infected with that zombie virus?" whispered Lynn Sr.

"We'll have to ask Lisa to run her tests or something," said Rita.

"And if she has the virus?"

"I don't know, honey. I really don't know. Please, don't think about that. She's strong. She can fight off the infection."

Lynn ran away from the wall and leaped back into her couch. She coughed and groaned as yellow fluids stained her sleeves.

She became anxious and frightened. A footstep behind her caused her to gasp and flinch back as she was ready to karate chop her unsuspecting victim.

"Woah, it's just me," said Clyde.

Lynn sighed again. He noticed that Lynn was shaking and nervously rubbing her hands.

"What's the problem, Lynn?"

"Nothing. I'm fine. Go to sleep," responded Lynn with a nervous voice.

"I can see that you're not fine. Why don't you tell me what's going on? Maybe I can help you."

"I told you, nothing happened. I'm fine. Please leave me alone."

"Lynn… you're tearing up."

Lynn didn't seem to notice, but now that she realized her tears were running down her cheeks, she felt embarrassed.

"Clyde, go away! Can't you see that I'm going to die and turn into a freakin' zombie and eat you alive?!"

"Lynn, what are you talking about? A simple stuffy nose and a cough and a fever won't kill you. Besides, you're already getting better."

Lynn seemed to relax, and nodded at Clyde.

"Can you watch me– just until I fall asleep?"

"Of course I can. Close your eyes and relax."

"Good. If I turn, I want you to whack me to death."

"Lynn..."

"Kidding. Night."

"Night."

The streets were on fire, and the bodies of many people were on the ground. The zombies started taking over Royal Woods. Gunshots can be heard throughout the night, attracting zombies. Once again, it rained.

-Day 3-

Zombies roamed around certain areas out in the street, and the fog got stronger. The fires went out, and the electricity seemed to go out, as flicking the light switch did nothing to turn the lights on. Lucy peeked outside.

"There are many of our undead friends in the streets. We can't stay here or else they will trap us in our own home until we starve. And we can't just leave the house because the zombies will go after us and start chomping us," said Lucy.

"We have to seek safe shelter in Detroit. Staying here is just asking to die," said Lincoln.

"Yeah!" agreed Ronnie Anne. "Plus, my family are probably on their way to Detroit if they think we're there in the safe shelters."

"She's right," said Lana, holding a shovel while bringing a bag downstairs. "I know that you're all worried about being attacked outside, but guess what! Mama Lana brought some tools and weapons that we can all use."

She dropped the bag, and opened it to reveal the many objects they can use to impale, cut, or smash zombie brains with.

"Lana, where did you find these things?" asked Rita.

"In the basement. Now everyone, grab your weapons!"

Lucy quickly grabbed the shiny black shovel with a sharp tip. Bobby grabbed a red axe with the silver blade. Lincoln grabbed a yellow and black sledgehammer. Clyde moved to grab a weapon, but his dads held him back. Harold grabbed a hammer and handed another one to Howard. Lana grabbed the heavy wrench which she always had on her anyways. Lynn Sr. grabbed the ice pick. Luan grabbed a pry bar. Ronnie Anne grabbed a small pickaxe. Lola, Lisa, and Leni refused to grab a weapon. Lori went to her room to grab her golf clubs. She returned with a couple golf clubs and handed one to Rita and Clyde. Clyde didn't even seem to notice Lori's presence due to his immense fright of everything going around him. His fear overpowered his love. Lynn went to her room and grabbed a baseball bat. Luna just kept the crowbar that she got from the bus driver's toolbox. Leni grabbed Lily since Rita had to carry her golf club.

"Looks like we're going to Detroit, kids," said Rita.

"What about Charles, Geo, Cliff, and Walt? We're just going to leave them here?" asked Lana.

"We're going to free Walt and Cliff, since they can live on their own. We're giving Geo and Charles to Mr. Grouse," said Lynn Sr.

"What about my pets?" asked Lana.

"They can live on their own too. Lucy and Luan, you guys have to release Fangs and Gary. I'm sorry but we can't stay here longer, and they can't come with us."

They understood and they proceeded to release their pets. Now they had to face a challenge. They had to clear the street in front of the house so Lynn Sr. can drive them all of them safely to Detroit.

"Okay, kids, everyone stay inside the car and cover your eyes. Howard, Harold, your mom, and I got this," said Lynn Sr. frighteningly.

They all raced to Vanzilla, and now Lori was the boss. Lynn Sr. quickly ran to Mr. Grouse's house and let Geo and Charles get inside. Lori looked at the approaching zombies.

"Guys, there is no way we are all going to stay here. Some of us are going to help," said Lori with a stern voice.

She looked around to see who was fully prepared and able to help her and the adults.

"Luna! Lynn! Lincoln! Lucy! And of course, you too, Boo-Boo Bear," yelled Lori except at the last part. "Are you guys ready?"

"YEAH!" they all screamed.

"Now, let's kick some ass!" yelled Luna.

The parents struggled to kill the zombies as they were only beating up their bodies and pushing them away.

"No, dudes, you gotta kill them like this..." said Luna.

She walked up to a zombie and swung her crowbar on one of their heads, crushing the zombie's skull and brain, squirting blood everywhere. The parents watched in shock as they saw their rockstar girl kill her first zombie.

"Remember, guys, these people are literally dead already! So do not hesitate to kill them again!" yelled Lori as she swung her golf club on two zombies, smashing their brains inside.

The adults listened, and reluctantly killed the zombies, watching Vanzilla each time blood and brain bits came off the zombies. Most of the kids closed their eyes, with the exception of Ronnie Anne and Lana. Lana thought it was very awesome that her family were slaughtering zombies. However, Ronnie Anne was watching Bobby and Lincoln with fear on her face. Bobby was swinging the axe with only the thought of protecting his sister, and his girlfriend and her family. Lincoln realized that killing zombies was not a game. He truly did have to try and hit them in the head in return for his life. Lynn was swinging her baseball bat left, right, up and down crazily, killing a decent amount of zombies. After two minutes of killing zombies in the streets, they finally made space for Vanzilla to escape to Detroit. Rita entered the house, and came out with a towel to clean all the weapons. Then, they all entered Vanzilla.

"Awesome," said Lana.

"No, not awesome. That was scary as he...ck," said Lincoln. "Lana, this is not a game. I almost peed myself!"

"Sorry. I'm just happy that you killed those monsters."

They drove away from Franklin Avenue and headed to Detroit. There were many destroyed, burnt, crushed, and abandoned cars on the road, so although they were close to the city, they had to drive very slowly around the cars. However, the fuel for he van was running out, prompting Lynn Sr. to stop by a gas station.

He stepped outside and asked Bobby to come with him. It was a bit strange as he would've normally asked his wife to accompany her.

"So, Bobby, why don't you come with me and help me grab some gasoline?" asked Lynn Sr.

"Uhh sure, why not, Mr. Loud?," said Bobby as they both headed for the pump.

Now that the kids were in Vanzilla, and they were far away enough to not be heard, Lynn Sr. put his hand on Bobby's shoulder.

"Look, Bobby. I know what I'm about to ask you is going to be a huge responsibility, but I can trust you. You and Lori both love each other so darn much, that you guys are inseparable. That's why I wanted to ask you if you can promise to take care of her for as long as you two live. Not just physically– I mean, be there for her in the worst of times to protect her mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Remind her what she's surviving for. And never, ever let her get in way over her head. Because let's be honest– she can kick ass. But she needs your protection. Either from those things out there... or from herself."

"Mr. Loud? Why ask now? I mean of course I will always be with her and take care of her, but why ask me this now?"

"Well, to be honest, I know I'm not going to survive very long in this hellish world, but I have hope for you and my beautiful daughter," said Lynn Sr. trying to hold his tears back.

"Mr. Loud… please don't say that. You gotta stay here for your daughter. You gotta fight for her as long as you live too."

"I know, I know, but just promise me that, will you?"

"I promise. I promise I will protect her and love her for as long as I live."

"Thanks, son."

Lynn Sr. and Bobby grabbed a small tank of gasoline and refilled the van with gas. They went back inside the van.

"What happens when the zombies eat me? Will I taste funny to them? Hehehe...get it?" laughed Luan nervously.

It was a truly dark time that Luan was just having trouble cracking a joke. Lynn Sr. continued to drive for half an hour, until he slowed down and joined traffic. The Louds heard the sound of a helicopter, and saw the skyline of the city.

 **II - Safeguard**

"We're here. Detroit," said Rita.

"Woah, the last standing city in Michigan…" said Lynn with a less stuffy-voice.

"I can't believe it! We're finally here!" said Howard excitingly.

He rubbed Clyde's head who looked with awe at the city. Lynn Sr. drove slowly to the main entrance, where he was stopped by an army officer. The main entrance consisted of a large road entering a makeshift toll booth, with a pole preventing the vehicles from entering.

"Sir, I need y'all in the car to step outside. And leave your weapons inside the car," said the officer sternly.

All of them came out of the car slowly.

"Damn! 18 of y'all, huh? Alright, when I approach you, state your name and age, while my buddy Sturgess and I pat you guys down."

He walked slowly to each one with a clipboard and started patting people down.

"Lynn Loud Senior! 42!"

"Rita Loud! 40!"

"Harold McBride! 43!"

"Howard McBride! 39!"

"Clyde McBride! 11!"

"Lynn Loud Junior! 13!"

"Lincoln Loud! 11!"

"Ronalda Anne Santiago! 11!"

"Roberto Santiago! 17!"

"Lori Loud! 17!"

"Luna Loud! 15!"

"Luan Loud! 14!"

"Lola Loud! 6!"

"Lana Loud! 6!"

"Lisa Loud! 4!"

"Lucy Loud. 8. Sigh."

"And you?" asked the officer.

"Oh, me? They call me Leni. Leni Loud. And this little one is my sister Lily and she's like 15 months old."

"Your age, miss?"

"Uhhh, Lori, how old am I?"

Lori smacked her own forehead.

"She's 16 years old, sir," sighed Lori.

"Where did you guys come from?" asked the officer.

"We came from Royal Woods, sir," said Lynn Sr.

"Close by, eh? Well, come on in, you can bring your van inside, but I recommend keeping these weapons inside. Don't want to scare the other survivors," said the officer as he opened up the barricade and allowed Vanzilla to enter.

Slowly, Lynn Sr. drove and parked the van in the mandatory parking zone. The kids grabbed their supplies and Lynn Sr. locked the car. A soldier, with the tag 'PVT. LUKEMAN', approached them and escorted them to a building, where they saw many other survivors. The building looked disorganized and old, but the infection was only going to be a temporary thing, they thought to themselves. Detroit never looked nice anyway, they also thought to themselves. It was a large building with many floors, and this was only Building A. There were three other tall buildings where the survivors were seeking refuge. The soldier gave them a key.

"No need to share this room. You guys are a large family," said Private Lukeman.

The family made their way up the stairs into the office in the 14th floor, which was converted to a makeshift living space.

"So, this is where we crash for now?" Luna asked.

"Yes, don't be so rude," said Lori.

"I'm not being rude. It's actually rad."

"This is going to be your room for as long as you want until we announce that you guys are safe to head back to...Royal Woods," said Private Lukeman. "For now, set up all your supplies and mattresses in this room. The cafeteria is downstairs, and the medical rooms are in Building B and Building D. You can go see any guards by the entrance door if you have any questions. Enjoy your stay."

The families began unpacking, and Lynn Sr. lied down, sighing. Lori looked out the large glass window and sighed glumly. She could see the smoke coming out of Royal Woods due to the riots and fires that broke out. She still couldn't shake the image of the protesters being shot at mercilessly.

"Well, kids," said Rita. "It looks like we can finally sit back and relax. We're going to stay here for a while, so why don't we head down to the cafeteria and explore for a little?"

They all went down the dark and creaky stairs. At least the lamps still worked, although they flickered and shone very weakly. Their feet stepping on each step sounded like soldiers marching. After a minute, they arrived on the first floor. They finally got an actual look at the cafeteria. It was afternoon time, and the kids still did not have breakfast.

"Man, am I starving! What kinda grub are they gonna serve here?" Lynn said excitedly.

"Lynn Jr.! That's impolite!" Rita scolded.

"Sorry, mom. It's just that I'm so hungry, that's all."

They all got on the line for food and looked at every person that was in the cafeteria. There were many people, but they just couldn't recognize anyone. There were probably people from Royal Woods, but they have never seen them before. Suddenly, they noticed who was serving the food.

"Sergei? What are you doing here? What happened to Aloha Comrade?" Lynn Sr. asked with curiosity.

"Oh, that. I abandoned that like three days ago and came here. Last thing I need is my ass to be eaten by these skin-eaters," said Sergei with a very strong Russian accent. "You guys are eating borscht today!"

"Hey, you know, Sergei, what if I help you guys out? I mean I can cook some mean sandwiches for these people right?" Lynn Sr. asked with a confident smile.

"Ah, sure! I was just about to ask you to help my fellow cooks and I, but I didn't want to come off rude. Come right in!" Sergei said excitedly.

Lynn Sr. grabbed an apron.

"Looks like I got myself a temporary job!" said Lynn Sr.

The families grabbed their bowl of borscht and walked around the cafeteria. They didn't see any empty tables so they just looked for an empty spot on the floor. It was indeed packed with people, some who weren't even from the United States, but from the neighboring cities of Canada. They finally found an empty spot on the floor for the families to sit at. However, Luna saw someone that caught her eyes. The same thing occurred for Luan, but with a different person.

"Sam!" Luna cried excitedly.

"Luna!?" gasped Sam. "Oh my god! I'm so glad to see you made it here safely!"

"Wait, Sam is a girl?" Lana commented.

Luan gasped and then couldn't help but smile. "Benny! You're here!"

Luna walked up to Sam and sat down with her. Luan walked towards Benny, surprised that her friend and crush survived this madness. Benny looked up to see who called him and then smiled.

"Luan! Just the perfect person I wanted to see!" Benny said with a gasp. "Dad! This is my friend Luan! This is the girl I was telling you about, you know, the one that always makes me laugh!"

Luan blushed a little.

"Yup, that's me, Luan Loud!"

She sat down next to Benny and started eating her borscht. All of a sudden, she wasn't in the nervous mood that she was earlier in Royal Woods.

"Sam, I'm so glad you made it here!" said Luna. "I'm a little confused though. I thought you went to Canada?"

"I did, but... the outbreak hit Toronto really early– like five days ago. My... family and I headed back home, but... things happened."

"Sam. Did you come alone? Where are your parents? And your little brother?" Luna asked.

She noticed that Sam's expression only grew more saddened. She rubbed her arms and grew tears in her eyes.

"Th-th-they… they're gone." answered Sam looking down. "They didn't make it."

Luna gulped as she held back tears as well.

"Sam. I'm so sorry that happened."

Luna and Sam embraced each other as Sam sniffled. She dug her face into Luna's shoulder, whimpering softly.

"Awe, look at Luna and Luan," said Lori. "Luna looks comfortable with her friend, Sam. Look at them hugging each other with tears of joy! And Luan looks so shy and cute around Benny! Reminds me of Bobby and I when we first met. Right, Boo-Boo Bear?"

"Sure does! I remember I was feeling all sorts of different feelings when I talked with Lori, and out of all those different feelings, love was one of them!" Bobby said.

"Oh, don't even get me started with Lori's father and I!" Rita jumped in.

"Ugh, no thanks. You told us already, Mom," said Lola. "We really don't need to hear it again."

"Yum," said Lynn. "This borscht ain't bad at all!"

"Agree," said Lana. "Not as good as my mud pies though."

"The food might be decent, but this place looks so worn out," said Lola. "It's like for old people, ugh. At least there's AC."

"Mom, can Ronnie Anne, Clyde, and I explore this place around for a little bit?" Lincoln asked.

"Sure thing, honey, but take Lori and Bobby with you, and come back here before evening. I'll be by the kitchen, helping your father out, and if I'm not there, then I will be in the room. Got it?"

"Got it. Lori! Bobby! Come with us! You guys must feel bored being cramped up in this crowded area," said Lincoln with a smile.

Clyde didn't even care that Lori was coming. His hopes of dating her were crushed by seeing her happy with Bobby, and it took the end of the world for him to realize this. Plus, he just realized that Lori might be too old for him.

"Sure! Let's go, Boo-Boo Bear! I wanna see if any of my friends are here," smiled Lori.

"Alright, babe. Yo, bros, where do you guys wanna go first?" Bobby asked while grabbing Lori's hand, heading for the exit.

"Clyde, your sister, and I were thinking about heading to Building B, then C, then D, then finally we come back here!"

"Hey, wait! Can I come too? I'm bored here too," begged Lynn.

"Sure, just try not to act too sporty," said Lori. "Remember, some people went through a lot. Got it, Lynn?"

"Yeah, yeah, let's go!"

Lynn ran ahead, prompting the group to jog after her. However, when they reached the exit, they were stopped by two soldiers.

"Names?" asked one of the soldiers.

"I'm Lori Loud, this is Roberto Santiago, Ronalda Anne Santiago, Lincoln Loud, Lynn Loud, and Clyde McBride."

"Aren't you guys forgetting to tell us something important?" growled a soldier.

"Uhh, permission to leave?" guessed Lincoln, swallowing really hard.

The soldiers kept their mean faces on, looked at each other, and burst into laughter.

"We're just messing with you guys. Go ahead, run around, stay safe. And remember: no going outside the gates," the soldier said.

"Haha, thank you," said Lori, wiping off the sweat from her forehead.

They left Building A and headed for Building B which was right across the street from them. They looked out for incoming army vehicles in the road and then crossed the street. The fog that lurked in the morning disappeared, and the sun was beating down on the kids. Luckily, they entered the building quite quickly and felt the cool breeze hit them. This building had a different look to it, but it was the same setup as the one in Building A. Only it looked more crowded, and the ceilings hung lower. The cafeteria, however, looked the same.

"Liam! Zach! Rusty! You even have your little bro here!" Lincoln shouted.

"Lincoln! Clyde!" Liam, Zach, and Rusty shouted in unison.

"Wait, Ronnie Anne?" gasped Rusty. "What are you doing here? I thought you moved?"

"I did, but I came here with my brother to visit Lincoln's family," answered Ronnie Anne. "And it just so happened that the apocalypse struck. Now I'm just looking for my family in any of these buildings."

"We're just looking around. Want to come with us?" Lincoln asked the guys.

"Sorry, I can't come. I gotta ask my mee-maw first, but she's talkin' with the leader of this darn big place," said Liam.

"Yeah, my mom is also talking with a general around here. Sorry, dudes," said Zach.

"It's okay, Zach. What about you, Rusty?" Clyde asked.

"Sorry, guys, I gotta take care of my brother while my dad is talking with the same general that Zach's mom is talking with," said Rusty.

"It's alright, Rusty. Who is the leader of this place anyways?" Lincoln asked when suddenly, something brought a tense atmosphere into the room.

A man wearing a uniform with green and gray camouflage and with four silver stars in his chest walked into Building B with three armed soldiers behind him. The soldiers were carrying M4A1's and had their shades on while walking in unison. The man had graying hair, which was mostly covered by a black beret, and a gray mustache, signifying that he was probably around his 50's. He was not a short man since his presence made everyone in the room seem small. He raised his right hand and caught everyone's attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I would like to have your attention. My name is General Quentin Black of the U.S. Army. As you all know, I am in charge of this place, meaning it is my responsibility to ensure the safety and comfort of you all from the infected outside. I would like to speak to more parents and adults on how things work here and how we can make this place a better place for you all. I gotta be honest with you guys. The infection doesn't look like it's going to go away fast. You might stay here for weeks, maybe even months. But that's why I want to work this out for everyone. Come visit my station at the center of all the buildings within the gate if you need any adjustments to your room. Remember, your comfort is my responsibility. That will be all."

General Black walked out of the building along with his men. The refugees inside the building went back to their conversations.

"Man, he sure does look tough," whispered Lynn. "I mean look at those eyes!"

"I know, those eyes look like they can literally kill!" Lori whispered back.

"I wouldn't mess with him," said Liam.

"I could take him on," chuckled Rusty.

Lori then saw something that caught her eye.

"OMG! Boo-Boo Bear! That's Chaz, the guy I told you about. The one who Leni likes!" Lori whispered loudly to Bobby.

"Cool. Wasn't he at your party a few months ago?" Bobby asked.

"Yes!" exclaimed Lori. "And I think Leni noticed too! Maybe we can bring Leni here and have them talk and-and–!"

"Lori, we're leaving!" said Lincoln. "Let's go."

"Alright. Let's go, guys, off to Building C!"

They walked to Building C, which was next to the demolished building across Building B. Inside was much different. The cafeteria was very wide and open, much like the whole building, but the building was smaller than the other buildings.

A man holding a can of soda stood up from his seat in the cafeteria and waved at the group.

"What's up, Louds!" called out Chunk. "Is your sister, Luna, here? I was fixing her axe, and I just happened to bring it here."

"Hi, Chunk," greeted Lori. "Yeah, Luna is in Building A. You can go there right now if you want to."

"Thanks, mates," said Chunk as he left the building with Luna's guitar.

"I can't find anyone that I know of in this building," said Clyde.

"Let's go then. More people still need to arrive, and some are probably still in their rooms," said Lincoln.

They walked to Building D, which was across Building A, and diagonally across Building B. It looked almost exactly like Building A.

Meanwhile, Chunk arrived at Building A. Sam rested her head on Luna's shoulders talking about all the things that she wished to do with her parents and little brother.

"Hey, Luna, nice to find you here! And that's your friend, Samantha, over there?" Chunk said with a grin.

"Hey, Chunk. You can just call me Sam. And Luna told me a lot about you."

"Chunk, dude, you're here! Awesome!" Luna gasped excitedly. "You brought my favorite axe and my acoustic guitar too! I can't thank you enough, dude!"

"You can thank me by playing a sweet tune."

Luna started singing a small jingle while plucking the strings in her guitar, which caught everyone's attention. She felt really complete inside, and it felt better now that Chunk and Sam were with her. She completely forgot about what happened to the bus driver and the strenuous run back home.

"That's my daughter there!" Lynn Sr. whooped.

"Hey, now that I have my guitar, Sam and I could bust more tunes, and you could even join us, Chunk!"

"Sure, I don't see why not!" Chunk said excitedly.

Meanwhile, the group walked around Building D, hoping to find someone they knew. Lynn's heart started beating rapidly as she saw someone chomping on an apple.

"Francisco! Nice to see you here buddy!" Lynn said.

"Lynn! Nice to see you here as well! So, how you been?"

"I've been doing good. I–"

"Hello! Nice to meet you, Francisco! I'm Clyde."

"Hey, Clyde. Nice to meet you too. Are you a friend of Lynn?"

"Yes, and I'm actually her brother's best friend too."

"Oh, hey, Lincoln! Lynn always tells me how much fun you guys have playing and wrestling with each other."

"Yeah, haha. Fun!" Lincoln says with hesitation.

He then saw a girl with a purple streak on her hair, lying on the floor with knees facing up and her hands behind her head.

"Tabby?" he gasped. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

Ronnie Anne scrunched up her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

"Lincoln!" exclaimed Tabby. "Nice to see you, bro! Looks like the apocalypse hasn't killed you! Have you seen Liam? You know that cute dorky kid you hang with?"

"Yeah, he's in Building B if you want to see him! We're thinking about hanging out sometime in the next few days by the basketball court I saw a while back."

"Thanks, Lincoln! Nice to see you too, Ronnie Anne! Also, Luna is here with you guys too, right?"

"Yes, she's with us in Building A. 14th floor. Come by anytime!"

Tabby stood up and headed toward the exit.

"Nice! Now I gotta go see Liam! Bye, guys!"

Lincoln waved goodbye as Tabby dashed out the door as Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes. He then turned around and smiled at Ronnie Anne. Then, a voice caught the group's attention.

"Lori?" a woman gasped.

"Fuck! Not this bitch!" Lori thought to herself before speaking. "Hey, Carol. What are you doing here?"

Lori grabbed Bobby's arms tightly. Carol rubbed her head and chuckled nervously.

"I'm here for pretty much the same reason that everyone else is here, Lori. Safe shelter in the middle of the apocalypse."

"Hmph. Well we better go now, right, Lincoln?"

"Well, don't you want to stay here so Lynn can talk to Fran–" said Lincoln before being interrupted.

Lori growled at Lincoln and started to walk towards the exit.

"Lori, I know you don't like me so much anymore, but c'mon, aren't you a little bit happy to see me?" said Carol.

"Don't like you?" said Lori before whispering. "I fucking hate you."

"Babe!" Bobby said worriedly.

"You gossip about me and Bobby behind my back and then you tried to steal my boyfriend! You're so lucky he's a very loyal boyfriend. Otherwise, I would've knocked the shit out of you. I wish you can just go back to whatever snake pit you came from."

"Lori, I'm sorry, I can explain…" said Carol in a very low voice.

Lori grabbed Bobby and headed out the exit. Ronnie Anne, Lincoln, and Clyde followed them. Lynn gave Francisco a fist bump before following the group in a very awkward silence.

"So, the sun seems to be going down. Let's go home now shall we?" suggested Clyde. "I mean... our room. I forgot we can't go home yet."

"Yeah, it's been a VERY long day," replied Lori.

Nighttime in the 14th floor was quite comfortable. Every office in the building was soundproofed, so the sound of gunshots and helicopters could not be heard, neither the noises that their new neighbors made. The Louds, Santiagos, and McBrides slept peacefully.

 **III - In the Dark**

-Day 4-

Lisa yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Well, today marks the fourth day since the infection has spread around the entire globe. Whether other cities are in surprisingly remarkable condition such as this metropolis is beyond my knowledge," said Lisa half-asleep.

"How'd you even know that?" Lucy asked.

"I knew that the infection for this apocalypse existed in the CDC labs and in laboratories around the world, but I never knew it would break out."

"Lisa, why didn't you say anything?" asked Lynn. "Matter of fact, why aren't you doing anything? Shouldn't you be helping the scientists make the cure or something?"

"Yes, however, when I proceeded to ask a group of soldiers to meet the supposed scientists, they guffawed like a bunch of numb minded idiots. I'm guessing they didn't take me seriously as a child genius."

"Well, what do you know about the infection?" Howard asked.

"Although the following information might not be much, it might prove essential nevertheless. First thing I am aware of is that the first confirmed outbreak of the infection spread first in the Hong Kong area of China, a week ago. In the three days after the first victim was infected, the infection spread everywhere else, appearing to be airborne, but not necessarily fatal. No, it is the bite of the infected that proved to be fatal. If the bite comes in contact with the skin tissues, the victim falls prey to the aggressive infection moving upwards to the brain, shutting down organ functions, though it appears that some functions remain. The infection still remains a mystery on how it keeps the body of an infected alive, even though the person itself dies. But I have a couple theories myself."

"Yeah, Bobby and I saw some of that," said Lori. "Police were shooting at people. They died, I know they died because they were literally shot in the heart. But they still arose from the dead, and attacked the police. Perhaps they were already infected?"

"Perhaps, and not to cause concern to anyone, but I am 87% sure that Lynn was infected by the same infection that caused all the undead to rise."

"Wait, I was infected by the infection? But I'm not dead yet," said Lynn, her face wrinkling with worry.

"It appears that your healthy immune system kicked in and did its job, but chances are that the infection remains in your blood and/or tissues. Which means…"

"If I die, I will become one of them. Great," said Lynn while looking down.

"Precisely, and I don't mean to be so blunt, but once you have reached cardiopulmonary death, there is no method of reviving you. You will either turn into one of the infected, or if you reached brain death, then you become a corpse on the ground. However, that doesn't mean we can't cure you while you are still alive. And hopefully the medical doctors are working on that cure overtime."

"Will the infection come back and kill me?"

"The infection is mysterious and I still have yet to collect the necessary data to make that conclusion, but it is possible that it can strike back. I highly doubt it though."

Lynn's face grew even more worried.

"Well, I think we heard enough," said Lincoln. "Let's go brush our teeth and then head downstairs and eat some breakfast."

The Louds, Santiagos, and McBrides headed downstairs. Lynn Sr. went inside the kitchen to help the cooks, and they served eggs and sausage. The families found many empty seats in the rectangular tables since it was still early in the morning. Benny came downstairs and waved at Luan before getting on the small line for breakfast. Sam also came downstairs and awkwardly waved at Luna. She went on the line and fixed her messy hair. Benny sat in a different table with his father, and often glanced at Luan. Sam grabbed her plate and sat by Luna. Lynn Sr. went to take a break and sat with the family.

"H-Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Loud. My name... my name is Samantha. You can call me Sam though. Nice– nice to meet you!"

Sam blushed slightly as she tried taking a few breaths.

"Hello, Sam. Nice to meet you too," said Rita in a very calm manner that relaxed Sam.

"You're Luna's friend right?" Lynn Sr. asked with a smile in his face, clueless about Luna's crush on her.

"Yeah. We formed a band a while ago."

Sam looked down and appeared quiet around Luna's parents. She avoided eye contact with them.

"You know, I'm in a band too. I'm a cowbell player. Maybe Luna told you before. Maybe she didn't, but anyways–"

"Dad! Is it really the time to talk about that?"

Lynn Sr. looked at Luna, who blushed a little out of embarrassment and the fact that she sat next to the girl she liked.

"Oh, sorry, honey... and Sam. I don't want to talk too much about myself. Go ahead. How'd you two meet?"

After an awkward conversation that went on for ten minutes, Sam grabbed her plate and threw whatever crumbs and leftovers she had in the trash can.

"Well, it was lovely to meet you guys," said Sam, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Talk to you later, Luna."

The whole table was silent. Luna was poking at her eggs, and then she looked up at Howard.

"You know she digs you, right?" Howard says, winking at her.

"I agree," said Rita. "Lincoln, weren't you going to go show this place to your younger sisters and Leni?"

Luna looked visibly confused and was left speechless. Lincoln slowly realized what was going on and grinned.

"Yeah, I did say that," said Lincoln. "Let's go Lucy, Lola, Lana, Lisa, and Leni. Yeah, Leni, you can carry Lily around."

Grinning, Lincoln led his sisters out of the building. Lori and Luan slowly took sips from their water cups, staring at Luna.

"Luna, I know you have a crush on Sam," said Rita.

"Wha... how?" gasped Luna.

"You kinda made it obvious, sweetie. We were never in the dark. You threw her name around when you mentioned who you liked. And I'm guessing there are no other Sams that you know of."

"I was going to tell you, b-but…" Luna struggled to get her words out.

"It's okay, sweetie. I know you probably feel uncomfortable about us knowing but there's nothing wrong with it! Love is love, and I know you got a lotta love to share. We just want you to be happy."

Luna started to tear up a little.

"Thanks, Mom," she said, hugging her and smiling.

"Yeah, I'm so glad I don't have to worry about you treating women wrong," said Lynn Sr. "Luckily, your sisters aren't going after random boys."

"You do know I was a random boy that your daughter went after, Mr. Loud?" Bobby chuckled.

"Yeah, but I had a feeling about you. A good feeling. You remind me of Lincoln, the way he cares for people. But I see it with you the way you care for Lori."

"Dad, you are aware that Luan is literally sneaking glances at a random boy over there, right?" Lori said with a grin.

"Luan!" Lynn Sr. exclaimed.

"What, no, Lori! I'm, I-I, Benny's not some random boy! He's my friend," Luan stuttered while blushing heavily.

Lori giggled and then stared at Lynn with an evil grin on her face.

"Don't even think about it, Lori!" exclaimed Lynn. "Francisco is just a friend. My best guy friend!"

"Okay, okay, girls, no worries," said Lynn Sr. "Luan, I don't care, as long as he's your friend. If he's your friend, then he's not a bad guy. And LJ, it doesn't even sound like you're attracted to this Francisco guy."

"Yeah, sure," Lynn Jr. bashfully agreed.

"Hey, Lynn," said Lori. "Didn't you write Francisco a love–"

"Shut up!"

The families laughed except Lynn, who began to blush. Each member of the group realized that the apocalypse wasn't as bad as they though.

* * *

Lincoln and some of his sisters were at Building B, where Lincoln was talking to his friends, including Tabby, and Leni was talking to Chaz.

"So, Chaz, I always wondered. What do you think about my clothes?" Leni asked with a very happy smile on her face.

"Chaz likes. Especially the color. It matches your personality and your beauty."

"Aww, thanks, Chaz!" Leni gushed.

She opened up one arm and hugged Chaz while holding Lily in her other arm.

Lucy and Rocky sat next to each other in a table.

"This isn't exactly how I imagined us meeting again," said Lucy.

"Yeah, but it's kinda cool, right?" said Rocky. "It's like we're living in a real-life horror film."

"Ah, yes, my favorite kind of films."

"Same here! And if these films know anything, then this place isn't safe at all. Zombies will break in and start biting people. We'll have to form a group and escape."

"That means more time for the both of us," smiled Lucy.

"Exactly! Unfortunately, that means people in our group might die, don't it?"

Lucy nodded.

"I wonder who'll be the first to die," said Rocky, looking at Lincoln's group.

Rusty shook a can of orange soda while listening to his friend.

"I wasn't really supposed to be here," said Liam. "You see, the farm's pretty safe and we coulda' lived there. We got fences and lotsa' space. Plus, we can grow our own crops there. But then you see, my mee-maw's a lil' bit delusional. She thinks the zombies out there can be reasoned with. I may reckon' they're still a lil' bit alive, but that don't mean to bring these zombies into our own land. She somehow stuffed 'em in a barn, and after my pa found 'em, he told us to pack our stuff up 'cause we were goin' to the city."

"Harsh luck," said Tabby. "Missing the ol' farm?"

"Yeah, but it ain't so bad here. You bein' here– makes this place a darn lot better."

"Aww, Liam. This place is also better with you too."

"I don't know about that," interjoined Zach. "Something ain't right about this place."

"What do you mean?" asked Lincoln.

"Look at how these soldiers observe us. In and out of the buildings."

The kids looked at the soldiers near the doors.

"Well, they do care about our safety," said Rusty. "I heard they rescued this girl like four days ago outside the city. Heard she was brought in alone 'cause her family was dead."

"Dang..." said Tabby.

"What about the lack of government presence?" questioned Zach. "Y'know, besides the military."

"I saw the mayor just earlier," said Tabby. "She's here."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure there's a lotta cops here too," said Lincoln.

"Well, how about the fact that they set this place up really fast?" added Zach. "How the heck did they do that so fast?"

"Now, that's flabbergastin'," said Liam.

"But true," said Lincoln. "How _did_ they set up this place fast?"

Zach leaned in close to his friends.

"I got a theory," he whispered. "I think this whole zombie thing is manmade. They're controlling the population. These soldiers? They want to control our every moves. Pretty soon, they're gonna dispose us. Only someone who would know about an incoming outbreak would prepare for it sooner."

"Okay, now that's just crazy talk," said Rusty.

"Yeah, that's enough conspiracy theories for ya'," said Liam.

"You gotta chill on the YouTube videos, dude," said Tabby.

"Dudes, I just got this feeling. I don't really know how to explain it!"

Zach sighed and took Rusty's soda. He opened it and got a gush of soda on his face. He frowned.

"Oh, sorry, dude," said Rusty.

"You know, Zach," said Lincoln, "I think you may have a point..."

Later, Lincoln and his sisters went to Building C. They looked around the crowd of strangers when, suddenly, they heard a small girl's voice.

"Lisa!" yelled the voice.

"Darcy! It seems that you have made a safe passage to this shelter! I'm happy for you!"

"Yeah, me too!" exclaimed Darcy, hugging Lisa. "Want to talk about unicorns and giraffes? You can stay here if you want to."

"Well, my presence is not required by anyone," said Lisa. "Sure, we can talk for an hour or so."

"Yay!"

"We'll come back in an hour," said Lincoln.

Lincoln and his sisters headed back to Bulding A, leaving Lisa and Darcy alone to spend some quality childhood time together.

-Day 9-

All the adults in Building B, C, and D have visited General Black in his office in a small building in the center of a roundabout in the Safe-Zone. It was the parents' turn in Building A. The kids were outside in the basketball court, when they saw General Black enter the building. They knew he was giving the same speech he gave to the other buildings, but in a way, they all sounded differently. After a few minutes, they saw General Black walk out of the building and head for his station. A few parents headed to his station as well.

"What do you think? Do you think our kids are comfortable enough in our room?" Rita asked Lynn Sr.

"I think some of them are. However, we do need a baby crib for Lily. The carriage and the bed is not going to be enough all the time," Lynn Sr. responded.

"I agree," said Rita. "We should visit General Black after lunchtime. Let the kids have fun playing basketball and hanging out for now."

"What about you guys?" Lynn Sr. asked the McBrides.

"Well, I think Clyde and us are comfortable in this place," said Harold. "We'll ask Mr. Black about any job offerings we can do to contribute to this community later."

"Someone's going to have to ask Bobby and his sister if they are comfortable with the room," said Rita.

"We'll do it," said Harold. "You guys have enough kids in your hands. We'll be Bobby and Ronnie Anne's guardians for the time being until their family arrives."

"Thanks, guys!" Lynn Sr. said.

After Lynn Sr. served all the food for lunch, he took off his hair net and told Sergei he would see him later. Finished with their lunch, the kids returned to the basketball court. Rita walked outside with Lynn Sr. to Black's station. Outside the station, three soldiers looked at the parents. A soldier with the name tag 'CPL. JADE' on her chest took off her shades.

"You two from Building A?" she asked.

"Yes, si– ma'am," said Lynn Sr.

The soldier raised an eyebrow before stepping away from the station door.

"You can go inside," said Corporal Jade.

Lynn Sr. and Rita walked inside the station. Inside, there were pictures of soldiers and battlefields, and even some newspaper articles about Black receiving awards. The station was the size of a large room. General Black was sitting at a desk in the center with ammo crates to his left and a box of grenades to his right. In the corner of the station lied a katana, a German Luger pistol, and an AK-47.

"Hello Mr. and Mrs…" said General Black, looking at his clipboard.

"Loud. I'm Rita Loud and this is my husband Lynn."

"Louds. What brings you fine people here? Is there an adjustment you wish for me to provide you two?"

"Well, when you say it like that... yes," said Lynn Sr. "We wish to have a baby crib, sir. For our youngest."

"Let's see here. Lily Loud?"

"Yes, sir."

"Where might she be?"

"Our eldest daughter, Lori, is taking care of her right now."

"The oldest caring for the youngest," said Black. "Must feel so rewarding to have all these wonderful children."

"Yeah, that's we always feel," smiled Rita.

"You should. These kids are the future, aren't they?"

"They sure are," said Lynn Sr. "So, what do you say?"

"I say we get this man and woman a baby crib. Sergeant Hoover! Bring one of the baby cribs from Warehouse H-3 and carry it to…Floor 14!"

"Thank you, Mr. Black!" Rita said smiling.

"That's General Black for you! And you're very welcome. Expect the crib in a couple hours. Come back anytime when you need more adjustments," said General Black while shaking Lynn Sr. and Rita's hand.

Lynn Sr. and Rita headed out the station and back to Building A.

"Well, that was easy!" Lynn Sr. said.

"I'll say! Now all we have to do is wait for the crib to arrive," responded Rita.

* * *

At dinnertime, the kids were showering at the public locker rooms. Two soldiers were seen carrying a crib inside Building A. Sergei handed out trays of food, while Lynn Sr. cooked it. A strange man in a puffy vest with round glasses and a combover watched everyone in the building while nervously shaking, exploring every motion that each person made. Lincoln, Lynn, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Lana came out of the locker rooms and headed for their room.

"This is for you, Tim," whispered the man.

Suddenly, the strange man stood up.

"I have a message to you all! No– FOR you all! Fuck the government! Fuck the authorities! Fuck the General! You have a right to know that this place is about to be–" screamed the man until he was tackled by a soldier.

The man was knocked out by the soldier and was carried out of the building. Everyone watched in shock and confusion to what just happened. The kids quickly hid by the edge of the building, watching the soldier drag the man into General Black's station. They watched in confusion as a soldier locked the door and stood guard outside of the station. They walked back inside the building, to see that the atmosphere was tense. Everyone was talking quietly amongst themselves.

"General! We got a Code Silver!" said one of the soldiers, whose name tag stated 'LT. LEAD'.

General Black opened a door that revealed a dark and dreary basement.

"Bring him over here."

Lieutenant Lead brought down the mysterious man and took off his glasses. The general strapped him to an iron table with a leather belt across his chest and arms. The lieutenant grabbed a bucket, filled it up with water, and splashed it on the man's face. The man awakened, instantly sweating, which went unnoticed as his face was already drenched from the cold water.

"AHH! Ahh! W-What am I doing here?" asked the man, his jaws quivering.

"You're in the basement of my station," said General Black, holding a Bowie knife. "Let me ask you a question. What do you know about us? And before you answer, just to let you know, you're not getting out of here alive. If you don't give me a good answer, I will make you suffer. So it's better to just cooperate with me."

"W-What are you t-t-talking about?" stuttered the man, swallowing really hard as the general stared at him.

The man struggled to get his hands inside his pockets as the leather belt continued to press his arms against his ribs. The general grabbed the man's fingers and bent them away from his palms, causing the man to yell in agony. Black reached into the man's pocket and grabbed a light switch coated in lead and copper wires connected to his vest.

"Hoho, what the fuck do we have here?" chuckled Black.

Black opened up the vest and found explosives inside. His eyes widened as he looked at Lt. Lead.

"Check for a deadman's switch," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," said Lt. Lead.

Lt. Lead checked the man's neck, arms, wrists, and legs, but there weren't any extra wires.

"No deadman's switch, sir. It's just a suicide vest."

Black pulled away the vest from the man.

"You thought you had us this time, huh?" Black smirked. "It's creative, I gotta admit. Still. A fucking stupid idea. Now you're going to die for nothing."

Lieutenant Lead put a towel over the man's face and grabbed a bucket. He filled the bucket with water and upon hearing this, the man began to fidget even harder. Lt. Lead walked to the table and poured the bucket slowly on the man.

The man's screams were muffled. His screams were then drowned out by his gasps. He was struggling to breathe.

Lt. Lead stopped pouring the bucket when he saw something drop from the man's left pocket of his pants. The man gasped and coughed heavily as Lt. Lead picked up the small object and gave it to Black. General Black took off the towel and showed it to the man.

"What is this! Answer truthfully so you don't waste both of our times."

"That USB has all the stuff...that I-I know about you-u guys. Please let me go. I won't let anyone know we were here," said the man, wondering if his efforts were futile.

Lt. Lead put the USB on his laptop. It displayed a video of the man spilling information about the soldiers. General Black watched as he loaded a Desert Eagle.

"Who told you about us? I need to know. Now!" General Black shouted as he pointed the Desert Eagle at the man's head.

"No one! I found all the stuff about you guys myself! I swear!" the man screamed.

General Black moved the pistol to his right and shot his shoulder, shattering the bones and forcing blood out of it. The man screamed and clenched his teeth, massively sweating buckets now. Lieutenant Lead grabbed the towel and poured the bucket of water on the man slowly. The man fidgeted and screamed as he flailed his legs. Black signaled Lead to stop as the man coughed out blood.

"Alright, alright, stop! I'll tell you! Just stop! Please!" shouted the man while catching his breath. "It's Crowley! Tim Crowley! I swear for real this time! Now can you please let me g–"

The loud bang from the general's pistol echoed in the basement.

"Jesus! General Black, you should've told me you were going to unload that Deagle on his fucking brains so I could cover my ears. Christ!" said Lt. Lead as he opened the basement door and headed out.

"It's just as I thought," said Black. "Tim Crowley."

The two gunshots were loud enough for the inhabitants of Building A to hear. They wondered if General Black executed that man that they dragged out fifteen minutes before.

"Ronnie! Bobby! Come here, guys!" Howard whispered loudly.

General Black marched inside Building A with the puffy vest in his hands. He stopped then held the vest up high. The vest, strapped with explosives, frightened some of the refuges in the building.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Today would've been the last day on Earth for you people. But thanks to the remarkable skills and quick thinking of our soldiers, we were able to stop a _terrorist_ from destroying our home! Do not worry! My bomb squad were able to disable this vest, so I could demonstrate to you that there are still sick people in this world who are not the infected! These people want to destroy everything we value and under the circumstances that we are in, we are very vulnerable to these people! But fear not! We are now watching out for these bombers! If you see anything or anyone suspicious, please let us know! Oh, and one last thing! That terrorist won't be bothering us anymore!" proudly stated General Black.

As people started to clap inside Building A, a couple soldiers outside near the gate were chasing something. Or someone. A man with long, slick hair pulled out a pistol and shot the soldier guarding the gate in the chest. The soldier fell and groaned as his vest caught the bullet. The fugitive opened the gate and ran out. The soldiers pulled out their M4A1s and shot at him. After four seconds of constant gunfire, the man came to a stop. The soldiers ran up to his body. The body lied flat on his stomach with bullet holes in his back.

"Check his face," said Lt. Lead, rubbing his ears.

Pvt. Lukeman flipped the body, revealing exit wounds in his chest. He placed his fingers on the man's neck.

"No pulse," said Lukeman.

Lt. Lead took out a picture from his pocket and then looked at the man. He smiled. Then, he grabbed the man's M9 pistol, aimed it at the man's head, and fired it.

The soldiers returned inside the gate and contacted General Black with their walkie-talkies.

"Another terrorist down. And we got a couple biters out before they got here," said the voice in the walkie-talkie.

The people started clapping even harder, but some people only got more nervous. The general left, and the people went back to their normal business.

General Black walked out the gate and smiled as he approached the body. Corporal Jade placed a cotton swab inside the victim's mouth, collecting saliva. She then removed it and placed it in a tube, closing it tightly.

"This is no doubt Tim," said Black. "I'll see you in hell, Crowley."

The general then spit at the man's body before walking away. The general felt a sense of accomplishment after killing his longtime rival, Tim.

"Feed the body to the biters or something," he ordered.

The soldiers picked the body up and dragged it away from the traffic jam outside the gate.

In Building A, the nervous refuges chattered among each other. Harold and Howard McBride sat across Bobby and Ronnie Anne.

"So, Ronnie Anne and Bobby," said Harold. "We're going to be your guardians until your parents arrive. Would you guys like anything? Anything to adjust in our room?"

"Hmph. No," replied Ronnie Anne.

"No, thank you, Mr. McBride. As long as I know Lori is safe, I got nothing to change," said Bobby.

"You remind me so much of Clyde," sighed Howard.

"Bobby, can you watch Clyde for us?" asked Harold. "Howard and I are going to look for any jobs to help out in this safe-zone. This might take a while."

"Sure thing, Mr. McBride! Hey, Clydesdale, why don't we hang out for a little?"

"Uhh, sure thing, Bobby?" Clyde said, feeling awkward about hanging out with his former nemesis.

"We'll be right back, and go to sleep early!" said Howard, waving his hand as he walked with Harold out of the building.

The night grew darker and Harold and Howard entered the station.

"Hello, Mr…?" General Black asked.

"McBride. Harold McBride. And this is my husband, Howard McBride."

"Ahh. Mr. McBrides. What can I do for you lads?" General Black asked while opening a drawer and grabbing his Bowie knife

"W-Well, we were look–looking to contribute to this community," said Harold, sweating a bit.

"Yeah, do you h-have any... umm... any jobs or volunteer... work?" asked Howard very nervously, inching closer to Harold.

General Black took out a spherical piece of wood and started carving it. He smiled at the men, and the atmosphere became more calm. Both men sighed in relief and smiled back.

"Sure, I got something for you guys. Lt. Lead! Let's bring these men downstairs. We got to show them the offerings we make to people like these men. I'm very glad you asked. You guys are going to make my job a whole lot easier," said General Black while opening the door for the basement, carving his wooden sphere.

"I'm glad we can help out!" expressed Harold happily.

Lt. Lead turned on the lights, revealing the basement. Upon viewing the body in the iron table, Harold and Howard felt chills up their spine.

"There's only one way you can contribute here," said General Black as he tossed his wooden sphere to the side of the basement, where all kinds of tools to hurt a human being lied.

He lunged the knife upwards towards Harold's stomach, and dragged the knife towards the right side of his stomach, ripping his abdomen and letting his guts slide out of his stomach. Wheezing heavily, Harold coughed blood out of his mouth and looked at Howard, struggling to say something before collapsing to the floor as blood poured out of his stomach. A massive puddle of blood formed around his torso. Howard looked in shock and started crying.

"No! What did you guys do!" cried Howard. "My-my...AH!"

General Black swung his knife across Howard's throat. Coughing heavily, Howard grabbed his throat and struggled to breathe. His hands became very red as the blood soaked his palms. He dropped to his knees, and while holding one hand to his throat, he moved towards Harold's dead body and collapsed. His lifeless eyes were now staring at his now-dead husband's eyes.

"Maybe if two married men were able to populate this world, then I would've given you guys a job," said General Black.

Each step of his boot on the concrete floor echoed in the basement. He knelt by their bodies and drove his knife into their skulls. He then stood up, walked to the side of the room, and grabbed his wooden sphere. His boots were lightly stomping on the wooden stairs as Lt. Lead turned off the lights and followed General Black up the stairs. Black took off his uniform, and wiped his knife on it. He grabbed a moist towel from his desk as Lt. Lead closed the basement door.

"What are we supposed to tell their kid?" asked Lt. Lead. "Clyde McBride– what do we tell him?"

"I got an idea," replied Black. "Why don't you rest in the quarters? We're done for tonight. Tomorrow, you and the others are going to execute the first step of Operation Exodus."

"Roger that," said Lt. Lead as he walked away.

Black grabbed his clipboard and a red marker. He wrote 'DECEASED' under the names of Harold and Howard McBride.

 **IV - Day 10**

At midnight, the moon shined bright on the city of Detroit, stars hovering behind the clouds. Though almost all the Louds were asleep, there were two who weren't.

"Psst. Psst. Psst! Lincoln!" Lynn whispered loudly.

"Ugh. What do you want, Lynn?" Lincoln yawned and whispered.

"Come! Lana and I found something cool!"

"Yeah, you have to see this!" Lana whispered excitedly.

"Why are you guys up?" whispered Lincoln. "It's pitch black in here!"

"Not if you come with us!" Lynn whispered.

Lynn grabbed Lincoln's arm and dragged him while Lana followed. Lynn slowly opened the door, and left it unlocked, while Lana slowly closed the door on her way out. They went upstairs on three set of stairs before they came to a stop. There was a steel door and no staircase to go up to. Lynn opened the door and Lincoln was now slapped awake by the cool breeze and Lynn's palm. They walked further out and Lincoln realized that he was at the roof of Building A.

"Lynn! Lana! Why did you guys come up here! Why are we here?!" Lincoln said, panicking.

"We came up here because we're curious, man!" said Lana. "And we're here now because we wanted to show you something cool!"

It indeed wasn't pitch black. Lincoln stared at the whole city, and found that the moonlight was able to light up the whole place, even the distant parts. He also found a few lamps that shone throughout the night as soldiers patrolled the streets. He could see a few vehicles moving near a couple warehouses, a few blocks away.

"Now, if you're done at staring at the whole place like an idiot, we would like you to come here," said Lynn.

"What! I thought the whole beauty of this place was the cool part."

"No, it's this!" Lana said pointing at a fire escape.

"What! That was the cool part? I don't see what's so cool about that," said Lincoln with a confused look.

"Just imagine," said Lynn. "We can escape through this anytime at night and borrow some food from the cafeteria. Just look! There are no guards at the bottom of the fire escape!"

"Why would we need to steal food? What if they catch us? We shouldn't even be doing that."

"We could just hang outside, and we don't have to ask Mom and Dad!" Lana said loudly.

"Shh! Don't do that! It's too dangerous to go outside at night!" Lincoln whispered loudly. "There's a curfew too!"

"Don't be such a buzzkill, Lincoln!" said Lynn. "And we're in a safe-zone. There is no crime and there is no danger outside."

"What about the terrorist they caught the other night?" said Lincoln. "There are crazy people."

"I don't know... something was fishy about the whole thing," said Lana. "Mmm. Fish."

"I'm going back to sleep. Please don't try to steal food and don't go down the fire escape. Goodnight, Lynn. Goodnight, Lana."

Lincoln yawned and headed back inside the building. Lana looked up at Lynn.

"What's a curfew?" she asked.

"It's some dumb rule where we can't show our butts at night," replied Lynn. "But forget the rules. What are they gonna do? Kill us?"

Lana shrugged as she and Lynn ran towards the fire escape, giggling.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky and the sky was as clear as glass. However, Clyde was in a panic, frantically searching the room and out the building.

"Bobby!" exclaimed Clyde. "Where are my dads? I can't find them anywhere in this room!"

Bobby and Lori woke up from their deep slumber, yawning as they decided to reassure Clyde.

"Good morning, my man," said Bobby. "They're probably downstairs already getting some breakfast. Babe, let's go brush our teeth."

"Don't worry, Clyde," reassured Lori. "We'll go downstairs in a few minutes to check on them. Why don't you brush your teeth too? You don't need a paper bag, right?"

"No, thank you, Lori."

The rest of the Louds and Ronnie Anne woke up. Lynn muttered a couple words and fell back to sleep. Lana stayed asleep. A few minutes later, the family were looking for Harold and Howard throughout the cafeteria, but they couldn't find them.

"Where did they go? Where did they go?!" Clyde panted.

"Relax, Clyde," said Rita. "They probably went to work or volunteer or something. I mean they didn't tell us that they started early."

Rita then looked at the clock in the wall above the lunch line.

"Never mind, it is late morning already, we woke up kinda late," she said.

Private Lukeman watched as the Louds grouped up in front of Building A. He knocked on the door to Black's station twice before entering.

"General Black! The dorky kid with the glasses is searching for his two fathers," said Private Lukeman.

"All right, Private. Let's go, Lieutenant! You two! Come with me!" General Black said to his two guards standing outside the station. "I want every man and woman to guard the exits to the buildings. Now!"

General Black grabbed a loudspeaker and headed to Building A. He opened the doors and gave a tense atmosphere instead of a comforting one.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I have a very important message to announce to you all! Two men came up to me, and talked to me about job contributions. I was going to give you all jobs to do sooner or later, but now with depleting resources and such, I want to give you all jobs soon! Tonight, only those who are 18 years or older will come downstairs! The rest will follow me to the basketball court! Now as you know, Harold and Howard McBride came up to me and…" rambled General Black for five continuous minutes.

"Hey, Lincoln, this all seems too suspicious," said Lynn. "Want to go check out his station? I've had bad feelings about this guy since the first day we came here."

"Sure. Something is not right. Howard and Harold wouldn't just disappear like that," whispered Lincoln.

"Lana! Come with us to the roof!" Lynn whispered.

Lincoln, Lynn, and Lana snuck into the stairs slowly before running up the stairs. After reaching the top of the stairwell, they panted and wiped the sweat off their foreheads. They opened the door to the roof.

"Wait! Couldn't we have just stopped at our floor and gotten down from the fire escape from there?" Lana realized.

"Yeah," Lincoln panted.

"Let's go!" Lynn said as they climbed downstairs in the fire escape.

They finally stopped climbing downstairs and crouched behind a dumpster can when they saw General Black heading out of Building A and walking to Building B. As General Black entered Building B with the three soldiers acting as his bodyguards, Lincoln, Lynn, and Lana ran to General Black's station. Lynn opened the door as she, Lincoln, and Lana rushed inside. Lynn slowly closed the door.

"Lana, will you be our lookout?" asked Lynn. "Tell us when someone comes. You can use the high windows up there. Just climb those tables."

"Sure. Hurry, guys!" Lana said.

Lynn and Lincoln searched in his desk and found nothing. Just a wooden sphere that resembled the Earth. Only the northeastern United States and eastern Canada part of the sphere were carved with accurate details. They found his journal and only found logs of his days. Nothing out of place. They opened the door leading to the basement, and walked downstairs.

"Ooh, what is this place?" said Lincoln.

"Lincoln, can you turn on the lights?"

"Yeah, sure, Lynn. Here ya go."

The large lightbulb in the basement lit up the basement. Lynn and Lincoln jumped back and shrieked. Their hairs immediately stood up, and goosebumps appeared all over their body.

"Oh. My. God!" gasped Lynn.

"What happened, guys? I heard you guys scream and AH!" screamed Lana. "Are they… Clyde's dads?"

"Just go back up, Lana," said Lincoln. "Keep an eye out for General Black."

They seen zombies walking with guts and organs hanging out from their body, but they were zombies. Not people they knew. The children felt their hearts racing and their palms shaking. Lana slowly made her way out of the basement as she shivered.

Lincoln and Lynn looked around the basement. They caught sight of the "terrorist" and saw a gunshot wound on his head. They also saw a USB by the computer. Lincoln grabbed the USB and looked at Harold and Howard one last time before leaving. Lynn turned off the lights and they headed out of the basement.

"Guys! A soldier is coming!" Lana whispered really loudly.

Lana, Lynn and Lincoln quickly hid under General Black's desk, which was covered in the front by wood. Lieutenant Lead walked into the station and headed for the left side of the room. He grabbed a box of medical supplies and headed out the room. Using his left arm, he opened the door and closed it, his footsteps coming to a dead silence.

Lana snuck out of the desk and looked out the window.

"Coast is clear, guys," said Lana.

Lynn and Lincoln moved away from the desk and headed out of the station. Knowing that the guards were blocking the exits to the buildings, they had to enter through the fire escape.

Lincoln helped Lynn up first into the fire escape. Lynn then grabbed Lana. Then, both Lynn and Lana helped Lincoln get back up. They quickly went up the stairs. They saw General Black head for Building C. Upon seeing him, anger began to grow inside Lynn. She hurried up the stairs.

"Lynn! Please… slow… down!" Lincoln gasped.

They finally reached the roof, and Lynn immediately went down to their room. She turned on one of the desktops of the computers that were on the side of the rooms. Lincoln and Lana entered the room, panting heavily, as the June heat branded them with sweat.

"Lincoln! Give me the USB! NOW!" Lynn said loudly, barely holding in her anger.

Lincoln quickly handed Lynn the USB and she plugged it into the computer. The video started loading, but at a sluggish pace.

"Is this thing not fucking loading?" asked Lynn.

"We gotta give the computer some time to read the video and connect to the internet or something," said Lincoln. "See, it's a link. It'll load even in this nonexistant WiFi connection."

After five minutes, one percent of the video loaded. Lynn looked down to the floor, shaking her fists. She suddenly punched the wall really hard, making her fists bleed. Lana grabbed Lincoln's arm and hid behind him. Lincoln heard Lynn breathing heavily.

"Lynn, calm down," said Lincoln.

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN! He literally murdered Clyde's dads! And the only lead we have on him is taking forever to fucking load!"

Lynn's voice started to break, though she tried to hide it.

"What are we supposed to tell our sisters!? What are we supposed to tell our parents!? What are we supposed to tell Clyde?"

"Lynn, you know it's okay to let your feelings out," said Lincoln. "It's alright, let it all out. And we don't tell Clyde anything until we find out what really happened with them."

Lynn broke down in tears as Lincoln hugged her, something she hasn't done in front of her siblings. This was very new to Lincoln, but given the situation they were in, he understood.

"Oh, Lincoln! I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Lana. I shouldn't have let my anger out on you guys. It's just... Clyde is all alone now."

"It's okay, Lynn," said Lincoln. "We forgive you. And our parents can watch Clyde for the time being. But for now, we tell no one. Not a thing. Until the video loads. Got that, guys?"

Lynn and Lana nodded and proceeded lie down in their beds. Lincoln placed a towel on the computer, covering the monitor.

They remained in their beds. They looked out in the windows. They paced back and forth in the room. They remained quiet.

As the day went on, Lynn Sr. and Rita noticed their erratic behavior, but only took it as boredom.

"Think we should play a game for the whole family?" asked Rita.

"LJ's just gonna beat all of us," groaned Lynn Sr. "But why not? What are you thinking of?"

The Louds, Santiagos, and Clyde all sat in a circle. Lori placed a card with the image of a lion on a plastic headband on her head.

"Am I alive?" asked Lori.

"Yes!" said her family in unison.

"Am I large?"

"Larger than a person, yeah," said Luna.

"Have I been in _Madagascar_?"

"Yeah, you're like the main char–" said Leni.

"Hush, dude!" said Luna.

"I'm a lion, aren't I?"

"We'd be lion if we didn't say you are," giggled Luan.

Lori rolled her eyes as she took off her card. She looked at Lincoln, puzzled by the silence that radiated off of him. She then looked at Lana, who didn't get into any bickering arguments with Lola. And then at Lynn, who couldn't stop looking down at the floor.

"You good, babe?" asked Bobby.

"Oh, um, yeah. I'm good."

Lori glanced at Lincoln, Lynn, and Lana before paying attention to the game.

Hours passed, and Clyde remained in his sleeping bag next to Lori and Bobby's sleeping bag. He heard their soft voices but did not care to join their conversation. He just wanted his parents to come and hug him.

"Things will never be the same in this country, right?" said Bobby.

"This is literally the worst thing that happened to America," said Lori. "I don't think our life will ever be the same..."

Ronnie Anne laid down by Lincoln, trying to talk to him, but she saw him lost in his own world.

"Okay, fine," said Ronnie Anne. "I guess I won't bother you anymore."

She just took off her sweater and went to sleep in her sleeping bag.

Luan wrote jokes on her tiny notebook, thinking of new ones and chuckling to herself.

"Where's the punchline?" Luan giggled to herself. "Get it?"

Luna played around with the strings of her acoustic guitar, before falling asleep. Leni stared outside the window and watched the empty city. She sat down on a chair and placed her arms on her laps as she held her head with her hands. Lisa also looked out the window.

"Abandoned," said Lisa. "Interesting."

Lola tried to talk to Lana, but Lana just kept staring at the ceiling.

"C'mon, say something!" exclaimed Lola.

"Something," whispered Lana.

"Ugh. You're so annoying."

Lola jumped to one of the beds and closed her eyes. Lucy worked on her poetry book, taking breaks every five minutes to look around the room. Everyone was in the room, and yet no one lifted up the towel that was covering up a monitor. Lincoln estimated that the video will finish loading at 8 PM, and by that time, they would only have a couple minutes before the sun completely sets down, and General Black will gather the adults.

"Lynn! Wake up! It's eight!" Lincoln whispered.

Lynn dashed to the monitor, took off the towel, and saw that it was at 99%. The Louds, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Bobby were confused and wondered what was loading.

"Uhhh, dude, what is that?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, Lynn, what the heck?" asked Lola. "What is at 99%?"

"Uhh… Lynn?" Clyde said.

"There is something very important I have to share with you guys," said Lynn. "Lincoln, Lana, and I found this in General Black's station, and I'm guessing it's going to tell us a lot about him! Wait, guys? Where did Mom and Dad go?"

"Mom went downstairs to talk with Dad. We're going to go in a minute, but we want to see what this video is about," said Lori.

The video finished loading and it instantly started playing. Starting with static noises, it showed a strange man in a room. The very same man that was captured and executed by General Black. The quality was that of a late 1980s video camera.

"Hello. My name is Gerald Brooker. I am 48 years old and a retired NSA agent. I hope… that gives me some credibility. If you found this… then it must mean that I must have distributed it to you… or some person found it… hopefully not General Quentin Black. It you are not General Black, then keep on going. If you are, then… I don't mean any of this stuff… okay? Well, who am I kidding– if you're Black, I'm as good as dead. Anyway, first thing I gotta say… don't trust General Black. He works for an organization associated with the spread of this infection. This Safe-Zone he has planned? No… no safe shelter… it really isn't. Remember the name… K.H.A.N. Remember it? Good. Now think about this… how come we were so distracted by news that didn't matter… when the dead started roaming the world? There were test runs that K.H.A.N. played with when it came to the infection. This is not a test run by K.H.A.N. This is the real deal. You think Black is a human being able to be trusted? No. This information might cost me my life… but make sure it stays in good hands. Now, whenever you can… get out. Stay away as far as you can from Detroit. Even the biters trapped in the surrounding buildings should be enough to make you want to go away. I'm sorry for rambling on… too much shit in my head, you know? Haha… also, he's going to unload napalm on the city if you don't leave. He's going to murder as many "weak" people as he can. So only the strong will survive… I don't know why, probably some sick philosophy about survival of the fittest? The places to stay away from would be Detroit, Michigan... Houlton, Maine... Portland, Maine... Baltimore, Maryland... Boston, Massachusetts... New York City..."

Lori gasped as she held Bobby's hands. The Louds looked at each other in surprise.

"...Washington D.C... all of Cuba, all of the Bahamas, hell– of the Caribbean, and stay away from eastern Canada. Especially Nova Scotia. Not because of biters, but… because of the K.H.A.N. There are other places to stay away from, but it is nearly impossible to reach those places as ships and planes have been immobilized. Hopefully, you find the truth, and share it with others," said the man in the video, as the video comes to a pitch black, and finishes.

Lisa walked towards the windows in the side of the building and looked out. She saw many soldiers entering the building.

"That's not good," said Lisa.

"We have to warn Mom and Dad!" said Lori.

Lynn knew that the fire escape wasn't an option as there were too many soldiers outside. All the kids ran downstairs and hurried to rescue Rita and Lynn Sr. However, when they arrived downstairs, many parents, teenagers, and others were filling the ground floor. Leni held Lily high up in the air and walked outside, forgetting that their parents were inside the building.

"You're going to the basketball court," said Corporal Jade.

Suddenly, the alarms rang.

"MOVE IT NOW! ALL ADULTS REMAIN IN THE BUILDINGS!" shouted the soldiers.

Jade grabbed Leni's back and escorted her and Lily to an underground bunker, by the basketball court. Lincoln and Lucy tried to get Leni back inside the building, but they were grabbed by other soldiers and escorted to the bunkers. Ronnie Anne and Clyde, following Lincoln, were pushed by the enormous amount of people shoving and rushing to get inside the bunker.

"Where's my sister going?" asked Bobby.

"And Clyde?" added Lori.

Bobby and Lori followed Ronnie Anne and Clyde before they both got caught up in the crowd. They found them in the bunker. Lori looked back and found adolescents and children flooding inside the bunker. There were no other exits. Lynn also followed Lincoln, and Lana and Lola were right behind her, thinking she knew what to do. All these attempts at finding each other only caused more confusion. The alarms kept on sounding.

"Dad! Mom! Ugh!" screamed Luna until she was escorted into the bunker.

Lisa struggled to see anything in the ensuing panic among the crowd. They were constantly running in all sorts of directions, and Lisa realized that she was pushed outside somehow. She was then carried by a soldier to the bunker.

"Mom! Dad! You guys! You can't stay here!" yelled Luan frantically. "You gotta go upstairs! Hide in our room! Please! Or come with us to the rooftop! Anywhere that is not here!"

"What's going on? We're supposed to stay here. Go with the others to the court," said Rita.

"No! Don't stay!" warned Luan. "You can't–!"

A soldier placed his hands on Luan's shoulders and moved her into the moving crowd.

"Sorry about this. We'll calm the situation down, soon," reassured Lt. Lead.

Helicopters flew around Detroit. The lights in the alarm were flashing brightly. The streets were flooded with people trying to enter the bunker. The bunker was colossal. It stretched throughout a whole street, though it was underground.

All the Louds found each other.

"What's going to happen to Mom and Dad?" exclaimed Lori.

"What's gonna happen to us?" exclaimed Luna.

All the alarms stopped ringing. The steel door to the bunker closed as the lights inside turned on.

The adults stopped moved slowly among the crowds. Some of the adults headed back to their respective buildings. Lynn Sr. and Rita looked around the cafeteria as they saw the soldiers leaving the buildings. Then, a voice spoke through the loudspeaker.

"Alright, adults! As you can see, there is a change of plans!" announced General Black. "We're not going to give you jobs! The only way some of you can contribute is to be our subjects in this new global experiment. However, we're not going to need all of you. We only require the most capable ones."

The soldiers outside the buildings placed their gas masks on and burst into the buildings, throwing tear gas. They quickly exited the building as one of the soldiers looked at his watch.

"Ten... nine..." said the soldier.

Lynn Sr. and Rita hid in the kitchen, where they found a sweaty Sergei, while all the other adults struggled to breathe and trampled each other. Some ran to the stairs and headed up, and some fell to their knees. The adults who ran outside, in the now empty streets, were tackled, grabbed, and shoved by the soldiers, who forced them into helicopters.

"What's going on?" Lynn Sr. screamed.

"Two... one... zero. Go! Go! Go!"

The soldiers in the gas masks grabbed their assault rifles and burst inside the buildings, firing at the adults. The gas lingered as people were being shot at, and the gas caused atrocious pain to the bullet wounds. Benny's father was shot in the neck, causing him to collapse and cough heavily. People screamed as bullets tore through their lungs, chests, hearts, faces, limbs. Blood continued to splatter onto the floor.

The back door in the kitchen led Lynn Sr., Rita, and Sergei out of the building. The gunshots kept roaring, and more blood poured in the floor.

"I think… we finally… escaped," panted Sergei.

Five soldiers grabbed the three adults, and held them tightly.

"What the–?" groaned Rita.

The soldiers shoved the three adults into the helicopter and left.

"What's going on, men?" asked Sergei. "I don't understand what's happening."

Lieutenant Lead, who was in the helicopter, bashed the back of Sergei's head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him unconscious. Lynn Sr. and Rita stared in shock.

As the helicopters started hovering above Detroit, Lynn Sr. and Rita witnessed one final glimpse of the city, noticing that adults were being slaughtered in the other buildings too. The soldiers put a bag over their heads as they disappeared into the sky.

Dozens of red headlights glowed outside the gate, as the gunfire continued to roar in the distance.

"What's going on?" Mr. Yates said as he waited outside the entrance gates in his car.

He turned his head as the sound of a jet flew above the city. Suddenly, the roof of one of the buildings erupted into a giant fireball as long flame tails fell down to the ground.

"Holy–" said Beau.

Some soldiers popped out from the entrance gate and fired their guns at the cars, hitting windows, mirrors, seats, people. Many families exited their cars and ran away in panic, while some people, like Mr. Yates, hid under their seats.

The children and adolescents murmured among each other. Confused, they tried to find a way out of the bunker.

"Hey, Luna!" exclaimed Sam. "I've been meaning to talk to you. About the letter… I–"

The children's attention was caught by a muffled explosion.

"What the– Lisa, can you hack into any of the traffic cameras?" asked Lori.

"Already did. Look at this," responded Lisa, as the Louds, and the Santiagos, and Clyde surrounded her phone.

There were dozens of helicopters in the air, and the presence of soldiers in the city were not felt. The planes and jets were dropping napalm on the buildings surrounding Building A, Building B, Building C, and Building D. The flames spread, and melted down some of the structures in the buildings. Finally, the last planes dropped the remaining napalm right on top of the buildings near the bunker, which shook the bunker. The camera went to a static.

"I lost connection," gulped Lisa.

"Oh no," whispered Lincoln.

"Dudes, they killed everyone!" yelled Luna. "They killed Mom and Dad!"

"What do we do now, Lori?" asked Leni, tearing up.

Lori looked at her siblings as panic ensued in the bunker. She realized that the state of Michigan fell prey to the infection and its madness. Detroit burned down, and the zombies were let loose from the surrounding buildings, heading towards the fire. The last place in the world to escape the madness as far as she knew, fell.

Lori teared up and hugged her siblings.

"I don't know."

* * *

Despair. Unlike anything she ever felt in the past years.

The reflection in her pupil revealed a person being dragged to a wooden table. However, deeper beyond the reflection was despair in the young girl's eye as she watched the scene unfold before her.

The pyretic and humid room only added to the stress that was inflicted on the young girl as she was forced to truly witness the horrors of the new world once more.

"Come here, Lily… time to teach your sister a lesson. Most importantly, time to show you something," hissed the large man, the dictator of his people in some area in Cuba.

She stood frozen, unable to utter a single word as she watched him grab a machete. He swung the machete on the young girl's sister's hand. Her sister screamed in agony, and Lily couldn't help but break down in tears. Her mind was racing with an infinite amount of thoughts and all she could truly focus on was how life was before the moment she lost hope and was broken.


	2. Exodus

**Here comes the next chapter of the story. Just in time for Halloween. Make sure you have some candy with you because here comes another LONG chapter. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the chapter. If you enjoyed, leave a review! If you didn't, then leave a thought to why you didn't. Constructive criticism is always welcome!**

* * *

An owl flew towards the ground in an open field, looking for rabbits. A rabbit came out from his hole, hopping through the grass and leaves in the ground. The owl flew to the rabbit and caught it. The wind began to pick up and suddenly got very strong, which led the owl to fly away, still carrying the rabbit in its beak. A Chinook arrived and slowly landed on the field, blowing all the leaves away. The loading ramp opened and out came twenty parents, but none of them were Lynn Loud Sr. or Rita Loud. The soldiers that accompanied them grabbed them by a chain, which were locked on their hands. They were being watched by someone off in the far distance through the night vision scope of an M110 sniper rifle. Hiding inside a treehouse in the backyard of a house, covered by trees, a 45-year old Marine veteran was scouting the park for one specific person. Unfortunately for him, he did not arrive yet. He opened up a can of peaches and started eating it, when suddenly, he heard explosions about five miles away. He continued to eat his can of peaches, and he cracked his neck, as he heard more helicopters arrive.

 **Chapter 2: Exodus**

 **I - Not So Safe Shelter**

Confusion arose in the bunker. What were the explosions that they felt outside? Each person inside the bunker did not know what happened outside in the safe-zone except the Louds, the Santiagos, and Clyde.

"Holy shit," whispered Luna as she looked for Sam in the now bright bunker.

She came up to her and hugged her, letting tears out of her eyes. Word spread around quickly in the bunker that parents were slaughtered and the city was bombed by the very same military that protected them in the safe-zone. Many people looked very concerned and wanted to escape the bunker to check the wreckage outside. Lori cried into Bobby's chest, letting all of her mascara run down his shirt, but he did not care. He just held Lori close to him and closed his eyes as Ronnie Anne watched them both with droopy eyes.

"Luan! Luan. Tell me what I just heard is not true. Were our parents really-really-really killed…?" Benny asked with wide eyes.

Luan couldn't let a word out. She let out a whimper and then immediately starting sobbing. Benny hugged her and started tearing up. He wiped his tears and looked up into the ceiling, with tears still running on his face.

Lola and Lana cried in Lincoln's stomach as he wheezed and teared up. He sniffled and saw his friends crying in the distance, with the exception of Rusty. He had to stay strong for his little brother and he didn't think all the adults were slaughtered. Clyde was shocked and was not too sure if his parents were among those slaughtered, since he did not see them in the building. Lynn teared up and was comforted by Francisco. Lucy sighed as one tear fell from her face. Darcy walked towards Lisa, carrying her stuffed giraffe.

"Lisa? Why is everyone sad? What happened?" Darcy asked.

"Oh, uh, nothing. Just go to sleep," responded Lisa.

Darcy lied on the floor and fell to a light slumber. Lisa looked down and sighed. She did not know how to explain what occurred to her parents without traumatizing Darcy. However, Darcy was not the only confused person. Leni and Lily, looking around, were wondering why everyone was such in a gloomy mood. Lisa, with her eyes closed, pulled on Lori's clothes and pointed at Darcy. Lori and Bobby walked towards her and lied down next to her, making sure she got a good rest. Everyone else eventually fell asleep, with the exception of Rusty and Rocky, who were looking for a place to escape.

Day 11 started as a cloudy morning, and Rusty and Rocky found a secret key by an icebox that they previously haven't seen. They grabbed the key and inserted it into the bunker door. It indeed made a click, but Rusty left it closed. He waited until everyone woke up. He saw Lincoln waking up and ran to him.

"Hey Lincoln! I unlocked the bunker exit. We can all get out of here! But we gotta wait until everyone is up," Rusty whispered.

"Why wait?" Lincoln whispered back. He then shouted, "EVERYONE! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"

This woke everyone up and made them upset. Some people threw whatever items they could find in the bunker at Lincoln.

"Hey! Stop! I woke up you guys up because I have something important to tell you guys! The exit for the bunker is now unlocked. Now we need a plan before we all go out-" Lincoln was then interrupted by multiple people rushing to get out of the bunker.

A teenager and one of Lori's classmates, Joey, opened the door and dashed out of the bunker with many others. This forced Lincoln and about fifty others to exit the bunker as well. Lori, Bobby, Leni, Lily, Luna, Sam, Tabby, Lincoln, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, Zach, Rusty, Rocky, Liam, Luan, Benny, Lynn, Francisco, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Darcy all banded together.

They left the bunker and saw many walking corpses in the streets. They quickly glanced at Building A, which beared the mark of napalm in some areas, but not as badly burnt to a crisp as the other buildings.

One of the teenagers screamed as the rotters surrounded him and devoured him. Lori grabbed Darcy and covered her eyes. Lola looked away and Benny ran to General Black's station. Luan quickly followed him, realizing that she separated herself from the group. Bobby saw an opening and told everyone to follow him. Everyone ran as fast as they could to Building A, and they all closed the door after they were inside.

"Wait, I only count 21 people. Where is Luan and Benny?" Lori asked in a frightened voice.

Suddenly, they heard rapid and loud knockings on the door. Bobby opened the door and let the two knockers inside quickly before the zombies came in.

"Benny! What are we doing here? We should be with the group!" Luan yelled as she looked around the station.

"I ran here for a reason. Here take this. This will come in handy," said Benny as he handed her an AK-47.

"What?" yelped Luan. "I don't know how to use this!"

Benny grabbed the katana and its scabbard left by General Black in the corner of the room and his German Luger.

"Don't worry. I don't expect you to use it. Just follow my lead."

He opened the basement door and looked around. Luan followed him downstairs and closed her nose. Covering her nose did not help as she threw up when she saw two familiar yet grotesque corpses. Benny realized who these people were and left the room. Luan went upstairs and wiped her mouth.

"I'm going to bust open this door in three seconds. Ready?" asked Benny.

"No! I'm not ready! Benny, do you know what you're doing?" quivered Luan.

"Yes. Hey, Luan. Do you trust me?"

Luan looked at his eyes and nodded her head. Benny counted down to zero from the count of three. Benny opened the door and began slicing the head of the rotters.

"Stay behind me! Not too close though!" Benny yelled as he was decapitating the rotters left and right.

Luan walked slowly towards Benny, but not too closely, and she realized he was slicing his way into Building A. In the ground lied the corpses of four kids that she saw in the bunker. A rotter grabbed her shoulder and she yelped. Benny turned around quickly, pushed the zombie away, and sliced his forehead off. He grabbed Luan's hand and ran to the entrance of Building A.

"Chaz? Carol?! Where is Luan and Benny?" Lori asked.

"I don't know. I think-," answered Carol before being interrupted by Lori.

"I was asking Chaz. Chaz, did you see my sister Luan and her friend?" Lori asked.

"Is Luan the funny one with the braces?" Chaz asked.

Lori nodded.

"Oh, I saw him and her friend run into General Black's station. I have no idea what they are doing in there, though," answered Chaz.

"Neither do I," replied Lori with growing anger on her face.

After a couple seconds, the group heard another knocking. Bobby went to open the door and was met with many corpses on the floors. Then he saw Luan rushing inside the building while holding the AK-47, haven't fired it once. Benny walked inside with a bloody katana and drenched curly hair. He had traces of zombie blood in his face, wiping it off with his sleeves. He closed the door.

"Clyde, your p-p-parents-" stuttered Luan before being interrupted by Lynn.

"We need to go to the cafeteria now. Who knows how many rotters are lurking there?" Lynn said.

Benny headed first and sliced all the living corpses that haunted the cafeteria. However, he ran back and handed Bobby his katana. Luan handed Lori the AK-47. Benny started sobbing on Luan's chest. She looked at the cafeteria and saw one particular zombie. It was Benny's father, whose neck had dried blood all over it. His eyes were golden and his skin was pale.

Luan teared up as Bobby walked solemnly towards the zombie. He held the katana high up in the air, and sliced the zombie's head in half. The zombie dropped to the floor, and Bobby grabbed a table cloth and covered the corpse. He walked back to Benny and offered him his katana back. Benny denied the katana.

The group walked to the cafeteria and were looking at every single corpse that was on the floor. However, none of them were their parents.

"We should look for some food now. Food is very important," sighed Lincoln.

The group found a giant stash of food in the kitchen. It ranged from cans of peaches to cans of meatloaf and other grubs. They grabbed the cans and ate to their heart's desire, with the exception of Luan and Benny.

"You should eat something. It's not good to walk around with an empty stomach," said Lincoln with his mouth full while wiping it with a napkin.

"I'm not hungry," replied Luan, looking down on the white kitchen floor tiles.

"You know, if you're thinking about what happened to Clyde's dads, please don't tell him. It's better if he thinks they weren't brutally murdered and kept in a basement. Maybe it's better for him to think that his parents were captured instead," Lincoln whispered.

Luan looked at him with a shocked expression. Her eyes were wide and her pupils shrunk looking dead at Lincoln.

"How'd you know that? Did-did you go to the basement when you and Lynn and Lana went to the station?" Luan asked.

"Yes."

"Did Lana go downstairs too?"

"Yes."

Luan closed her eyes and begin to think deeply. Was she going to make it to the end? If she couldn't stomach the cruelties of the new world, how can she survive in it? When will her time run out? With this thought, she let out a tear and kept her eyes closed.

"We can't stay here forever," said Lori. "The doors won't hold for longer than a day, with the amount of rotters outside. What do you guys propose we do?"

"We could escape this building through the fire escape," proposed Lincoln.

"Isn't the roof literally bombed to bits?" Lori questioned.

"Yeah. The thing is, we don't have to go to the roof. We could just enter in the room in the first floor, and escape through there. It would lead to the back of the building into an alleyway," said Lincoln while the group huddled up.

"I like this plan. Continue," said Lori.

"The alleyway leads to the street parallel to the street by Building D. However, if you go the opposite way, there is a short fence. On the other side of the fence is another alleyway that I'm sure leads to another street in Detroit. And if I'm not mistaken, that street leads to Vanzilla, and we can get out of this city!" Lincoln said.

The group cheered softly and the people not related to Lincoln complimented his intelligent thinking.

"Wait, wait, wait. What's a Vanzilla?" Sam asked.

"It's the sick van that my dad owned. The only person who can drive it now is Lori," answered Luna.

Lily giggled while clapping her hands and the group regained their spirits. Benny sighed, and got up. He felt he had a job to do. He felt he needed to protect everyone in the group.

"Alright Bobby. You can give me my katana back. I'll protect you guys," said Benny.

"Oh sure man! I'm sure you're pretty badass with this sword!" Bobby said.

"Oh trust me, he is. Without him and his katana, there would be no point in trying to escape. Hahaha! I saw the perfect opportunity for a joke and decided to take a stab at it! Hahaha! Alright, I should cut it out. HAHAHA! I'm on fire right now!" Luan laughed, which instead of annoying the group, it made them laugh and feel better.

"Bollocks! I completely forgot! We got weapons in Vanzilla, remember?" Luna yelled softly.

Lori smiled and said, "That's it. We're going to leave this building at this instant. But that doesn't mean we're going to leave this city. We are going to come back and take back what's ours the best we can. And we can take more! Who's with me?!"

The group cheered and forgot that they were in an apocalypse. Even Carol, who Lori resented, was clapping and was proud of her for taking on a leadership role.

"Who can shoot a gun in here? And I'm not just talking about pulling a trigger," Lori asked.

Benny and Bobby raised his hand.

"Boo-Boo Bear, I already know you can shoot a gun. I'm asking someone else!" Lori whispered, feeling embarrassed now.

Bobby chuckled nervously and was handed the German Luger P08 by Benny. And sure enough, it had ammo.

"It's okay. I already have a weapon," Benny said smiling slightly.

"I only had a little practice with guns when I was younger, but I got the basics in my head. Remember Bobby, save your ammo. Don't spray it!" Lori said while cocking the AK-47.

"Alright babe. Now what do we do?" Bobby asked.

"We head to the first floor," replied Lori. "Benny. You're going to slash any rotters that come towards us. Bobby, watch out for all us too and back up Benny when necessary. Lincoln, you are coming with me to lead all of us out of the building. Everyone else, stay close."

She sighed happily, as she was content with being bossy. The group also loved her bossiness as it was now essential for survival. They all followed her upstairs. Lori let Benny upstairs first to kill any rotters that were waiting for them. Benny only saw one rotter who lacked his legs and looked burnt.

"Crawler..." muttered Benny.

He pointed his katana downwards and thrusted it into the rotter's head. Lori and Lincoln went ahead and stood outside a room.

"Lynn, knock down this door," ordered Lori.

Lynn kicked really hard near the door knob. The door fell down and the group scrambled inside the room. The floor was white and had pieces of debris in the floor. There were mattresses and bags on the floor. Francisco and Lynn checked inside the bags. Lynn found blankets, clothings, and toys, but nothing the group could use. Francisco found some books in a medium-sized black backpack. He dumped it out and out came Enemy of the State, Sleeping Beauties, The Art of War, and The Graveyard Book. Francisco decides to take the backpack and use it as his own to carry supplies.

Lincoln opened up the window that led to the fire escape. The wind was scorching, and the sun was starting to beat on the city. Lincoln and Lori hopped into the fire escape first. Benny and Bobby came after, and then the rest of the group followed.

"Here's the fence!" Lincoln says while he points at a chain link fence about 3 feet high.

Benny watched the group as they each jumped over the fence. Lori grabbed Darcy, while Lana and Lola hopped on Bobby's back while he climbed over the fence. Benny sliced three stragglers that were moving into the alleyway. He then strapped on the scabbard into his back and slid his katana inside the scabbard. He jumped across the fence and caught up with the rest of the group. They saw only two zombies in the street that led to the mandatory parking zone.

"I got this," said Benny as he unsheathed his katana and killed the zombies. "Believe it or not, I'm actually better with a ninjato sword."

The group smiled and Luan stared at him with a rapidly beating heart. They quickly dashed to the parking zone and found many cars.

"Oh crap. My car is right here, but I left my keys in my room," said Chaz.

"Just another reason to return to the buildings," said Lori as she opened the van, with the keys that Lynn Sr. has given to her days before to grab his emergency funny tie.

Lori gave Luna her crowbar, the baseball bat to Lynn, the black shovel to Lucy, the sledgehammer to Lincoln, the heavy wrench to Lana, the small pickaxe to Ronnie Anne, and the pry bar to Luan. She grabbed one of the three golf clubs and gave one to Lola.

"You need to carry a weapon. And I've seen you use one of my golf clubs before, Lola!" Lori scolded.

Lori grabbed the second iron club, and handed it to Clyde, whispering, "Don't be afraid."

Lori, knowing she didn't need the golf club right now, gave her golf club to Francisco.

She handed what was Lynn Sr.'s ice pick to Sam. She handed one of the McBride's hammer to Rusty. Lori handed the other hammer to Liam who showed it off to Tabby. Lori grabbed Bobby's red axe and handed it to Chaz. She also grabbed a flashlight.

"Hey, what about me?" Leni asked.

"You're going to hold Lily. And you're actually going to stay here inside Vanzilla, with the AC on," said Lori.

"W-What about me?" Carol chuckled nervously.

"You? I don't even know why you're still here with us. You can leave the city now," growled Lori.

Carol frowned and looked down. She closed her eyes and started walking away.

"Lori, she just lost her parents like all of us," said Lincoln. "Please don't do that to her."

"Yeah, that's kind of harsh, babe," Bobby told Lori.

"Well, I don't want her around flirting with you and making us both feel uncomfortable," said Lori. She also has no use for the group. She can't contribute! She's literally dead weight!"

Lincoln ran to Carol and stopped her in her tracks.

"Lori. If she wants to make any advances towards me, I will shut her out," said Bobby. "I love you too much to let her destroy our relationship. But you can't punish her like this for something that she did a long time ago."

Lori was surprised that Bobby called her by her name. She wanted to say something else. She wanted to talk about how Carol humiliated her multiple times in front of her friends. She wanted to tell him that it was Carol who ruined her third golf tournament. She wanted to tell him that it was Carol who made up a rumor a few months ago, saying that Lori was cheating on Bobby, almost causing them to break up. However, all this seemed small given the situation they were in.

"Fine," said Lori as she reluctantly walked towards Carol.

Bobby grabbed her arm. Lori looked back with a frown on her face.

"You know I love you right?" Bobby said.

Lori smiled and called out to Carol.

"Fine, my wonderful boyfriend and my wonderful brother convinced me to bring you back. But you are going to listen to everything I say, and no messing around with my boyfriend! Got it?"

Carol nodded her head and wiped her tears as she walked back with the group. The sun rose higher and the air became hotter.

"First thing, first. Leni, you're going to stay inside the van with Lily. I'll turn on the AC for you guys. And remember Leni, no touching anything! Carol, Lisa, Tabby, Zach, Rocky, and Rusty. You guys are staying here inside the van. We will be back in an hour or less," said Lori.

Leni, holding Lily, entered the van. Lisa was holding Darcy's hand and they both entered Vanzilla. Rusty opened the door for Rusty and they both entered. Finally, Carol stepped inside the van, and closed the van. Through the windows, she watched as the group grabbed their weapons and headed back into the city.

"Okay. What are we going to do, exactly?" Lucy asked.

"First, we are going back to Building B to retrieve Chaz's car keys," stated Lori. "Next, we are going to each buildings starting with Building B to get our belongings back. Only the useful things that we need. Then, we move on to the warehouses that Mom and Dad talked about. We grab whatever we might find useful and we come back to Vanzilla."

The group dashed to the entrance of the city. They noticed the destroyed and melted gates. They saw debris from the buildings that were lying near the entrance. Lincoln looked back at Vanzilla. The wide, but empty street reflected the sunlight and shone on the van. It was the symbol of hope for the group.

 **II - Dead City**

"This way, guys," said Lori, pointing at Building B.

Lynn, Francisco, and Benny stepped ahead. Lynn swung her wooden bat on the face of a zombie, crushing its face and brain. Francisco swung the iron golf club at another zombie, smashing his brains too. Benny swung the katana and sliced another rotter's head. Chaz, in the back of the group, swung his axe on the rotter that was sneaking up to the group. Benny opened the door and let the whole group in.

"That was easier than milking a cow," sighed Liam with relief.

"Yeah, that was surprisingly not difficult," said Ronnie Anne.

"Alright, Chaz, Bobby, Liam, and I will go upstairs to get our supplies," said Lori. "The rest of you, stay here. Liam, you said you shared a room with Rusty and Zach's family right?"

"Sure did!" Liam responded.

"Alright, I want you to lead Bobby to your room. You will take whatever you think you and your friends need to survive back in Royal Woods. Bobby will help you out with carrying the supplies."

"Alright, ma'am!" Liam replied.

"Bobby, after you guys are done grabbing his stuff, you guys are going to come back here with the rest of the group. Chaz and I will look for his keys and return to the ground floor too. Got it?" Lori whispered.

"Yes, ma'am," snickered Bobby.

Lori smiled and walked towards Sam.

"Sam, can I borrow your ice pick for a little? I'm not going to carry this gun upstairs. It's a little heavy, and I need to move fast."

"Sure thing, Lori," said Sam, handing over her ice pick while grabbing the AK-47.

Lori's grabbed the ice pick and returned with Chaz, Liam, and Bobby. All four of them headed up the stairs. She turned on the flashlight, and the four of them saw how ashy the stairs looked like. The group looked around the ground floor and found the cafeteria. Some of the members entered the bathrooms.

"My room is on this floor," said Liam.

Bobby gave Lori a quick peck on the lips and ran inside the office room in the 5th floor with Liam. Lori and Chaz ran a little further upstairs and stopped at the 7th floor.

"Here… is… my… room," said Chaz, panting and sweating immensely.

"Alright, Chaz, where are your keys?" Lori asked, sweating a little.

"Just… give… me…. a moment," panted Chaz.

Meanwhile, Liam grabbed two backpacks, one which belonged to him and the other which belonged to Rusty. Rocky and Zach's backpacks were too small to carry enough supplies for the group. Liam handed Rusty's backpack to Bobby. He then started grabbing a couple of things for the group, such as Rusty's acne cream, combs for the guys, blankets, and more. Bobby put as much of the supplies as he could fit in his bag.

"I think that will be all. Let's book it," said Liam.

Chaz finally regained his stamina and started looking for his keys. Lori looked for supplies that the group needed, but she found nothing. Chaz then grabbed one of his jeans that lied on the floor and checked both pockets. He grabbed the keys that were hiding in the left pocket.

"Alright, let's go!" Lori said.

They headed down the stairs with the flashlight on, and met up with Bobby and Liam, who had their backpacks stuffed with supplies and personal belongings. They went downstairs and met up with the group.

"All right, let's go! Here you go Sam," Lori said, handing back the ice pick to her, and grabbing her gun.

"Wait, Lynn is using the ladies' room!" exclaimed Francisco.

"How long has she been there?" Lori asked.

"Umm, about-, oh there she is!" replied Francisco before noticing Lynn coming out of the bathroom.

"Sorry, guys. Did I take too long?" Lynn asked bashfully. "No running water..."

"Not at all. Let's go now," said Lori.

The group dashed out of Building B, and headed for Building C, with Luna killing one zombie. They noticed the gigantic hole in the top of the building, and many shattered windows. They entered inside the building, and found the cafeteria to be completely destroyed. There were many lamps and covers for the fluorescent lights in the floor. The red tables were flipped upside down, some sideways with bullet holes in them. There were many bloody corpses on the floor, all of them shot through the head.

Darcy and Lola shrieked, and clung onto Lori's leg. The corpses that were not on the floor, but instead, walking, were the undead, and were slowly walking towards the group. Ronnie Anne and Lincoln stepped up, one with a small pickaxe, and the other with a sledgehammer.

"Don't forget about me, guys!" said Clyde as he stepped up.

Clyde held his golf club so the club faced upwards. He swung it at a zombie. He hit the zombie in the top of its head and smashed its skull. The zombie, slightly stunned, was struck again. This time, its brain poured out of its shattered skull.

Ronnie Anne struck another rotter, thrusting her pickaxe into its skull, and removing it violently, as the rotter fell to the floor.

Lincoln swung his sledgehammer, knocking a rotter down to the floor. He swung it again, this time to the floor, and smashed its head, causing the blood to squirt everywhere. Liam joined and swung his hammer on a crawler on the floor. Clyde swings his golf club again, this time hitting a rotter crawling due to missing legs.

"Alright guys, Bobby and I are going to take Darcy upstairs. You guys stay down here again," said Lori.

"Grrr. I'm getting bored of staying in the ground floor," grumbled Lucy. "Oh, how nice it sounds to go back home and return to my secret hiding spot."

"It does, doesn't it? Well, not in a secret hiding spot. But we all do want to come back home. I feel your pain too Lucy."

Lori kneeled down and laid her gun down. She looked at Darcy in the eyes and spoke in a soft voice.

"Do you remember where your room is?" Lori asked Darcy.

"Umm. Yeah. It's very close," Darcy said looking up and pointing at the ceiling.

"Okay, Darcy. You can hold my hands as we go upstairs."

"Okay..." Darcy said shyly.

Darcy held Lori's right hand and walked with her upstairs. Lori grabbed her gun and lifted the strap as she put it on, and moved the gun to the left side of her body. She also grabbed the flashlight and held it with her left hand. Bobby walked behind them, holding his Luger. They walked up one flight of stairs when Darcy suddenly tugged on Lori's cargo shorts.

"This is your room?" Lori asked.

"Yeah," replied Darcy.

"Why don't we come inside? While we're in there, can you grab some of your favorite things? We're going back home, but you can't take all of your belongings."

"Okay. Am I going back home to my mommy and daddy?"

Lori and Bobby looked at each other worriedly.

"Nah, not yet, because they are somewhere far away," answered Bobby. "But for now, my girlfriend, Lori, and I will take care of you like your mommy and daddy did."

"They are somewhere far away from this bad place, aren't they? Away from all these scary monsters?"

"Yes, exactly! For now, Lori and I will protect you and make sure those monsters don't get you."

"Okay!" Darcy said, smiling.

She grabbed her stuffed giraffe, Rafo, and her backpack which had a giant cookie inside. Beside the cookie was a rubber cup and extra clothes. Lori looked around the office. She saw a poster of Mick Swagger and a guitar sitting by a wall. Lori knew she also stumbled upon Chunk's room. She looked inside each desk and each pair of clothes. She then lifted up a small mattress and found a pair of car keys. She grabbed it and noticed that Darcy finished packing up her belongings.

"That was… fast. Is there anything else you want to take?" Lori asked Darcy.

Darcy shook her head.

"Are you sure?" Bobby asked.

Darcy nodded her head.

"Okay, then let's go downstairs!" Lori said, smiling.

Bobby and Lori held Darcy's hands as she skipped down the stairs, her purple backpack moving up and down. The three of them met up with the group.

"That was fast!" Lynn said.

"Yeah, we can head to Building D now," said Lori, still holding Darcy's hand.

Benny pushed on the door handle and opened the door for the group to exit. Francisco and Lynn moved ahead of the group and swung their weapons at the rotters rapidly. They cleared a lot of space for the group by killing seven rotters, four killed by Lynn. However, more rotters were coming. The group quickly dashed inside the building and locked the door. A couple rotters were smashing on the door.

"Uh oh," said Lola. "We definitely have a problem."

"Yes, we do," sighed Lori. "We'll worry about it in a minute. For now, we need to get Francisco's belongings, Tabby's belongings, and… Carol's belongings."

"Uh oh. We have a muddier problem," said Lana. "There are about a dozen rotters in this place."

Lana ran up to one, jumped and bludgeoned a rotter in the skull with her heavy wrench. She ran back as the rotters started piling up. Benny moved ahead with his katana, along with Francisco, Lynn, Luna, Sam, Chaz, and Lucy.

"We got this," said Luna.

Luna swung her crowbar at a rotter just as Sam stabbed a rotter in the skull with her ice pick. Lynn whacked two rotters in the head, and Francisco swung his golf club on a rotter that was creeping up to him. Lucy thrusted her shovel on a rotter without hesitation, and did not flinch at the sight of the rotter falling down, flesh splattering everywhere. Chaz swung his axe on a rotter, and chopped off the head of another. Benny thrusted his katana on the stomach of two rotters that were lined up, like a shish kabob. He quickly removed the katana from their stomach and sliced their heads off. He then thrusted his sword on their brains when he saw that they were still moving.

"That is so gross! I don't even know why I'm here!" Lola exclaimed, moving her face away from the rotters being killed.

"Well you gotta learn how to survive in this world, Lola. I believe in your fierceness. Actually, I literally depend on that to help you survive," said Lori.

Lola looked at her and then at Lana. Lana was nodding her head. Lola sighed and smashed an already dead rotter lying on the floor with her golf club. The blood splattered to her dress, and she frowned angrily.

"All right listen everyone!" exclaimed Lori. "Lynn, Francisco, and Benny will go to Francisco's room to retrieve anything he needs! Liam, Lincoln, and I will find Tabby's room and retrieve her belongings. The rest of you will stay here. If any of the rotters enter, kill them and do not hesitate to run upstairs. Understand, everyone? We will be back soon."

The group shouted agreements and words of obedience. Lori turned on the flashlight and went up the stairs. Lynn, Lincoln, Francisco, Liam, and Benny followed her. Benny put the katana back into his scabbard, and prepared to move up the stairs.

"My room is in the sixth floor," said Francisco.

"Tabby told me her room was in the seventh floor," Liam said.

"What about Carol?" Lincoln asked as they were moving upstairs.

"What about her?" Lori asked.

"Aren't we going to get her stuff? Come on, Lori!"

Lori sighed.

"Yes, we're going to get her stuff. What floor is her room?"

"The 17th floor, right below the rooftop."

"Of course. Anything that involves her has to give me HELL!"

Francisco grabbed Lynn's shoulder and smiled at her. Lynn and Francisco came to a stop and dashed inside the room. Benny removed the katana from his scabbard.

"Be careful, guys, just wait for us in your room until we come back from Carol's and Tabby's room," Lori said.

Benny nodded and entered the room, standing guard for any rotter, while Lynn and Francisco look for his belongings.

Lori, Lincoln, and Liam moved up one floor and entered the room. Liam grabbed Tabby's belongings, some which included CDs and a portable CD player. He stuffed them in a backpack and put it on.

"Boy, am I glad that I left my backpack down in the ground floor with the group," said Liam as they left the room.

Lori, Lincoln, and Liam moved down to the sixth floor and entered Francisco's room.

"Liam, you're going to stay with Lynn, Francisco, and Benny while we come back. My sister and I will go to Carol's room," said Lincoln.

"Alright, lad and lassie! Have fun!" Liam replied.

Lori and Lincoln began their climb upstairs. Lori shone the flashlight upstairs and found that some pieces of the stairway are missing. They reached the tenth floor when they were stopped by missing stairs.

"Well, Lincoln. There are two flights of stairs that are missing. And there is a hole in this side of the building," said Lori.

Lincoln looked out of the hole and saw warehouses five blocks from where they were.

"We cannot retrieve Carol's belongings if we can't climb these stairs. Let's leave, Linc."

"Wait! Not so fast, Lori. Don't forget about the fire escape."

"Ugh. Fine."

Lori walked into the office in the tenth floor with her fists clenched. She opened a window. Lincoln stepped inside the room and saw many shattered objects. The wall was ready to break. He walked towards the window and climbed onto the fire escape. Lori turned off her flashlight and put it on her right pocket. They climbed 6 flights of stairs in the fire escape and finally arrived at the top.

"UGH. Lincoln! The window won't budge. And we can't enter through the roof because it is missing! Even the flight of stairs that lead to the roof are missing!"

"Alright, go down the stairs. Not too far, but not too close either. I'm going to swing my sledgehammer on the window and break it."

"Sure. You can try, but I don't think these windows are going to break like that."

Lincoln swung the sledgehammer upwards at the window, and did not shatter it. In fact, he only scratched it.

"Ha! See, I told you Lincoln!"

Lincoln swung it again, but this time more to the center, and he shattered the entire window. Lori's mouth dropped, but she quickly shook her head and just ignored the fact that she was wrong about Lincoln's strength. They both climbed inside the room and saw the destruction inside the room. It was not noticeable from the outside, since there were curtains, but now that they were inside, they saw what happened to the room. There were bullet holes everywhere in the room, and two corpses. Upon closer inspection, Lori noticed that they were not Carol's parents. While Lori was distracted, Lincoln swung his sledgehammer on the rotters killing them both, which snapped Lori out of her daze.

"Lori? Is there something wrong? Oh God, don't tell me I just killed Carol's parents," shuddered Lincoln.

"No, no. They weren't her parents. It's just a random man and random woman. Or were they so random?" Lori asked herself.

She noticed a cassette tape, named 'PARTNER (4/21/90)' lying on the floor. She looked around the room and found a small cassette player, the size of her hand.

"Lori? What is that?" Lincoln asked.

"It's a cassette player. I think this can give us an idea of why the soldiers… massacred the adults," explained Lori.

Lori inserted the cassette tape into the recorder and played it. A voice was heard.

"Hello, this is Tim Crowley here, with my best buddy here, Gerald Brooker," said the voice in the recorder.

"Hey, dudes. You're gonna love his facts and conspiracy theories. This guy is smart," said Brooker.

"Ha, thanks dude. And no I'm not going to do that yet. I'm just going to introduce you man."

"Me? What do you mean?"

"This tape is just for me. This is actually not going to be heard by anyone else."

"Oh nice! Well just in case you need a reminder, future you, 20-year old you knew you were going to crack that Enigma Code."

"Yeah. I already cracked it."

"Dude, really?"

"Yeah."

Laughter was heard through the tape.

"Oh my God. I'm two years older than you and I still can't crack it."

"We're getting off topic here. Anyways, you got a taste of my buddy here. It will be nice reminder. Also, lay off the fatty foods, dude."

"You're really giving your future-self advice?"

"I'm talking to you, Jerry. Bill ain't built like that, so I know it's not the damn genes."

More laughter erupted before the tape ended. Lori looked around the room and searched for another tape. She found a backpack that had about a dozen tapes in it. She grabbed one of the tapes which was named 'The Truth about the Safe-Zone (5/29/16)'. It started with Brooker introducing himself and talking about the safe-zone. Lori realized that this is the taped version of the video they saw yesterday.

"Lori, we can't listen to it all right now. Later, when we are with the group. Right now, we have a job to do," said Lincoln.

"You're right. But one thing is bothering me. These people were not associated with this Tim Crowley guy. They were killed because they lived in the same room as him?"

"I guess so. It would explain the bloodbath in this place," responded Lincoln.

Lori looked down in shame as she realized how close to death Carol was. Luckily, she was already downstairs, when these people were killed, Lori thought to herself.

"Where is Tim Crowley then? How does he even look like…" Lori asked before noticing a photo in the backpack.

It was a photo of a Filipino man with natural male bangs. He was wearing a green polo shirt and gray jeans. He was carrying a small girl, about three years old, in his back. The little girl had red-orange hair, and was smiling. In the background, there was a castle that Lori has seen so many times in the internet, but has not seen in real life. It was the Cinderella Castle of the famous Disney World in Florida. There were many people walking by and the sky was perfectly clear. On the back of the photo, it said, 'VACATION WITH VONDA' with bright blue letters. She then read the date imprinted in the left side of the photo. It was very faint, but she was able to make it out: 10/14/06.

"Look Lincoln. This photo was taken ten years ago. What do you think happened to… I'm assuming this is his daughter… Vonda? She's Lynn's age right now. She should've been noticeable in the bunker with her bright red-orange hair," whispered Lori.

"I don't know. She probably didn't come. She might've been Tim's niece. It's best not to think about it. We gotta go down now."

"No, what if she can help us figure out everything that Tim has been saying? What if she knows why the soldiers killed all the adults? And to think about it, how come we haven't seen all of the parents? What if they're still alive and the soldiers took them somewhere? We gotta hear the tapes!"

"Lori! Calm down. Take a deep breath. I told you, you can hear them when we're back in Vanzilla. For now we gotta get Carol's stuff and then return to the group to go to our building. Understand?"

Lori nodded her head and placed the photo back into the backpack. She carried the surprisingly light backpack and searched around the room. She grabbed some of Carol's clothes and stuffed it into Tim's backpack, which she now has taken ownership of. Lincoln grabbed Carol's cobalt blue backpack and found a polaroid camera inside and a hairbrush. He grabbed her blankets and stuffed them inside the backpack.

"I think we're done here. We can return to the group and head to Building A," said Lincoln.

"Alright. You head outside first. I'll follow."

Lori wore Tim's backpack and carried her AK, following Lincoln as he climbed out the window. As she climbed out the window, she saw smoke. This time however, the smoke was not coming from faraway cities and towns, but rather nearby. She began to climb down the fire escape down to the tenth floor. After arriving at the tenth floor, Lincoln and Lori entered the room and exited it quickly, for they only had a half hour left before the people left behind in Vanzilla start to worry.

"Sorry, we're a little late. We ran into some… strange obstacles," apologized Lori to Liam, Benny, Lynn, and Francisco.

"It's alright lassie. As long as you guys are back, there's nothing to worry about," replied Liam.

"Let's regroup with the rest of the group!" Lori said.

After a couple minutes, the group started worrying. They wondered what was taking the group so long. They were unaware that Lori and Lincoln took an additional ten flights of stairs to retrieve the items of the girl that Lori despises.

"Uhhhh, dudes?" uttered Luna. "What do you think we should do? They haven't been back in like 10 minutes."

"We stay put. Don't worry guys. I trust Lori and her leadership. When she says she will be back, she will be back. We don't do anything yet. We trust her first," responded Bobby.

"What if they don't come back in the next few minutes?" Luna asked.

"Then… I guess we go upstairs and look for them. You know what, why wait? You're right. I'm worried sick about them!" Bobby answered.

"Guys! I think the door is about to give out!" Chaz yelled.

The door collapsed, and Chaz threw his axe at the rotter that knocked down the door. The axe missed and hit the wall. One rotter, two rotters, four rotters, and more flooded inside the building. Luna and Sam came to the group's defense and started smashing zombie brains. However, there were a lot more zombies flooding in, too much for Luna and Sam to handle. Chaz dashed to the stairwell as well as Lola and Lana. Bobby ran to Luna and Sam and grabbed their shoulders, telling them to follow him. Ronnie Anne and Clyde ran with Bobby along with Darcy too. Luan ran to Lucy who was fighting off the rotters with her shovel by the corner of the building, next to a dying fern.

"Lucy! Lucy! Stop! We gotta get out! Lucy! Can you hear me?!"

Luan shrieked when two zombies closed in on her, attempting to grab her. She grabbed Lucy's hand and attempted to escape through the stairwell. However, she realized that they were trapped, and Lucy had a few dozen zombies to fight off in order to clear an entrance for them. Luan cried for help and grabbed a nearby table. She flipped the table sideways facing the small herd of rotters. Lucy thrusted her shovel as quickly as she can, picking off the rotters that were getting too close. This proved to be too much for Lucy to handle, and the rotters began to climb over the table. For the first time ever, Lucy was frightened, not by the rotters, but instead for Luan. Suddenly, they saw Benny slice his way to the corner. Benny grabbed Luan's hand, who grabbed Lucy's hand and they ran very quickly to the stairs and upwards.

"Are you okay? Did they scratch you, bite you, anything?" Benny asked Luan and Lucy quickly.

"No, we're fine," sighed Lucy, not out of despair, but out of relief.

Luan was still catching her breath. She was sweating intensely, which showed as her protruding hairs were drooping downwards.

"Luan! Did anything happen to you? Please tell me you didn't get bit," exclaimed Benny.

"I… didn't… get… bit," panted Luan. "I'm just… catching my breath… whoo!"

Benny sighed in relief. He looked down the stairs and saw the rotters filling up the floor. He signaled both girls to enter the room in the first floor. There they saw the rest of the group.

"We gotta escape through the fire escape again? I don't want to walk around the city again!" Lola complained.

"No, Lola! That was only for Building A! This one leads us to an alleyway pointing towards the alleyway we escaped through earlier!" Lincoln said.

"Alright, let's drop by Building A and quickly grab our last belongings! Then, we loot the warehouses. Finally, we escape this city and head back to Royal Woods!" Lori yelled, boosting the group's morale.

Lincoln and Lori headed to the fire escape first, while the rest of the group followed. They quickly made their way downstairs while the rotters were still inside the building. Each of them jumped down to the alleyway and ran very quickly to the entrance of Building A. The streets were clear, so it was very easy for the group to make their way inside.

After, the last group members made their way inside, Benny locked the doors and walked straight to the stairways, ignoring the remains of the bloody massacre that happened the day earlier.

"Benny, slow down!" Lori ordered.

Benny stopped at the stairways and put his katana back into his scabbard. He sat down in one of the stairs and held his head with his hands.

"Alright, everyone is going upstairs. Francisco, you go with Sam to her room. Chaz and Liam, you are going with Benny to his room to help him grab his stuff. The rest of us are going upstairs to the 14th floor. Sam, what floor is your room at?" Lori asked.

"The seventh floor," replied Sam.

"Benny, what floor is your room at?" Lori asked.

"The second floor," replied Benny with his eyes closed.

"Alright, those who are going with Sam and Benny are going to stay in their rooms until we come back downstairs to retrieve you guys. Remember, there is only one flashlight to go around."

Benny stood up and climbed up the stairs. The group lifted their foot and stepped on every single step. Chaz, Liam, and Benny stopped after climbing two flights of stairs. They quickly dashed inside the room.

"Alright, I want you guys to grab my father's backpack and put the blankets in there," said Benny as he grabbed some of his clothing and stuffed them in his backpack.

"Yes sir!" Liam and Chaz said in unison.

"Oh crap! My soda!" Benny said while picking up a Fizz soda can.

Opening the soda can, fizz splashed everywhere in his shirt and started dripping to the floor. Benny took a sip and set the soda down.

"Dudes. Can you look away? I gotta put on a new shirt," said Benny sheeply.

Meanwhile, the group arrived at the seventh floor where Francisco and Sam stopped. They ran inside the room, only to not find a room at all. Francisco and Sam flinched at the sight, stumbling as they realized they almost fell to their death.

"Oh no dudes! M-m-my stuff!" Sam cried out.

The group looked inside the room only to see outside the building. The room only had a few meters of flooring left at the entrance of the room. The ceiling was missing and the floor was missing as well. Debris from the eighth floor lied on the fifth floor where it actually had a floor. The fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth floor were directly hit by the napalm the night before.

"Woah. Did you lose anything important?" Luna asked.

"No, it's okay, I really didn't have anything important with me besides my guitar. All my belongings are still in Royal Woods," sighed Sam.

The breeze blew softly on Sam's face as she stared at the city intensely. The rotters were wandering around in the city. However, she got a closer look at the neighboring buildings. There were a lot of rotters walking out of the buildings. She sighed and went back with the group. They continued their climb upstairs to the 14th floor.

"Huh. That was fast," said Lynn breathing quickly.

The others were sweating intensely. Heat was trapped in the stairwell, draining their energy. They entered the room, and noticed that the windows were shattered.

"Grab your stuff and wait until everyone is done! Sam, Francisco, and Darcy. You guys can just relax and cool down," ordered Lori.

Everyone were packing up their clothes, blankets, and towels. Each one took something special with them too.

"Ace Savvy comics to pass the time," said Lincoln.

"Don't forget about the comics featuring One-Eyed Jack!" Clyde added.

"Ugh. You guys are nerds," said Ronnie Anne as she stuffed her favorite sweater inside her backpack.

"I know right? Honestly, Lincoln and Clyde, I don't see how you guys read those things," said Lynn as she stuffed a jock strap inside her backpack.

"Hey, don't be so mean on the bros. I'm sure reading comics is fun!" Bobby said while putting a blue hat inside his backpack.

"If it is so fun, then why don't you try reading some comics?" Lori giggled, as she stuffed her phone on her backpack and a hairbrush in Leni's backpack.

"I might! Doesn't Chaz read Ace Savvy? And I remember, Becky and Joey did too!"

"Comics make me hurl!" Lola said as she put a tiara in her small backpack.

"Mmm. Hurl," said Lana as she stuffed her lucky booger inside her bag.

"Why not read poetry instead? My poems specifically," suggested Lucy, showing off her poetry book before she slid it carefully inside her backpack.

"Comics are bad, but poems are verse! Hahaha! Get it? I'm joking Lucy," laughed Luan while putting notebook filled with jokes inside her backpack.

"I agree with Bobby. I mean, come on! Comics can't be that terrible," said Luna, carrying her acoustic guitar and Lisa's backpack.

"Thank you, Luna. I think we're all done," said Lincoln.

"Indeed we are. It's time to head to the warehouses," said Lori, peeking outside the window to find a military vehicle, then taking out Carol's camera. "Wait. Just one more thing."

Lori placed the viewfinder of Carol's Polaroid Land Camera 1000 close to her eye and pointed the camera at the faraway distance, covering most of the city. She snapped a picture of the city and grabbed the photo. She stuffed it on her pocket quickly and stuffed the camera in Carol's backpack.

"Sam, can you carry this?" Lori asked, holding Carol's backpack.

"Sure thing," replied Sam, grabbing Carol's backpack.

"And Francisco, can you do me a favor and carry Leni's backpack?" Lori asked.

"Yeah," replied Francisco, grabbing Leni's backpack. "Kinda light..."

"So is no one going to ask where Lori got that camera?" Lana blurted out.

"Or why she took a random picture at a random time?" Lola added.

"I've seen that camera somewhere before," said Bobby.

"Oh you did? Tell me more about it in the van," said Lori.

The group started walking downstairs. Lori turned on the flashlight and pointed at the ceiling. The flashlight was very strong, so even though Lori was not pointing it ahead, the light was strong enough to light the way. They walked downstairs quickly, trying to escape the heat.

"There you guys are. We're heading to the warehouses now?" Chaz asked.

"Yes. I have a plan. But let's leave the stairwells first. I'm literally dying here," said Lori.

"Hmm, are they back yet?" Leni asked.

"No. They said they shouldn't take more than an hour, and it's only been 52 minutes and 9 seconds. I suggest being patient," responded Lisa.

"Being patient? Are we going to the doctor's?" Leni asked.

"What?" Carol asked with a confused look.

"Don't ask. Just don't," Lisa told Carol.

"Wow, Benny what a nice shirt. I thought you wore nothing else other than button shirts," giggled Luan.

Benny smiled and looked once again at his gray t-shirt with white stripes on the shoulder-level part of his shirt.

"Eh, I spilled some soda on the other shirt," said Benny. "Kinda had to wear this."

"Okay, so here is the plan. Bobby, Darcy, Ronnie Anne, and I are going on one of the military vehicles. A properly working one. The rest are going to follow Benny's lead to the warehouse, grab whatever you think is necessary, and stuff it in the vehicle. Whenever you guys are done, you will once again, follow Benny's lead back to Vanzilla, where we will meet you guys. Got it?" Lori stated.

"Yes, ma'am!" everyone replied.

 **III - Escape from Detroit**

Lori grabbed Darcy's hand while Benny and Lynn jumped in front of the group. Benny opened the door and sliced the rotters that waited for them. Lynn smashed all the crawling rotters clawing their way inside the building with three ferocious swings. The streets were filled up with crawlers, so Lori and Darcy zoomed past the buildings. They headed north of General Black's station, passing by all the shelters and the entrance. There was a chain link fence, prohibiting Lori and Darcy from passing.

"Ronnie Anne, I need you here!" yelled Lori.

"Coming! Come on Bobby, let's go!"

Bobby and Ronnie Anne dashed ahead of the group and arrived at the chain link fence.

"What is it?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"I need your pickaxe," said Lori.

Ronnie Anne handed Lori her pickaxe. Darcy ran to Bobby and away from Lori. Lori faced the lock holding the chain link fence together and swung the pickaxe with great force. The lock snapped and fell to the ground near Lori's bloody flats. She handed Ronnie Anne her pickaxe back. Lori pushed the right chain link fence further to the right. Bobby moved ahead and pushed the left chain link fence to make space for the group to enter. The group entered the northern street and looked around quickly. They saw remains of buildings that were burnt to the ground and potholes from the heat and impact of the napalm bombs themselves.

"There!" Lori yelled to the group as she spotted warehouses ahead of her, about five blocks away.

"Let's go, guys!" Benny yelled, taking charge now.

The group ran off to the warehouses with the exception of Ronnie Anne, Bobby, Darcy, and Lori. The four of them walked to a military Humvee, capable of carrying boxes of supplies. However, it was empty.

"Bobby? Ronnie Anne?" called out Lori. "Can you guys kill any rotter that comes our way? I need to find the keys to this thing."

"Humvees don't have keys, Lori," informed Ronnie Anne. "They use switches. Search for the switch."

"Oh okay, thanks!" Lori laughed bashfully.

Ronnie Anne lifted her pickaxe and Bobby held his pistol tight. He aimed at an incoming rotter and shot at it. He missed and he shot again, this time hitting it in the head.

"Found it! Come here, Darcy," Lori said as she grabbed the little girl and placed her in the backseat.

Ronnie Anne ran around the vehicle and sat in the passenger seat. Bobby went inside the backseat portion of the Humvee and closed the door. He held Darcy tight. Lori turned on the switch.

"What's the orange light for?" asked Lori.

"Nothing," replied Ronnie Anne. "You just gotta wait until it goes away. After it goes away you crank the engine by pulling the lever to your right. Then, you gotta put this thing on drive by releasing the handbrake. Then, drive!"

"Really? That sounds kinda complicated. Where did you learn all that anyways?" asked Lori.

"I wanted to join the military when I was younger. I read some books and did my research. But being a chef sounds more interesting."

The orange light disappeared. Lori cranked the lever and released the handbrake on the vehicle. She pressed on the gas pedal and started driving. Lori laughed softly.

"Looks like your research came in handy, Ronnie Anne!" said Lori.

Lori drove away from the rotters that were closing in on the Humvee and slowly moved up the street. The group were already searching through boxes of supplies when Lori and the others arrived at the warehouse.

"Can someone update me on what you guys found?" exclaimed Lori.

"We found mattresses, bottles, dining utensils, chairs, lamps, blankets, socks, clothing, shoes, tools, toys, and baby cribs," said Benny.

"Alright, let's search the next warehouse!" said Lori.

The group moved to the warehouse on the right. Bobby opened the warehouse door and what sat there surprised the group. There were a couple remaining crates of guns, grenades, batteries, walkie-talkies, ammunition, army clothing, medical packs, and three bulletproof vests.

"Alright, grab as many crates as you can and store them inside the Humvee!" ordered Lori.

The group worked quickly to store the crates inside the back trunk of the Humvee. Wooden crates after wooden crates, the trunk became full and the group could not find any more crates inside the warehouse. Lori moved to the driver's seat and Ronnie Anne moved to the passenger seat.

"Lola and Lana!" called Lori. "You can come with us. I'm sure you guys don't want to run back to Vanzilla."

Lola and Lana hopped in the backseat with Darcy and Bobby. They smiled at each other and wiped their sweat with their clothes. Lori rolled down her window.

"Benny! Here is a walkie-talkie, just in case of an emergency. I'm going to drop off the kids at Vanzilla and store our supplies in one of our vehicles. Watch yours and the group's back."

"Will do. See you in a minute, Lori," said Benny.

Lori drove off, and Benny was once again in charge of Chaz, Luna, Sam, Luan, Francisco, Lynn, Lincoln, Clyde, Liam, and Lucy. Lori maneuvered her way through the narrow circular street around General Black's station. She got closer to the entrance and made a sharp right turn.

"Ok, where are they?" Tabby asked.

"I don't know, but they are five minutes late," said Lisa.

"Being late to the doctor's is not so fun you know! I'm feeling anxious already!" said Leni.

"We're not going to the doctor's, Leni," replied Lisa.

"Oh, look! Duck! Hide! There's a military vehicle coming!" shouted Carol.

Carol grabbed Leni, who was holding Lily, and hid her behind Vanzilla, along with Lisa, Tabby, Rusty, Rocky, and Zach. The Humvee came closer to the parking lot and drove along 8-Mile Road. Suddenly, the Humvee came to a stop.

"Why did they stop? Do they know we're here?" whispered Zach.

"I don't know! Hopefully not!" whispered Tabby.

"Oh no! Where is everybody?" Lori asked.

"That voice sounds kinda like Lori," whispered Carol.

"Bobby, where did they go?" said Lori in a panicked tone.

Carol took a peek and found Lori standing inches away from Vanzilla. She sighed and got up from her hiding spot.

"AH! What the hell, Carol! Why'd you do that?" angrily yelled Lori.

"Well, we– we saw a– y-y-your car, I mean– I mean truck. And we thought that-that-that..." stuttered Carol.

"You thought what, Carol?!"

"Hey, go easy on her!" said Tabby. "We thought that you were one of the soldiers who remained in the city. We hid because, well, we didn't wanna get killed."

"Oh. Well, moving on. I need help storing some crates. I brought Chunk's car keys."

"Who's Chunk?," gulped Carol.

"You can drive, right?" asked Lori.

Carol nodded.

"Of course you can. You're driving Chunk's car, and we're putting all of our supplies inside his car."

Meanwhile, Benny and the others walked quickly south of the road, although they were really heading north in a global perspective. They encountered a dozen rotters and put them down quickly. Looking around the street again, Sam noticed something. She noticed that the doors of the buildings she looked at earlier were broken. She started breathing heavily and look around. As they walked closer to the shelters, she noticed an enormous herd of zombies.

"Run!" shouted Sam.

The group saw the herd of zombies and stopped dead on their tracks. They quickly snapped out of their stupor and dashed to the chain link fence.

"Guys! Head to the street by Building B and Building C! Go! Go! Go!" yelled Benny as he took out his walkie talkie.

Another herd of rotters arrived from the street parallel to Building B and C. The herd were closing in on the group. All of them, except for Chaz, were fighting off the rotters. Luan looked at her yellow pry bar and decided to kill her first rotter. She shuddered as the blood splattered into her arms. The necessity of killing the rotter overcame her urges to vomit.

"So, why his car? I mean, is it going to fit?" Carol asked while putting the crates inside Chunk's Toyota Highlander.

"Of course it's going to fit. It is a pretty big car," replied Lori.

"Heh. What about the passengers?"

"Oh, did you literally think you were driving with other people? No, you have an important job. You are carrying all of our supplies. Nothing is forgiven, and this is the consequences of your actions, just in case you wanted to know."

"Help! Lori! We need some serious backup! We are trapped by a giant herd! Please help!" Benny screamed in the walkie-talkie.

Lori ran quickly to the Humvee.

"Carol, take care of the others. Bobby! Ronnie Anne! Lola! Lana! Get over here now!" Lori shouted.

They quickly went inside the vehicle, retaining their seats. Lori turned on the switch, which showed the orange light. She looked at Ronnie Anne who looked back with a panicked expression.

"Ugh. To hell with the orange light," said Lori as she started driving the vehicle.

She made a sharp left turn and found the enormous herd. She also found the group struggling to fight off the herd. There were new faces though. It was the others who escaped from the bunker, who decided to take shelter in neighboring buildings. Now that the herd was broken free, those buildings were not safe anymore.

"Here comes Lori! Huddle together!" yelled Benny.

Only those who belonged in Benny's group listened as the other kids and teenager attempted to escape. One kid was grabbed by the leg and was chomped there, a bite mark exposed to the smoky air. He fell and was bit by another rotter in his left arm. Soon, ten rotters closed in on the boy and devoured him. Another kid was grabbed by her hair by a rotter. Another rotter came and sunk its teeth on her neck. She struggled to scream and instead of yelling in agony, she was choking on her blood. A teenager, around Luna's age, and with blonde hair, was bit in the arm by a rotter, who shoved the biter away from her. She covered her right arm, and continued running.

"Take cover!" Lori yelled as she drove into the street.

Benny's group hid behind General Black's station. Bobby climbed onto the mounted gun and started firing on the rotters. Lori ran over the rotters and circled around the station.

"Run to Vanzilla! Go now!" Lori shouted at the group.

Benny's group quickly fought their way closer to the entrance. Benny sliced all the rotters that stood in his way. Lynn bludgeoned the head of any rotter in front of her. Francisco swung Lori's club to the rotters standing in his direction. Lucy slammed her shovel on the rotters trying to grab her skin. Lori drove the Humvee closer to the entrance and got out of the car. Lola and Lana killed any rotter that got close to the Humvee. Bobby continued firing at the rotters that were a little bit far away from the group.

Lori took a deep breath, cocked her AK-47, quickly aimed at the rotters and shot at them. Many of the hundreds of rotters were killed. The group ran past Lori as she continued firing at the rotters. She ran out of ammo quickly, and headed back to the Humvee. Lola and Lana entered the vehicle, along with Liam and Clyde, who were very exhausted. Lori let the group run ahead of the Humvee, and towards the parking zone. Bobby kept firing at the rotters and killed dozens of them. Once the group arrived at 8-Mile Street– the street that represented the border of the safe-zone– Lori drove towards them.

Bobby got a peek of the thousands of rotters that were tearing apart the fences and gates in the distance. He climbed back inside the vehicle and wiped off his sweat with his shirt.

"Oh my God. There are thousands of them. We gotta leave. Now!" Bobby said, breathing heavily.

Lori and the passengers inside the Humvee arrived at the parking zone at the same time as the group did. Lori quickly put the remaining crates inside of Carol's vehicle.

"Chaz, start your car now! Take Tabby, Rusty, Rocky, and Liam, with you!" Lori ordered.

"Yes, Lori!" Chaz said.

Tabby went to the passenger seat, while the boys went in the backseat. Chaz started his car and nodded to Lori. Lori started Vanzilla. She looked at the mirror and quickly made sure that they were all there. She drove as soon as she saw that Leni, Lily, Luna, Sam, Benny, Luan, Lynn, Francisco, Clyde, Zach, Ronnie Anne, Lucy, Lola, Lana, Bobby, Darcy, and Lincoln, who was riding shotgun, were all accounted for. She drove along the road and made a sharp right turn away from the herd that were getting closer and closer to the border. Chaz followed behind Vanzilla, and Carol followed behind Chaz's car. Lori drove through the vulnerable gate that had sealed the fate of many people.

"Finally. We finally escaped that hell-hole," thought Lori.

Everyone inside the van sighed heavily in relief, even Lily. They looked back at the city of Detroit, and only saw hopelessness.

"Lincoln, can you pull out one of the cassette tapes? Start with the oldest one, and play it on the cassette player," asked Lori.

Bobby looked at the bloody streets that led to Detroit and found many corpses littered around. Some of the rotters roamed around the area, unable to escape the maze of metal cars. Bobby placed his head back inside, finding familiar faces that destroyed him inside. He couldn't say anything yet, though.

Lori braked slowly on the van, and opened up her window. Chaz stopped his car next to her's.

"What's wrong?" asked Chaz.

"Nothing. Just take this walkie-talkie, and keep it on. I got something important that you want to hear," said Lori as she handed the walkie-talkie to Tabby.

Lori closed the driver's side window and drove ahead. Lincoln played the cassette recorder and held the walkie talkie. The cassette tape was labeled 'I (2/03/88)'

"Hello, guys. I'm Tim Crowley and I'm 18 years old. I'm entering the University of Michigan College of Engineering. You know, gotta stay close to home right? Speaking of which, I didn't live in Ann Arbor my whole life. I was born and raised in Detroit, and a lotta stuff happened there. My dad, who I barely knew anything about, was killed there. My mom had a hard time raising me alone since there was not a lot of money to go around in the family. I grew up researching about the government and news, and I became very interested in conspiracy theories. This inspired me to chase an honest career, engineering. To go further into detail…"

The tape went on for five more minutes, with Tim revealing a lot of details of his life. By the end of the tape, everyone in the van fell asleep, except Lori, Bobby, and Luan. Darcy was napping on Bobby's ribcage. Lynn and Francisco were snoring on each other's shoulders. Lincoln's face lied on the car window. Ronnie Anne was also sleeping on Bobby's ribcage, but on the opposite side of where Darcy slept. Clyde and Zach slept well, with their head lying on the headrest of their seat. Leni and Lily were sucking their thumbs while asleep. Sam snored, while Luna slept on her lap. Lana and Lola's heads were together and they napped like cats after a long day of licking themselves. Lisa slept peacefully, next to Darcy, and next to her was Lucy, who Lori wasn't even sure was sleeping. Luan looked at Benny, who had his eyes closed, and sighed heavily. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him in the right cheek. Benny opened his eyes slowly and looked at Luan, her face starting to blush.

"What was that for?" Benny whispered, smiling softly.

"It… it was for saving my life. You know, a little thank-you," whispered back Luan.

"No problem," whispered Benny.

Benny brought Luan's head close to his chest and fell back to sleep. Luan's heart was beating very rapidly and she closed her eyes, falling asleep. Lori looked at them through the mirror and smiled. Bobby looked at the mirror and found himself shaking.

 **IV - Our People**

Inside Chaz's car, Tabby slept on the car window. Rusty, Rocky, and Liam slept on each other's shoulders. Lori kept driving with her hands gripped on the steering wheel, maneuvering the van slowly so it would not hit the cars on the way. Her maneuvering went on for an hour, even taking many turns away from her hometown before finally arriving in Royal Woods. She headed to Franklin Avenue, where there were a few stragglers wandering around.

Lori parked the van on the driveway of her home and exited it with Bobby. Chaz parked outside of Mr. Grouse's house and Carol parked behind him. Lori grabbed her AK-47 and held the strap around her shoulder and walked towards the stragglers. Knowing that she had no ammo, she carried the gun anyways since it made her feel safer. She took out her golf club, which she swiped from Francisco a few hours earlier without his acknowledgement and swung it on a rotter's head. Bobby took out his pistol and watched as Lori swung on the rotters. Suddenly, Bobby heard the blades of a helcopter tearing through the sky, alarmed and nervous. Lori held her rifle and aimed it at the sky, trying to figure where the noise was coming from. Lori pointed at the direction of Ketcham Park.

"Bobby, did you hear where that came from?" whispered Lori.

"Yeah. What's a helicopter doing there? You don't think it belongs to… General Black?" whispered back Bobby.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands up in the air!" yelled a deep male voice.

Bobby and Lori turned around. Chaz got out of his car.

"What the– ow!" Chaz yelled as he got pinned down.

A 38-year old woman with blonde hair tied back in a ponytail held Chaz's face down in the ground. She wore a light brown safari vest over her white tank top, gray cargo pants, and black combat boots. She was about Rita's height and was fit enough to snap Chaz's arms in less than two seconds. Her visor hat matched the color of her vest and gave her blue eyes some shade.

"What's going on?" Carol whispered to herself.

She got out of the car and saw a man pointing a gun at Lori and Bobby. Another man pinned her down to Chunk's SVU, lifted her left arm, and made her yelp in fright and pain. The 42-year old man that kept Carol's head on the window had short textured blond hair. He wore a gray safari vest over his brown buttoned t-shirt. He wore green camouflage cargo pants and a green belt to hold it. Below his pants were brown combat boots. He was a little taller than Lynn Sr., and was as fit as the woman.

"What did I say? Drop your weapons… and put your hands up in the air!" yelled the 45-year old man, pointing his Beretta M9 pistol at the young couple.

The man was as tall as Lynn Sr. and had short army-cut styled black hair. He wore a navy blue t-shirt which wrapped around his muscles, gray cargo pants, and black combat boots, which wrapped around the lowest part of his pants. He also wore a small black watch on his left wrist and dog tags around his neck. His face was somewhat starting to wrinkle and there was a small horizontal scar on the left side of his forehead.

Lori swiveled her eyes at Bobby in fear, set her assault rifle down in the ground, and raised her hands up. Bobby placed his pistol in the ground, gulped a large lump of nervous fluids, and placed his hand up.

"Hope you don't mind me asking where you got these weapons," said the man, staring at Lori and Bobby's panicked expression. "Well, are you going to tell me or what?"

"We– we got them from the city," said Lori.

"Where from the city?"

"A military station."

Lisa woke up and stretched, squinting before putting on her glasses. She took a glimpse of the activity going on outside the van. She immediately opened up her eyes from the deep slumber and tapped on Benny's shoulder. Benny yawned and arose from his nap.

"What is it, Lisa?" Benny whispered.

"Look outside!" whispered back Lisa.

"Ohh… shit."

Benny grabbed his katana and slowly opened the door. However, it was not as quiet as he expected and his heart began to race. He crouched and snuck into the the back of the van, where he sees the man holding Lori and Bobby at gunpoint, meters away. He quickly dashed towards the man, ready to slice his hands when, suddenly, the man takes out another M9 with his left hand and points it at Benny. Benny stops in his track.

"Drop it. Now," said the man.

Benny dropped his katana and scowled at the man. The others were awoken by the noise outside, now that a door was open. They all realized what was going on and stared at the man, each survivor holding their breath. Then, they noticed Benny held at gunpoint as well as Lori and Bobby.

"No! Benny!" whispered Luan.

"What do you want from us?" asked Benny.

"I'm gonna ask you guys a serious question. Where did you really get those weapons?"

"We told you, a military station!" replied Lori.

The man looked at the kids in Vanzilla and lowered his gun. He put the guns back inside his gun holsters.

"Are you guys familiar with the name, Quentin Black?" asked the man.

"Quentin Black? As in General Black? The murderous psychopath? That General Black?" Lori asked back.

The man looked at the woman and the other man and nodded at them. The woman released her grip on Chaz and helped lift him up. The taller man released his grip on Carol's arm. Carol fixed her hair and took a deep breath.

"I'm terribly sorry, kids, but you know, better safe than sorry," said the man. "We don't mean any harm. And yes, I'm talking about the one and only General Black. We thought that you might be connected to him, as I saw those weapons you had."

"Can we get our weapons back?" asked Benny.

"Sure, go ahead. I can be sure that you guys won't kill us right? It was a mistake, and I figure you kids can do no damage."

Benny picked up his katana, Lori picked up her AK-47, and Bobby picked up his Luger.

"Who's in charge of this group?" asked the man.

Benny and Bobby looked at Lori, as she walked closer to the man. The woman and the other man walked slowly to the man in charge.

"So it's you. What's your name?" asked the man.

"Lori. Lori Loud. This guy here is my boyfriend, Bobby Santiago, and that guy is my sister's friend, Benny."

"I'm David. David Jones. Not Davy Jones, the ghost pirate."

"I'm Missy Bolts. Nice to meet you. This is my husband," said the blonde woman.

"I'm Richard Bolts. Pleased to meet you, Lori," said the blond man walking to Lori for a handshake.

Lori shook his hand slowly and suspiciously looked at the three of them. She looked at her group and nodded. The group slowly came out of the van. Upon seeing this, Tabby, Rusty, Rocky, and Liam came out of Chaz's car.

"How did you guys know about General Black?" asked Lori.

"That's what we were going to ask you. Questions later. First thing first, you gotta go back to your shelter," replied David.

"Where are you guys heading?" Lori asked.

"We're going inside that house," said David, pointing at a familiar house.

"That belongs to my neighbor, Mr. Grouse."

"Well, I don't know who that is, but it was empty when we went inside. There were bullet holes and dried blood everywhere, though."

Lori looked at Lana in worry. Lana looked at her and started tearing up.

"What about any pets?" asked Lori.

"I saw many dead reptiles. However, there was a dog named Charles, and I've been taking care of it, before a dead one scared it away," replied David.

Lana wiped her tears, looked in the ground, and closed her eyes. Lola rubbed her shoulder slowly and comforted her.

"What about a cat?"

"Didn't see one. Why does this matter? What matters most is that we need to hide quickly, before they come. And if I'm not mistaken, you just said this house belonged to your neighbor?"

"Yes. Who are we hiding from?"

"Where do you live? Is it that messy house? You did park your van in that particular driveway."

"Yes, that house is where I live. Who are we hiding from again?"

"Let's go inside and I'll answer all your questions. I promise you, what happened earlier was a mistake. We really don't mean any harm."

Lori took out her keys and opened the door. The group entered with their supplies and weapons. David, Richard, and Missy walked inside the house and looked around.

"Alright, guys, you can put all the supplies in the kitchen," said Lori. "Stay in the kitchen. I want to ask them all sorts of questions. And no horsing around!"

David looked at the children follow Lori's orders without hesitation. Bobby grinned.

"She gets it from her mother," said Bobby.

David, Richard, and Missy sat in the couch. Lori closed the door and stood in front of the trio.

"Wait, first, can you introduce everyone?" asked Missy.

"Sure thing. This is my brother, Lincoln. These one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine girls are my sisters. The light blonde with the sunglasses is Leni."

Leni smiled and waved nervously.

"The one in purple is Luna."

She threw up the sign of the horns with her hands and grinned.

"The one with the braces and ponytail is Luan."

Unable to raise her hands, she simply decided to smile softly.

"The other one with the ponytail is Lynn."

She had her arms crossed and she winked.

"The one in all black is Lucy."

She kept her blank expression.

"The one twin with the overalls is Lana and the other look-a-like with the pink dress is Lola."

Both girls held each other's hand, while using their free hands to wave.

"The one with the glasses is Lisa."

Lisa shifted her glasses and crossed her arms.

"My baby sister which Leni is holding is Lily."

"As for the others… some of which are my brother's friends. The one with the glasses is Clyde. The boy with the orange bowl haircut is Liam. The other redhead is Rusty and his little brother Rocky. The girl with the purple streak on her hair that looks like Luna is Tabby. The girl wearing the purple sweater around her waist is my boyfriend's sister, Ronnie Anne."

Lori wrapped her arms around Leni's shoulder.

"Our friend is right there with the hat going backwards– Chaz. The girl with the blue streak on her hair is Luna's friend, Sam. This little cutie pie, is Darcy. And other guy with the backwards hat is Lynn's friend Francisco."

"And I'm Carol Pingrey. I know them."

"I wouldn't trust her around your husband, Missy," whispered Lori.

"Okay, what questions do you have for us?" asked David.

"Who are we hiding from? How do you know Quentin Black? What do you know about him? Why did you confront us like that?" asked Lori, bombarding David with questions.

"Okay, okay. Slowly. We're hiding from General Black's soldiers. I wouldn't even call them _soldiers_ since they broke the very mission they were supposed to serve. Anyone in the military heard about Black. He's seen as a goddamn hero by many! I know a lot about him. He's a psychopathic, evil mistake of a man. He will kill anyone who stands in his way."

"Like Tim Crowley and his friend, Gerald Brooker."

"Yes, that crazy conspiracy theorist– who now that I think about– is not such a nuthead after all. He died?"

"Yeah, we went to his room and found blood everywhere. I think he was killed along with his buddy. General Black called them "terrorists". They were just trying to get the truth out. And they got killed for it. Along with all the adults that were in the safe-zone with us."

"In Detroit? Yes, that was a big mistake. There was a plan leaked by Tim Crowley about bombs ready to drop in Detroit. He tried to free all of you, the best he could. However, you're wrong about one thing. He did _not_ kill all the adults there," said David, emphasizing the last part.

"He didn't?" asked Lori.

"No. Now I confronted you guys like that because I saw you guys holding General Black's prized weapons and I got shook up. Thought you were with him. Better safe-," answered David, before being interrupted by Lori.

"Where did the other adults go? Did he take them somewhere far away? China? New York? Moscow?" asked Lori frantically.

"They're a few blocks away. In Ketcham Park."

Lori was dumbstruck.

"What? Really? That's where General Black took them? A few miles away from the safe-zone? Not very bright, is he?"

"We shouldn't underestimate his intelligence. Everything he does is for a reason. If he moved them in there, there's gotta be a reason. Doesn't matter though. By tomorrow, his soldiers will bury him in the ground, whatever soldiers remain, after I give him what he deserves. I had the chance yesterday, but I fu– screwed up."

"No, you didn't, David. You couldn't help that all those parents were there. You couldn't risk them getting caught in the crossfire," said Richard.

"Well… you're right. I couldn't just kill General Black. I have to kill his men too."

"Wait, you're going after him alone? Don't you want me to help?" Lori asked.

"Babe? Are you sure you want to help him? Seems really dangerous," worriedly said Bobby.

"Alone? Ha!" exclaimed David. "Nah. I got more people willing to help me. There are the citizens of Royal Woods, Huntington Oaks, Hazeltucky, Detroit, all willing to help me out. Not a lot of us, but enough to take down the soldiers. And I already have a plan."

"What's the plan?"

David brushed off Bobby's question.

"Hope you guys had a good rest. Because we're hitting them before the crack of dawn. If not, you might want to get your rest. Meet me by the treehouse in the block behind your house at about 5:30, just in case you do want to help. Do you guys have any weapons?"

"Yes, we brought lots of assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, handguns, and more," said Benny.

"Well, that's good because my small militia is kinda short on guns. Alright, guys. Get some sleep. You're gonna need it," said David as he packed up and headed for the door.

"Wait! One last thing. What if we decide not to fight?" asked Lori.

"Well, that would be a shame. We kinda need the numbers," said David as Richard and Missy left the house, closing the door.

"Alright, who wants to go?" Lori asked.

No one stepped up or raised their hands. No one spoke up or said anything. The room was quiet.

"Come on, guys!" exclaimed Lori. "The one chance we can save our parents! Think about the sacrifices they made for us! We won't make the same sacrifices for them? We gotta fight for our parents' freedom!"

"Alright, if you're fighting them, then I'm coming too," said Bobby.

"Bobby! No!" Ronnie Anne gasped.

"It's okay! What if our parents were there? How would you feel then? I need to do this."

"I'm coming too," said Benny.

"Benny…" whispered Luan.

"It's alright. I'll be alright. I gotta avenge my father. Can't let those scumbags get away with it."

"Okay. The rest of you will stay here. Get some sleep, anyways. It's been a VERY long day. Bobby, Ronnie Anne, and Chaz will sleep in my room. Sam and Benny are sleeping in Luna and Luan's room. Francisco, Rusty, and Rocky are sleeping in Lucy and Lynn's room. Clyde, Liam, Tabby, and Zach are sleeping my parents' room. Darcy will sleep in Lisa and Lily's room. Carol, you're sleeping in Lola and Lana's room. More in Lana's side since there is more space there. Got it?"

Carol scratched her head and nodded. The group went to their respective rooms and slept. It was still very sunny outside, but they were beyond exhausted. No amount of sunlight was going to wake them up. Not that there was any sunlight after a couple hours. The moonlight shone through the windows and the house was very quiet.

Suddenly, the alarms rang, showing that it was 5:25 AM.

The entire house woke up, three ready to go to war, and the others saying their goodbyes.

"Please, come back Lori," said Leni. "I need you here. It's okay if you can't rescue Mom and Dad."

"I will. I will bring back Mom and Dad," said Lori.

"Benny, please be safe, and I wish you the very best luck," said Luan.

"I'll be safe. Don't worry, Luan," said Benny before kissing her in the lips.

"Don't die. Make sure you come back, Bobby," muttered Ronnie Anne.

"Don't worry, I will come back. That's a promise. I love you," said Bobby.

"I love you too, bro."

Benny, Lori, and Bobby went outside with the group waving at them. They headed to Chunk's SVU and grabbed the three bulletproof vests that they found in the warehouses. Each of them placed the vests on, with only Benny's vest fitting a little too large for him. Lori grabbed extra ammo for her AK-47. Bobby grabbed an M4 Carbine from the crate of guns and checked the safety switch. He kept it off and headed with Lori to the treehouse. Benny grabbed an M16A4 and followed Lori and Bobby. They walked around the block and crossed a road to get to the treehouse.

"There you are, guys!" exclaimed Missy. "Is it only the three of you?"

"Yeah," said Lori. "The others do not have the experience or the maturity for it."

"That's a shame," said David. "But it does not matter. Even the three of you can make a big contribution."

He was standing around a campfire, hidden from anyone outside of the backyard. Around him were about thirty people.

"Flippy? Mr. Yates? Beatrix? Bumper Jr.? You guys are going to help? Where are the others?" Lori asked.

"Yes. I can't just stand by and let the soldiers get away with murdering my wife, and two of my children," angrily said Mr. Yates.

"What do you mean? How did that happen? I didn't see you in the safe-zone," asked Lori.

"We were moments away from entering the safe-zone until they shot at us. My wife. Belle. Beau. They didn't make it. A couple other families didn't make it either."

"Which is why we're going to invade the park and take back our loved ones," said David. "I got recent information. Under _any_ circumstances, the soldiers, no, the _rogues_ will try their hardest to keep the adults alive. They are important for something. Something I don't know about. But that helps us. Here's the plan…"

David climbed up in the treehouse. He looked through the scope of his sniper and scouted around the park. He saw the rogues coming out of their tents and saw the man of the hour. He walked through the field to a large cabin. There were many torches around in the field. He turned on his walkie-talkie and spoke through it.

"I see Thunderbolt Ross."

"Who?" asked Lori as she walked behind a lot of trees with Bobby, Benny, the Yates, Flippy, and ten other people.

"You know. The general from the Incredible Hulk? You know, cause he looks like General Black, minus the stache? Whatever. I see General Black."

"Alright, my group and I are in position," said Richard.

"So is ours," said Lori.

"I'm taking care of the guys by you, Lori," said David.

He shot his silenced sniper rifle at two rogues standing in the other sides of the trees. One was shot in the head and the other in the chest.

"Move!" whispered Lori. The group moved closer to the field and hid behind the cabin.

"Alright. Three… two… one…," whispered David.

He pulled the trigger, with the scope aiming at General Black's head. General Black turned his head and looked at the trees. The bullet flew through the wind, and hit its target. The bullet blew out his left eye and he quickly collapsed to the ground.

"Shit! General! We're under attack!" yelled Lt. Lead, as he carried him away quickly.

"Ahh, fuck…" whispered General Black.

"Did he live? Fuck me!" yelled David.

He was being shot at. The rogues were shooting at the treehouse. They were missing by a lot of yards, but some managed to hit the treehouse. David climbed down quickly and ran to the park.

"Now!" yelled David through the walkie-talkie.

Richard pulled the pin of a grenade and tossed it at the group of rogue soldiers. They quickly moved, and some were killed by the shrapnel. Mr. Yates moved out of the cabin and shot at the soldiers. Suddenly, both Lori's and Richard's group started shooting at the rogues. A rogue was shot in the head. Another is shot in the chest. One is shot multiple times in his throat, chest, and arms.

"Do not let General Black and his rogues escape!" yelled David into the walkie-talkie before dropping it.

Lori shot at a barrel, which created a large explosion, lighting up the field. Fire was spreading. Some rogues opened up the cabin and moved the adults. In the crowd, Lori saw Rita and Lynn Sr. They looked dirty and hungry.

"Mom! Dad! Where are the rogues taking them, David?" Lori whispered. "David?"

A group of rogues ran to the trees and shot at Lori's group. Flippy was shot in the chest, before being stabbed in the back by a soldier.

"Retreat!" yelled Lori.

Lori's group retreated in a very disorganized manner. Many of them struggled to find the exit of the park. Richard's group were running to the rogues trying to move General Black to a helicopter. Richard shot his M4 Carbine at the rogues, killing one of them. The rogues shot back, to which Richard ducked and took cover behind the trees. His group were rapidly being killed off. Missy and he had to retreat. The rogues took the adults in the helicopters. Some rogues were left behind to kill off the dissenters.

"I'm not retreating! I'm taking revenge! I will do any-" yelled Mr. Yates, until he was shot in the head by a rogue.

"DAD!" yelled Bumper Jr.

Another rogue came and sliced his throat from behind. Beatrix watched with horror, and was shot in the chest by the same rogue that killed her father. Lori looked back and shot at the rogue that stabbed Bumper Jr. The other rogue shot at her and hit Benny. Fortunately for him, he was shot in the chest, to which his vest protected him. Lori aimed her AK-47 at the rogue, and shot him in the head, killing him instantly.

"Are you okay?" Lori asked.

"Ouch, ouch. Yeah. Owww… Lori. Do NOT tell Luan about this. She will freak!" Benny groaned.

David ran inside the park and found the helicopters flying away. The fire was spreading, and the rogues started rising from the dead.

"No! No! Nooooo!" yelled David as he stared at the Chinook carrying General Black away.

"These fuckers are dead. I left some of our men behind to take care of them," said Lt. Lead.

"Good… they deserve to burn for this… even if they're any survivors left… they will never find their parents again…not where we are going..." whispered General Black before going unconscious, as he bled from his left eye.

David fell to the ground. He was alone in the park, with everyone else retreating from the park. He looked at a small map in the floor. It was circled at a spot in Maine and had bright red letters reading: HOULTON.


	3. The Journey Ahead

_**Hey,**_ ** _dudes and dudettes! As you can see, yet another long chapter has been uploaded, although this is the shortest chapter I have wrote yet. Another chapter is in the works as you read this and who knows if it will be shorter? For those wondering, you can always expect a new chapter in 2-3 weeks after the last update of the story. As always, feel free to leave a review and hopefully you enjoy this story!_**

* * *

"Hurry! We're losing him!" yelled a voice.

"I'm working as fast as I can alright!" yelled another voice.

Lt. Lead was yelling orders at a medic, who was applying pressure on the left eye of General Black. Blood was squirting out, and the medic applied rags on the general's face. The terrified onlookers were woken up by the sight of this and were locked to their seats in chains. Lynn Sr. and Rita looked at each other.

"I'm telling you, I heard AND saw Lori. I recognize her hair from anywhere," whispered Rita.

"You're sure?" Lynn Sr. whispered.

The medic wrapped a large white bandage around General Black's left face. The helicopter roared as it flew through the sky, the sun beginning to shine on it. Rita nodded her head.

"Oh my God! My daughter survived! That must mean the others survived as well!" whispered Lynn Sr. in joy, as he coughed.

The medic grabbed a blood bag, checked the sticker on it, and grabbed a tube. He grabbed a needle and stuck it in the general's arm, sticking the tube on the needle. Blood began to run through it, and suddenly, the entire area inside the helicopter was quiet. All the hostages looked at the general and looked down in disappointment.

"He'll be stable for now. I gotta get Dr. White's medical supplies to remove the fragments inside his eye socket, once we arrive there," said the medic, who wiped his bald head with a towel and put a cap back on.

"Alright. You did good, Donovan," said Lt. Lead.

The Chinook roared through the morning sky for hours. Rita looked outside and saw patches of trees and fields of grass and soil. The general grumbled as he woke up.

"Ugh. I feel like I'm having the worst hangover of all time. Shit. How close are we to our destination?" General Black grumbled.

"We're actually here, sir," replied Lt. Lead.

The Chinook landed close to a military base. The loading ramp opened up, to which General Black slowly walked out of.

"Welcome, General Black. Woah! That doesn't look nice," said Dr. White. "I'm assuming your trip didn't go so well?"

"Just a little miscalculation that I made. I didn't expect them to escape so soon and kill us like that in great numbers. But otherwise, it went great, Doc. The trip went great. Now, remove the fucking fragment out of my eye," said General Black.

"Let's get right to it. Welcome to Houlton, General."

 **Chapter 3: The Journey Ahead**

 **I - Rise from Hell**

The sunrise shone on the town of Royal Woods. However, it was not the only thing that lit up Ketcham Park. The fire blazed around in the park, getting closer to the entrance, and burning down the log cabin that the adults were kept in. The rogues, paler than ever, rose as the enemy of mankind once again. With blood stains around the uniform that they disgraced, and their faces somewhat melted, they added to the horror going on in the park by chasing the remaining survivors of the battle.

"Benny, can you still walk?" asked Lori.

"Yeah, it just hurts. Damn, my ribs hurt like hell," replied Benny.

"You should take off the vest. It will feel better if you move around unrestricted."

"Alright," said Benny as he took off his bulletproof vest.

"Shit, Benny. You got a nasty looking bruise," said Lori with concern.

"Great. How are we going to find ice in this weather?"

"I don't know. You gotta go back home," Lori told Benny. Lori then turns on the walkie-talkie and tells David, "I'm taking Benny home. I'll come back to the treehouse in a couple minutes. The others should come back to the treehouse too. David. David? David, do you copy? Shit, the rotters are starting to get really close."

"Alright, let's go, Lori."

"Bobby? Where are you?" asked Lori through the walkie-talkie.

"I'm looking for David, babe," replied Bobby.

Bobby pulled out his pistol and shot at a rotter coming closer to him in the head. He walked through the forest of fire and encountered another rotter. The rotter was missing half his face, exposing his skull. Bobby aimed the pistol at his skull, and pulled the trigger, killing the rotter. He jogged around the park and found David. David was running away from the fire and was holding a small map.

"David! Over here!" yelled Bobby.

David dodged the falling burning branches and ran towards Bobby. He took out his M9 and shot at the incoming rotters.

"Bobby! Lead me to the entrance! Unfortunately, I don't know this place too well," said David.

"Yeah, sure thing! Why didn't you respond to the walkie-talkie?" asked Bobby as they waddled through the burning park.

"Fuck! I left my walkie-talkie at the treehouse. Sorry, kid."

"It's alright. We just gotta get out of here. There. That's where the entrance is," said Bobby as he pointed at the only area of the park that was still untouched by the fire.

David and Bobby ran to the entrance and dashed out of the park. They ran for many seconds to the backyard with the treehouse and arrived there very quickly. Bobby was soaking in sweat and was breathing heavily. He turned on the walkie-talkie and whispered into it.

"Lori… David and I are by the treehouse."

Lori arrived at the door to her house and looked at Benny who was sweating intensely. She heard Bobby through the walkie-talkie and sighed in relief.

"Okay, Bobby. I'll come by in a couple minutes," responded Lori.

"Alright, babe. I love you," replied Bobby.

Lori smiled and placed the walkie-talkie in her pockets.

"Benny… I really think we should tell someone about your injury. It's going to swell up, and we can't have that in the apocalypse."

"Alright, I'll tell them. You can go to the other house."

Lori opened the door with her keys and saw the group waiting in the living room.

"You guys are back!" yelled Lola.

"Where's Bobby?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Bobby is by the treehouse, which is where I have to head now. I'm in a little of a rush. I'll see you guys again in a couple minutes," said Lori.

"I'm staying here right now," said Benny, switching on the safety mode on his gun.

"Bye, guys! I'll be right back!" said Lori as she dashed outside the house and ran to the treehouse.

She didn't like the idea that she couldn't have a proper reunion with her family, even though it has not been longer than an hour since she last saw them. The frisky, warm air that warmed the town in the night started to get warmer, making Lori sweat as she jogged to the house with the treehouse in the backyard. Her blue tank top was getting dirtier every single day, but luckily, she had cleaner sets of the same clothes. She stopped jogging once she arrived in the backyard and hugged Bobby who had his shirt off.

"Lori. How's Benny?" asked David.

"Benny's gonna be fine. How are you?" Lori replied.

"I'm fine… sorry about… not responding to the walkie-talkie. I left it over there at the treehouse," apologized David.

"It's okay. I'm just glad to see that Richard, Missy, and the others are safe. Well, not all the others."

Lori looked around the backyard and noticed that out of the thirty or so survivors that she fought with against General Black, only fifteen of them survived.

"Not all of us made it," said David. "I know that. We didn't rescue our families. I know that. We didn't kill the men and women responsible for causing the pain to our families. I know that. However, we have another chance to rescue our family! I know we do!"

"What do you mean?" asked one of the female survivors.

David grinned and took out a small map. He held it up in the air.

"This map shows the location of their main safe-zone. That's right. MAIN! This is where they will permanently reside in. If you can't see very well, then what I'm showing you right now is a map of the town of Houlton in the state of Maine! It might seem tough to get there and even tougher to rescue the families, but if we fail, we can always try again!"

"At what cost? How do we know they aren't dead already?" asked a male survivor.

"Yeah! They are not even my family! They were just neighbors!" yelled another female survivor.

"Same here!" yelled about eight other survivors.

"I got other family members to search for first, then I will travel to Houlton with them," said Mr. Harrison, a Detroit resident. "But only with them! You can go by yourself!"

All the survivor left the backyard and headed off into the road. Some got inside their cars that they parked nearby and drove away. Others continued walking away. David looked off into the far distance and saw that the fire in the park was dying. He then turned around and looked down in shame and sat down in the grass.

"Let me see that," said Lori skeptically.

"What? The map?" asked David, a little surprised.

"Yes. The map. Let me see it."

David stood up, turned around and handed Lori the map. Lori inspected the map. It felt very light, yet very rough. She looked at it and saw the town of Houlton in a topographic style. She then saw a blue motto below the town name which read, _'Valuing the past, planning for the future_ '.

"Where did you get this?" asked Lori.

"I picked it up by the tent that General Black and his rogues stayed in. Will you give it back now? I need it for my trip to Houlton," replied David.

"Woah. Sure, I will give it back to you. But you're not going alone."

"Yeah, well I have Richard and Missy. You're right. I'm not going alone."

"You also have us," said Lori with a determined smile on her face.

"I'm assuming you're not just talking about you and Bobby," said Richard. "Your group is coming?"

"Well, we don't have anyplace to go to. Actually, there is one place to go to before we all want to go to Houlton and rescue our families," explained Lori.

"And what place is that?" asked Missy.

"Ann Arbor. Home of the "crazy conspiracy nut head". We're going to visit Tim Crowley's hometown to gather more information about General Black, and retrieve her daughter."

"Tim has a daughter?" asked David.

Lori took out a photo of Tim and the redheaded girl. David looked at the photo and turned it around.

"Well, guys," said David. "Looks like we have a mission. It's going to be a very long journey. And we don't know what the journey ahead will bring us. But the journey ahead always moves forward."

"I couldn't agree more," Bobby said.

"So what do we do first?" Richard asked.

"My brother can come up with the most efficient plan to get there," replied Lori.

Moments after Lori left, Benny closed the door and locked it. He looked around and saw many happy faces. Luan stood up and ran towards Benny to hug him. Benny flinched a little as soon as Luan hugged him and he struggled to stay quiet about the pain he was feeling.

"What's wrong Benny? You look stressed out," Luan asked.

"I… I got shot," Benny replied.

"What!? Where? Oh my God, did I hurt you?" Luan said in a panic.

"No, no, it's okay. It really is. It's just a bruise on my left ribcage. I do need some ice though."

"We don't have ice since the power is out, but we do have frozen cans in Chunk's car," said Luna.

"Great! Can you help me get it?" asked Benny.

"No, but my sister can," replied Luna. "Go ahead, dude. Show him where the can is. When you come back, can you tell us what happened in the park? It looks like hell out there."

"Sure thing," Benny said as he opened the door and headed out with Luan.

"The car's unlocked!" exclaimed Carol.

Luan and Benny walked quietly together to Chunk's car– parked in front of Mr. Grouse's home– which is now David's shelter. Luan opened the passenger door and went through the crates. She grabbed a cooler and took out a very cold can.

"Here you go, Benny," said Luan as she handed the can to Benny.

Benny grabbed the can and slowly lifted his shirt up to see his bruise. Luan gasped and covered her mouth as she glared at the bruise.

"Benny! I thought you were gonna be careful!"

"I was careful. I had a bulletproof vest on and I did not expose my head a lot," said Benny as he applied the can to his chest, making him flinch.

"Oh. You look fit," Luan said, blushing as she looked at his abs.

"Yeah, thanks? Let's head back home," said Benny as he held the can to his chest with his left hand, and held Luan's hand with his right hand.

They walked back together inside and met with the group. Benny sat on the couch and started telling them what happened. He went on with his story, describing what happened in the park.

"He was shot. Right there. In the eye. Somehow, he lived through that, and that's when the rogues started pushing us back. The others were slaughtered…" told Benny, finishing his story when the group heard footsteps in the front door.

The doorknob turned and Lori and Bobby, wearing a white shirt, entered the house.

"Bobby! You're back!" Ronnie Anne shrieked as she ran towards Bobby and hugged him.

"Yeah, I told you I'd be back right?" Bobby said.

"All hope is not lost. Our family is still alive and are being held in the town of Houlton in the state of Maine. And guess what? We'll be joining David, Richard, and Missy on the trip to Houlton. However, the other survivors will not be joining us and that is okay. As long as we have each other and as long as we stick with each other as a group, then that is all we need. Now, who's with me?" spoke Lori with determination under her voice.

The group cheered while feeling doubt, but it didn't matter because they felt doubt together, as a group. Lori walked to Lincoln and asked him something.

"So Lincoln, before we head to Ann Arbor, the first town we're hitting, what do we do in Royal Woods, and how do we do it? In other words, what's the plan?" asked Lori.

Lincoln smiled and stood up. He closed his eyes and started rubbing his chin. He thought very quickly. And he made a plan very quickly. The group went outside the house and gathered with David, Richard, and Missy.

"Okay, first, David, Richard, Bobby, Ronnie Anne, Clyde, Zach, Rusty, Rocky, Liam, Tabby, Chaz, and I will inspect the park and look for anything that will help us in the trip to Houlton. You know– information and stuff like that. Sam, Luna, Luan, Carol, Lynn, and Francisco will go to Sam's house and Carol's house to retrieve anything they need. Lori, Leni, Missy, Benny, Lucy, Lola, Lana, Lisa, Lily, and Darcy will go to my house and Mr. Grouse's house to retrieve anything we need. Next, we will meet again in front of my house. Let's do this quickly, now. We have no time to waste."

 **II - Before We Fly**

David led his small group, running along the road to the park. Carol and Sam jogged ahead of their group and away from David's group. Lori slid her shades on and looked at Bobby running off in the far distance.

"There is so much smoke here!" Tabby complained, coughing with every inhale.

"Smells like someone left their oven on!" grunted Richard.

The group meandered through the park, trying to make out their surroundings. There was a haze of smoke covering the vast field where the rogue soldiers have worked at.

"Everyone, cover your nose and mouth with your hands or a piece of clothing. It's going to get really smoky in here," cautioned David.

Everyone grabbed a piece of clothing from their backpacks and covered the bottom half of their face. They looked through the hazy field and searched through the tents. Bobby entered a tent and found only sleeping bags and an unlit lantern. Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde entered the cabin in which the adults were kept at.

"Is this where my mom and dad were kept?" asked Lincoln.

"Yes. Let's look through here," answered David, "Thank goodness there is no smoke here. If this were a cabin made out of real wood, then this cabin probably wouldn't even be here."

There were no windows, so David took out his flashlight and turned it on. Suddenly, he heard a movement inside the cabin which was the size of two medium-sized houses. He pointed the flashlight towards the direction of the sound and swiftly took out his M9.

"What was that?" whispered Clyde.

"I don't know. It's probably a rogue, hiding in here like a coward," whispered back David.

The movement got louder, and David continued moving around the cabin towards the cabin. The three children took out their melee weapons and were alert for any incoming rogue ready to pounce on them like a leopard patiently waiting to strike on a deer. David heard breathing coming from the room next to him. The three children stood still behind the wall. He kicked the door open and pointed the gun at the man inside the room.

"Wait! Wait! Don't fire!" yelled a man with a deep British accent.

"Who are you?" yelled David.

Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde snuck a peek inside the room and saw the flashlight pointing at the man, who appeared to be soaked in sweat since it was very hot inside the cabin. However, most of his sweat was not coming from the heat, but rather, from the immense fear he felt when he heard people coming inside the cabin. Suddenly, Lincoln walked into the room getting a closer look at the man.

"Chunk?" said Lincoln, looking rather puzzled as the man did.

"You're… Luna's brother!" gasped Chunk.

"Yeah, my name is Lincoln."

"You know this guy?" asked David, still pointing his M9 at Chunk's chest.

"Yeah, he's my sister's friend. You can put the gun down."

David lowered the gun and kept pointing the flashlight at Chunk. Chunk slowly walked closer to David. He held his cap in his hands and wiped his sweat with his arm.

"Tell me, Chunk. Is there anything important we can find in here that will give us information about the rogue soldiers that kept you in here?" asked David, pointing the flashlight away from him and at the cabin halls.

"Not that I know about," replied Chunk. "Can we please leave this cabin? It's bloody hot here."

"Sure. You might want to use your hat to cover your face from the smoke that's lingering outside," warned David.

David quickly looked around each room and found nothing but blankets and shattered lanterns. He quickly moved ahead of the others.

"I wonder how Richard and the others are doing. Maybe they got better luck finding information about the rogues," said David.

The wind blew the smoke away from the park, and every minute that passed by, the clearer it became in the park. Richard, Tabby, and Liam entered an Apache helicopter in hopes of finding information about their parents.

"Do you think my mum might still be alive?" asked Tabby while sitting in the pilot's seat.

"I think she still breathin'," said Liam. "I mean... didn't Lori see her mum in here? Your mum mighta' been with every other adult that was here!"

"How did your mother look like?" asked Richard while he rummaged through the helicopter.

"Well, she has long black hair and she's kinda tall. She was wearing a green tank top and gray jeans. Why, did you see her?" asked Tabby.

Richard knew he shouldn't have asked. He had no memory of seeing a woman wearing such clothes. Maybe this one time, five years ago, in Flint, where he lived. Knowing that every group member needed a reason to live in order to support him and David on their trip to Houlton, Richard closed his eyes and opened his mouth, to tell his "truth."

"Yes. I saw her. She's gotta be in Houlton right now," said Richard as he found papers by the pilot's seat.

Tabby smiled at Liam. Liam then tapped on Richard's shoulder.

"What about my mom? She had a red dress with yellow polka dots," asked Liam.

"No, I didn't see her. But keep in mind that I didn't get to see every adult in the park," replied Richard, as he looked through the papers.

"Oh. What is that?" Liam asked, looking at the papers.

"It seems to be a map for the pilot of this helicopter. There are dots indicating military bases, like this lake and that Canadian town. And then there is a large dot, pointing at Houlton!"

"Do you think you can fly this helicopter to Houlton?" asked Tabby, standing on the seat.

Richard laughed.

"I was in the Marines, not Air Force. So no, I can't fly this helicopter, and I don't plan to."

"Why not? I woulda' love to fly helicopters!" Liam said loudly.

"I'm afraid of heights. Now let's go see what Bobby and the others are doing," replied Richard, getting off the helicopter with the papers on his hands.

"How's it going, guys?" asked Bobby.

"Not good," responded Rusty. "I can't find anything in the crates. They're empty, or they have useless stuff!"

"Nothing by the tents either," responded Chaz.

"Maybe, we should go check in that building with the windows on it?" Zach suggested.

"Yeah, I didn't even see it before," said Chaz.

"Wait, guys, here comes the others!" said Rocky.

"Hey, guys, any luck?" Lincoln asked.

"No, we didn't find anything important," responded Rusty.

"What about you guys?" Ronnie Anne asked, looking at Richard, Tabby, and Liam.

"Yeah, a map of the country by the helicopter," replied Tabby. "Oh, hey, Chunk!"

"Sup, Tabitha," greeted Chunk.

"I think it's time to enter the small building by the lake. It might be where General Black kept his most important documents," said David.

"Yeah, that's what we were thinking," replied Bobby.

"Alright, then let's head–" said David before he was interrupted by a loud gunshot.

"What the hell?" yelled Richard, taking out his Colt Python.

David pointed his M9 in the direction of the gunshot, which was near the building they were headed for. They noticed a couple rotters chasing an invisible foe. Another gunshot was heard. And another.

The group ran into the building and noticed that the gunshots got louder. David and Richard went outside and ran to the back of the building.

"Hey! Hey! Lower your gun!" Richard yelled.

The group was able to hear Richard, even with the doors to the building closed. Bobby and Lincoln slowly walked to the kitchen, when they noticed the back door was open. They snuck a peek through the door and saw Richard and David pointing their guns at someone. Lincoln took a closer look at the man and realized that he came across another familiar face.

"You dogs murdered everyone! Why should I listen to you dogs?" yelled the man in a deep Russian accent.

"We killed them to rescue the adults that were kept in here! They were rogue soldiers! They were the enemy! Not us!" yelled David.

"Lies! You dogs ARE the rogue soldiers! You killed everyone in Detroit! So, I must kill you dogs!" yelled the man.

Lincoln dashed out of the kitchen door. Bobby chased after him.

"Hey, bro! Where are you going!" gasped Bobby.

"Stop! Sergei, these guys are not the rogue soldiers!" yelled Lincoln.

"You're… Lynn's son!" gasped Sergei.

"Lincoln! How many random men do you know?" exclaimed David.

"He was my dad's boss before the dead wandered this planet," said Lincoln.

"Wait, who the hell are you guys then?" Sergei asked.

"I'm David. This is Richard. We are not associated with General Black's rogue army."

"Oh. Sorry I almost killed you," apologized Sergei.

"No need to be sorry, since we were going to drop you first," replied Richard.

They walked inside the building. Bobby closed the back kitchen door.

"So, how did you guys even survive the massacre? The bombings?" Sergei questioned.

"The rogue soldiers took us to a bunker specifically designed to handle the bombs. Some adults were spared, as you saw, but not everyone survived," Lincoln explained. "How are you still here?"

"I guess General Black forgot about me," said Sergei.

"So, Chunk and Sergei. General Black and the other rogue soldiers took the surviving adults to the town of Houlton in the state of Maine," explained David.

"Where's Maine?" asked Chunk.

"It's the most northeastern state in the country," replied Lincoln.

"Where's Houlton?" Sergei asked.

"According to this map, it's a town bordering Canada in the eastern border of the state. At the end of I-95. That shouldn't be too hard to find," said Richard.

"Let's look for anything that will help us or give any information on the rogue soldiers," ordered David.

After many steps and turns, Sam and Carol made a full stop.

"We're here," said Sam and Carol simultaneously.

"Wait, you guys live in the same house?" asked Lynn.

"No, I live right next door to her," answered Carol as she headed to her house.

"Woah, you guys are neighbors! Who knew?" Luna said excitedly.

"It's not that big of a deal," said Sam. "Luna and Luan, you guys can come with me and help me get my stuff."

"So, Lynn and Francisco. You guys are going to help me grab a couple of my things, right?" Carol sheepishly asked.

"I thought Lori and Lincoln already grabbed some of your stuff," said Lynn.

"Yeah, what else do you need?" Francisco asked.

"I just need my photos and… medicine," replied Carol.

Lynn and Francisco both shrugged. They followed Carol into her house and into her room. Inside her room, they saw her homecoming queen crown and cheerleading trophies and even a familiar trophy for a certain golf tournament.

"Can you guys grab all the Polaroid photos above my bed? I just need to grab my medicine," asked Carol.

"Sure," said Francisco.

As Lynn and Francisco took off the photos off the wall, Carol opened her drawer and snuck some pill bottles in her backpack. She quickly closed her drawer and her backpack.

"Thanks, guys. Let's meet up with Luna, Sam, and Luan," sighed Carol in relief.

"So what it is that you need again?" Luan asked.

"I need my lavender electric guitar signed by Mick Swagger. I know I really can't use it anymore, but it still feels good to carry it. Can you go to my room? It should be there," said Sam.

"Sure thing. I'll be right back," said Luan as she skipped up the stairs.

Sam sat on her couch and sighed heavily. Luna sat along with her and stared at the wall.

"In the heat of the moment, sometimes you don't think about anything other than doing what you're supposed to do. But now, all I can do now is think… think about how there is nothing waiting for me in Houlton," whimpered Sam, now looking at Luna, "you and your family are the only people I care about now. I was thinking about the letter that you gave me the other day… I feel the same way. I lost my family. I don't want to lose you too."

Luna stared at Sam and pulled her close to her chest, as she started sobbing softly.

"Don't worry. You will never lose me," whispered Luna.

Luan went downstairs and quietly stood in the middle of the stairs, watching Luna and Sam embrace each other. She slowly set Sam's guitar on the stairs and went back upstairs to her room. She went to grab whatever clothes she could find and stuff it in Sam's backpack. Luan always wanted Sam to reveal her feelings to Luna, but not this way. Luan went back to the stairs and waited for Luna and Sam to finish embracing each other.

"I don't think I should keep the group waiting. Let's go, Luna," sniffled Sam.

"No, it's alright, Sam. I already got your clothes. We can go now," said Luan.

"You're so kind Luan, thanks. I'm sorry for making you do this," apologized Sam.

"It's really no problem-" said Luan before being interrupted by soft knocking on the door. "That must be Carol, Lynn, and Francisco."

Luna went to open the door to see Carol, Lynn, and Francisco waiting outside the house.

"We're done packing. Ready to hit the road?" said Lynn.

"Yeah, just one more thing," said Sam.

Sam went to her parents' room and grabbed a photo of her with her family. She also grabbed her bag of CDs, featuring bands like The Who and Aerosmith. She walked out the house, and Luna closed the door. The sun was higher than it was before, and they walked in the sidewalks as if there were still a possibility that the world hasn't ended and any car might pass by the street.

"Wait, I don't get it. Why are we not going to Pop-Pop's retirement home?" asked Leni as she grabbed fabric from her closet.

"Because he is in the Bahamas, probably relaxing in the beach, literally unaware of the living hell we're facing," answered Lori, grabbing all the photos in her house, taking them out of their frames.

"Oh. After we get Mom and Dad back, we should go to the Bahamas with him."

"You know, that's actually not a bad idea. We need someone to fly a plane there, or we if somehow reach Florida, we can go there on a boat. There's nothing left for us in here anyway. Now, help me get the pictures in the stairwells out from their frames."

"Okay, Lori!" replied Leni enthusiastically.

"How does it feel now?" asked Missy.

"It feels a lot worse. It hurts every time I touch it," replied Benny.

"I will get better by tomorrow. I think," said Missy, looking around the house.

"Weren't you in the military?"

"Yes. Marines."

"This never happened to you?" questioned Benny, pointing at his purple bruise.

"No. It was a hole instead of a bruise. I wasn't wearing a bulletproof vest. None of the available ones fit me comfortably."

"Oh."

"Here! Rafo can make your bruise feel better! Just make him kiss the bruise! It works for me all the time," said Darcy, leaning her stuffed giraffe closer to Benny's rib cage.

"Hey, what do you know! It does work! It feels a little better!" said Benny, wincing a little from the pain.

"I found nothing upstairs. No animals, no Hops, no Izzy," sighed Lana as climbed down the stairs.

"I told you, you weren't going to find any animals in our room! They're out on the streets doing who knows what!" complained Lola.

"Oh, Lily," sighed Lucy. "How unfortunate of you to never know how life was before the dead roamed the earth. Even though I think zombies are cool and all… sigh… I was happy with my old life. My group has been calling the zombies, 'rotters'. I have no idea why. I'm sure you can relate with me on that one can't you, Lily?"

"Poo-poo!" said Lily.

"You're right. Zombies are a thing of the past. It's what's not real. Rotters are the real thing. It's our present and our future."

Lucy got out of her bed and carried Lily downstairs. She walked to Lori.

"You can hold her now. And change her diaper," said Lucy before lying on the floor, awaiting the other group members' return.

"There. I got every object I needed for our odyssey. I assume you people are prepared too?" Lisa asked.

"Yeah, sort of. I just need all the photos from the living room and the kitchen, and then we're done. But first I have to change Lily's diaper," said Lori.

"Alright, General Black's journal. Blueprints of the Houlton military base. Colonel Ash's logs. Data logs on the adults. I think we're set. Let's go back to Lincoln's house," ordered David.

The group opened the door and found about a dozen rotters. David pulled out his M9 and shot at the rotters close to them. Richard shot his Python on another rotter. Then, they pulled out their knives and ran to the rotters and stabbed them in the head. They each killed five rotters each, and the group was now ready to leave the park. They dashed and jogged their way to Lincoln's house.

"So how was the cereal?" Lori asked.

"Bad. It tastes bad when I don't brush my teeth," said Lola.

"I liked it," said Lana.

"Guys! You still have to brush your teeth, even in an apocalypse! You will get gingivitis and your teeth will fall out!" said Lori.

"God, Lori! Who cares! I probably won't be here for a long time! Besides, we don't have running water," said Lola.

"Fine! But can you guys at least use dental floss?" nagged Lori.

"Where would we find dental floss?" asked Lola sassily.

"Ask Luan for some when she comes back! She has plenty of it," said Lori as she looked out the window in the living room. "Oh, the others are back!"

Lori's group went outside with their backpacks.

"How did it go? Did you guys find anything?" asked Missy.

"Yeah, we found logs, journals, maps, and more. I'm just going to put them in David's RV," replied Richard.

"Did you see the others?" asked Lori.

"No, I was going to ask if they were in the house with you guys," responded Bobby worriedly.

"Here we are, guys," yelled Luna from the far distance. "Wait, is that Chunk?"

"Luna! Samantha! I'm alive, mates!" yelled Chunk.

Luna ran to Chunk and hugged him. Sam smiled at him and then looked at Sergei and smiled at him too.

"Is that my car?" Chunk asked.

"Yeah, we put a bunch of stuff in there for someone to drive. You can drive it now. Carol! Do you have the keys to the car?"

"Yeah, here you go!" Carol said, handing the car keys to Chunk.

"Sam and I are going to crash in Chunk's car. Is that cool with you, Lori?" asked Luna.

"Yeah, no problem," said Lori. "We don't have space in Vanzilla for Carol and Sergei, though."

"They can ride in my RV. It's quite large," said David.

"Actually, Rusty, Rocky, Zach, Liam, and I were thinking about going to the RV with you guys," said Tabby. "Carol and Sergei can stay with Chaz in his car."

"Sure thing. Are we all ready?" asked David.

"One last thing. A picture of all us in front of my house," said Lori.

The group gathered in front of the house. Lori handed the Polaroid camera to Carol.

"Hey, did you have my camera the whole time?" asked Carol.

"Yeah, now take a nice picture of us," replied Lori.

Carol pointed the camera at the group and snapped the picture. The photo slid out of the camera, and Carol quickly handed the photo to Lori. Lori stuffed the photo into her pocket and walked to Vanzilla.

"Ready to hit the road?" David asked.

"Yes. To Ann Arbor. You are going to lead us on the road," said Lori. "And don't forget your walkie-talkie."

David, Richard, Missy, Tabby, Liam, Zach, Rusty, and Rocky entered the RV. David gave Richard the walkie-talkie and turned on the switch for the lights, revealing the interior. The floor was covered by a red-orange carpet with a diamond design. The windows were covered by black transparent curtains. Three cabinets stood next to a large sofa by the windows in the middle of the vehicle. There were two large cabinets on top of the sofa. An American flag hung on the opposite wall of the wall that the sofa supported itself on. In the back of the RV, there was a booth table in the form of a square, which sat below a Remington Model 870. Next to the booth table was a closet in the left, and a small bathroom in the right. A small rectangular window with white curtains was fixed between the bathroom and the closet above the booth table but below the shotgun.

"Woah. This place is so… awesome," said Rocky, staring around.

"Yeah, where'd you even get this?" Tabby asked.

"I got it from my father who got it from his friend. Made some slight changes in the field of decorations. Like it?" David asked as he started the RV.

"Oh yeah. I like it a lot," responded Rusty.

David started driving the vehicle on Franklin Avenue and headed west of Royal Woods. Richard took out a map of Michigan and started telling David directions. The walkie-talkie suddenly made a static noise.

"Alright, Chunk and Chaz," said Lori through the walkie-talkie. "I'm going to go follow David's RV first, and Chunk, you stay behind me. Chaz, all you have to do is follow Chunk. David, how long do you think we will take to reach Ann Arbor?"

Richard pressed a button and leaned the walkie-talkie closer to David's mouth.

"If we come across no cars on the road, it'll probably only take 30 minutes. However, that's very unlikely, so it'll probably take a couple hours until we arrive," said David.

Sam handed a CD to Chunk to play in the car. He placed it inside the CD player in his radio and recognized REO Speedwagon's _Time for Me to Fly_.

"Alright. There's also something you gotta hear. Tim Crowley left a bunch of tapes in the safe-zone in Detroit. I'll play the two tapes that we found. This one is called 'I' and it's dated February 3, 1988. Here goes…" said Lori.

 **III - First Bump in the Road**

The sun rose higher. The four vehicles rode through the neighboring towns of Royal Woods.

"Here's another one," said Lori. "This one is called 'PARTNER' and it is dated April 21, 1990. Here goes…"

The sun was high in the air, as David maneuvered around the vehicles that were abandoned in the middle of the street. The rotters inside the vehicle were struggling to get out.

"Oh my god. I'm so tired already. I'm sorry for asking like a kid, but are we there yet?" Chaz asked.

"Chaz, how would I know?" replied Carol. "If you were trying to talk to Lori, then you might want to turn on the walkie-talkie first."

"Oh yeah. Can you ask Lori for me?" Chaz pleaded while handing the walkie-talkie to Carol.

"Fine. Lori, are we there yet? I'm asking for Chaz."

"I don't know," replied Lori.

"We just reached Ann Arbor," replied David. "I just need to find a good place to park our cars."

"Oh, thank goodness. Did you know how many golf courses we passed by?" Lori said.

"Golf courses?" Richard asked.

"Yeah, Lori's a big fan of golfing," said Bobby, using Lori's walkie-talkie.

"I see it now, with you and the others carrying the golf clubs, which I can assume are yours?" said David.

"Yeah. Hey, I recognize this place. I went here once, on my trip to the University of Michigan a year ago," said Lori. "I could've went again... We should stop and rest in this field. It's not too far from the center of the city, but it's not too close either. It's just right."

"You sure, Lori?" asked David with hesitation.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Plus, we're right next to a medical center. Medicine is something we are kind of low in," said Lori.

"Alright. Guys we are heading into… Palmer Field," said David into the walkie-talkie.

"Oh, thank goodness," said Chaz.

"Are we there yet?" asked Lola and Lana.

"Yes. Now stop asking that for the millionth time," said Lori.

David drove his RV through the side of the field and parked the vehicle right behind a couple tennis courts. Lori followed David, which led to a very bumpy path for Vanzilla. Chunk followed, and then Chaz. The group quickly got out of the vehicle and stretched themselves.

"It felt like we were there for a whole day!" Lola said.

"It's only noon," said Lisa. "Now, what are we trying to achieve here?"

"We're going to explore around a little bit. We need to know where to start looking, first. Not one of those tapes stated where Vonda is," said Lori. "However, in one of those tapes, he mentioned living close to the University of Michigan Golf Course and Stadium. We can't drive there because of traffic and the number of potential rotters that might trap us there."

"The golf course is about a mile southwest," said David. "I suggest getting inside the college campus and navigate our way in there. Meanwhile, we need someone to go the medical center and grab some supplies."

"I think that David, Lori, Bobby, Lynn, and Francisco should go to the golf course," said Lincoln, "since you guys are the fastest and just very likely to escape from a sticky situation. And Richard, Missy, Carol, and Lisa should go to the medical center since you guys would know what to get."

"Why should Carol go with Lisa?" Lori asked.

"I have some experience in the medical region, considering I've been studying to become a nurse," said Carol.

"How...How'd Lincoln know that?" Lori asked suspiciously.

"I know things. Now go!" Lincoln said.

David, Lori, Bobby, Lynn, and Francisco ran through the campus, carrying water and their melee weapons. Only David, Lori, and Bobby carried guns. They jogged close together and watched their back. Rotters started coming in every direction. They each jumped from one fence to another, from street to street, and dodged every incoming rotter.

Richard, Missy, Carol, and Lisa jogged to the medical center with a mission to complete. Richard and Missy carried guns to protect Carol and Lisa. They dashed inside the medical center, which was lit only by the outside sunlight.

"Shit, behind you, Carol!" Richard exclaimed.

Carol yelped as she saw a rotter in a nurse uniform walking towards her.

"Duck!" Missy yelled.

Carol ducked to the ground, and Missy shot a single bullet from her AR-15 on the rotter's head. Carol threw herself forward as the rotter fell on the floor, landing where she ducked. Lisa turned around and saw three rotters who wore nurse uniforms. Richard went in front of her and shot the rotters in the face.

Rotters started surrounding David's group as they kept dashing. There were at least thirty rotters behind the group. David turned around and shot five rotters with his M9.

"Oh god! They're surrounding us! Run faster, guys!" Lynn yelled, smacking the rotters in front of her with her baseball bat.

"Over there! I see the stadium! Run there!" Lori yelled.

Bobby shot at the two rotters blocking the entrance to the stadium and tried running inside.

"Oh no!" Bobby whispered. "The door is closed! Run left! Run left!"

The rotters headed towards Bobby as he attempted to escape them. He ran towards the street and found a mess of cars. He looked back and saw many rotters behind him, some as close as ten feet away.

"Oh no! This building is overrun by rotters! What do we do?" Carol shouted.

"Go to the stairwell! Now!" Richard yelled.

Carol quickly got up and dashed towards the stairwell with Lisa right behind her. Richard continued firing his Python on the rotters that were closing in on Carol. Suddenly, the hammer on the Python clicked, but no bullets came out. Missy fired five shots at the rotters and then followed Richard to the stairwell.

"Where now?" asked Carol.

"We go downstairs. That's where the medicine is being kept at, right, Lisa?" panted Richard.

"That would be correct. Now, move quick!" Lisa said, noticing a large number of rotters heading their way.

The small group made their way downstairs to the basement floor. They saw a large steel door, which needed card access to enter.

"How is this door still shut? There is no electricity anywhere!" said Missy.

"This medical center probably has a generator," explained Lisa. "However, the generator is only working on everything, but the lights. Which means… if we swipe a card from a rotter– which I should really construct a new name for– then we should be able to gain access to the basement. So, anyone, please, dispose of one of the living dead and pilfer its card."

"I'll do it," said Missy.

"Honey, are you sure?" worriedly said Richard.

Missy walked up the stairs and shot a rotter in the chest. The rotter tumbled down the stairs and landed close to Missy's shoes. Missy crouched and looked for a card on the former doctor's coat. The card was hanging around the neck of the rotter. Missy tried pulling off the lanyard off the neck of the rotter, but it wouldn't rip out. Missy stood up, took the AR-15 out of her back, held it high in the air and swung it downwards, crushing the rotter's neck. Missy crouched once again and pulled the lanyard out of the neck.

"Richard, you can stop pointing that flashlight at me. I need to see where I can swipe this card," said Missy.

"Oh, sorry, honey. Here you go," said Richard.

Missy swiped the card on the night latch, which caused the electric release to open the door. Missy pushed the door and entered inside. The lights went on to reveal many prescription bottles, chemicals, medical devices like defibrillators, and much more.

"We have three empty backpacks. What do we take?" Richard asked.

"You're going to take as many towels, bandages, adhesive tapes, and gauze pads as you can," ordered Lisa. "Go! Missy, you are going to grab tongs, gloves, scissors, forceps, any tools you can get your hands on, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Carol, you're coming with me!"

Missy and Richard worked on stuffing their bags with the pieces of equipment, tools, and supplies that Lisa asked for. Carol followed Lisa to the shelves containing all sorts of medicine.

"You know what oxycodone is and how it looks like right?" Lisa asked.

"Umm… yeah, I think," said Carol, grabbing a bottle of painkillers. "Is it this one?"

"Yeah. Now, I need as many antibiotics and painkillers as you can get. However, the top priority would be moxifloxacin, prednisolone, oxycodone, and any anesthetics. Got it?" Lisa said.

"Yeah. I do," she responded.

"Okay, Missy, how much ammo do you have on your rifle?" Lisa asked.

"Oh, I believe I have ten bullets left. It's not going to be enough to help us escape this medical center," answered Missy, her voice quivering.

"I know that. Which is why I'm calling for backup, with the walkie-talkie. Missy, Richard, Carol, tell me when you guys are done. I'll try to contact our group at the base," said Lisa.

The heat was beating on Bobby as he jumped over the cars. There were about four lanes filled with cars, to which he ran and maneuvered his way around. The rotters failed to catch up with Bobby and were trapped by the maze of cars. Bobby aimed his pistol at the rotters and shot them in the head. He looked back and saw Lori, David, Lynn, and Francisco with blood in their weapons.

"Whoo! I made it!" Bobby shouted with excitement.

Bobby and Lori hugged and kissed each other. Lynn and Francisco high-fived each other and ran into the golf course. Bobby and Lori walked peacefully, holding each other's hands as David went ahead of them.

"I noticed that Francisco and Lori have golf clubs," said Lynn. "And we are on a golf course… can we hang out here for a little? Maybe, Vonda will see us from here and see how friendly we are."

"Yeah, sure," said David. "I mean we almost died, and it looks like the rotters have no way of getting here. It's kind of a shame that we can't drive here with the traffic blocking the golf course. Yeah, let's just relax for a little here."

Lynn dived into a nearby pond and grabbed two golf balls that were lying on the bottom of the pond. She swam upwards and squirted water out of her mouth. The group laughed and Lynn threw the golf clubs at Lori and Francisco, herself laughing as well. She climbed out of the pond and onto the grass, where she shook her body like a puppy. David found a lawn chair and sat on it, watching Lori and Francisco walk with their golf clubs pointing upwards. They climbed on a golf cart, along with Bobby and Lynn, who was still wet. Lori drove the golf cart to the first hole and set down two tees on the ground.

"Ready for four hours of losing?" asked Lori.

"No, but it seems you are. Now, let's go!" Francisco replied, smiling cockily.

Lori swung her golf club on the golf ball, launching it high in the air.

"Hello? This is Lisa. Hello?"

"Yeah? This is Chaz. What's wrong?"

"We are in dire need of assistance! We are confined in the basement of the medical center and we need some assistance clearing out the ground floor of the building."

Lori grabbed her walkie-talkie.

"Luna, Sam, and Lucy. Can you guys help out Lisa and her group? If you want us to, we can come back," said Lori.

"No thanks. We got this. Just keep being on the lookout for Vonda," said Luna in Chunk's walkie-talkie.

Lori shrugged her shoulders and lightly tossed the walkie-talkie to Bobby, as she putted the golf ball into the first hole.

Back at Palmer Field, Luna grabbed her crowbar, Sam grabbed her ice pick, and Lucy grabbed her shovel. Luna grabbed Chunk's walkie-talkie and headed to the medical center with Sam and Lucy. They lightly jogged their way there and stopped outside the building.

"We're outside. What can we expect to see inside?" asked Luna.

"Rotters. A lot of rotters. I want you guys to clear it out, slowly if you have to. I suggest leading them outside the building and taking them out from there," said Lisa.

"Alright. Sam, Lucy, are you dudettes ready?" said Luna with a look ready to kill.

"Yeah!" screamed Sam.

"Yes," said Lucy softly, but with a smile.

Luna slowly opened the door and saw a large number of rotters inside. She left the door open and allowed the rotters to walk out. She swung her crowbar on the first rotter and slowly backed up. Sam stabbed the second rotter that came out in the forehead. Lucy thrust her shovel in the third rotter's mouth, cutting its head off. They repeated this pattern, all while slowly backing away, thus allowing more rotters to flood out of the building.

"I'm done!" panted Missy.

"Same here!" said Richard.

"I finished as well!" stuttered Carol.

"Alright, looks like it's your turn to lead, Richard," said Lisa.

"Missy, head up the stairs and check if it's clear!" loudly whispered Richard.

Missy climbed up the stairs, holding her AR-15 and peeking in the room on the ground floor. The room was mostly clear, with a few remaining rotters inside. She aimed her rifle at the rotters and shot all of them in a rapid succession until her gun ran out of ammo.

"Let's go," said Missy, taking out her tactical knife.

Richard took out a matching tactical knife and dashed into the room. Missy and Richard stabbed the rotters together, while Carol and Lisa stood together. The room was finally cleared out.

"Hey, Luna. We're good now. No more rotters. We're coming out," said Richard.

Richard, Missy, Carol, and Lisa slowly came out of the buildings. Luna, Sam, and Lucy walked alongside with them on their way back to the base. However, they had to jog since there were rotters coming from neighboring streets and houses. After a couple minutes of running, they finally arrived back at base.

"Hey, guys! Glad to see you guys are safe!" said Lincoln.

"Yeah. As safe as we can be. I think we lost the rotters a couple blocks back," said Sam.

"Alright, let's store these medical supplies in David's RV. Chunk's car seems kind of full with weapon crates and other stuff," said Richard.

"So, what do we do now?" gasped Carol.

"We wait until evening for Lori, David, Bobby, Lynn, and Francisco to return, hopefully with Vonda. Want a drink of Fizz?" said Benny.

The sun was setting down, and Francisco putted his ball inside the 18th hole.

"I win!" Francisco shouted.

"Actually, according to the number of strokes that we each hit in each hole, you won only this hole. I beat you in the last 17 holes. I went easy on you for this one," said Lori, standing tall and striking a confident pose with her club.

"Even I can't beat her, and sports are my passion!" Lynn said patting Francisco on the back.

"I'll see who I'm going against tomorrow," said Lori as she got on the golf cart.

David has long ditched his lawn chair and was already at the golf cart. The group went on the cart, and Lori drove close to the stadium. They all got off the cart and took out their weapons. They jumped over the cars and ran to the field, which was a couple blocks away. The rotters seemed to have left the area, going off somewhere in the far distance.

A redheaded girl watched David, Bobby, Lynn, and Francisco having fun in the cart. But she didn't care about that. She mostly watched Lori, and whenever she jumped up in the air out of joy, the girl would smile.

"Oh, it's nice to see you, Lori. What are you doing in Ann Arbor?" whispered the redhead girl to herself.

 **IV - Graveyard**

"And that is how you make wood burn, everyone," said Richard.

"That's a good fire, but mine seems to burn more efficiently," said Lisa, putting her glasses back on.

"Or just use a lighter, and create fires faster than you can with dried leaves and rocks, or glasses, my dudes," said Luna.

"The sunset looks so beautiful, don't you think so, Chaz?" Leni said, laying her head on Chaz's right arm.

"Yeah. Not as beautiful as you are, Leni," said Chaz.

"Aww, thanks, Chaz," giggled a blushing Leni.

Lisa's fire and Richard's fire cooked the cans and frozen food that they had. Richard and Missy were talking about their war stories while eating their canned chicken. Lisa was eating her roasted pork chops, while Sergei put more meat on a stick above the fire. Lana and Lincoln burped as they finished their food. The former fifth graders were laughing, as they attempted to burp louder than Lincoln and Lana. Lola came and burped louder than all of them. Lori and Bobby were talking with Darcy as they ate their cans of tuna. Leni and Chaz were spoon-feeding each other and laughing together. Luan was cracking jokes, making Lynn, Francisco, and Benny laugh. Lucy and Rocky were talking about a nearby cemetery. Carol was smiling as she was talking to David. Sam and Chunk were awaiting Luna to return with her guitar. They have never felt this happy together in the apocalypse.

"I got my acoustic guitar and the marshmallows, dudes!" said Luna excitedly.

The group chattered excitedly. Some grabbed sticks to roast the marshmallows. David watched all the children enjoying the marshmallows, and he smiled, with the thought of his grown son, whose fate he was unaware of. Luna started strumming the strings on her guitar. Lucy grabbed Rocky's hand and silently crept away from the group. Luna started singing.

" _What a nice night we have enjoyed,_

 _Even if everything around us is destroyed,_

 _And the rotters have me very annoyed,_

 _I can't help but feel joy,"_

Sam chimed in:

" _My family is here and not there,_

 _I would follow them anywhere,_

 _As long as I'm with them, I can't feel despair,_

 _I can't help but feel joy,_ "

Tabby started singing as well:

" _The rotters may have taken our home,_

 _And anyplace they have and will roam,_

 _If I'm with the ones I care about,_

 _I would follow them to any biome,_

 _And I can't help but feel joy,_ "

Even Chunk joined the singers:

" _Singing with the coolest, most awesome purple Loud,_

 _And the blonde girl with the streak as blue as a cloud,_

 _And the spunkiest girl in the crowd,_

 _I can't help but feel joy,_ "

As Luna, Sam, Tabby, and Chunk kept singing together, Lucy and Rocky snuck away into the road that separated the field from the cemetery. The fire was bright and the music was loud enough to be heard from the cemetery disguised as a forest. Lucy and Rocky were wandering around the cemetery, looking at coffins that were not used yet.

"Woah, Lucy, check this one out. This one looks like it can hold a wealthy person. A long, shiny, black coffin," said Rocky.

"Or it could hold…" said Lucy.

"...a vampire!" said both Lucy and Rocky.

"Ahh, it just feels great to be here," said Rocky.

"Yes, it does. Nothing is better than alone time with my friend," said Lucy, smiling.

"Lucy, check that out. Something is moving over there by the trees behind that big tombstone."

"Let's take a closer look. Wait, I think that might be a rotter."

"A rotter?"

"Yeah, let me just kill it with my shovel."

As Lucy moved in to kill the rotter, she came to a quick stop and noticed that the rotter was not alone. Lucy turned back and realized that Rocky doesn't have a weapon.

"Run, Rocky! Run!"

"...and I can't help but feel joy," concluded Luna.

The moon showed its face, hiding behind long puffs of clouds. The group enjoyed the song and the marshmallows. Many of the group members were getting ready to take out their sleeping bags. David opted to stay awake and keep watch for any rotter that would enter the field.

"Wait, where's Rocky?" Rusty asked.

"Where's Lucy?" Lori asked.

"I heard them talk something about a cemetery close to us. I think they might've been talking about that place," answered Luna, pointing at the thick forest next to the field. "I didn't see where they went, but my money's on that forest."

"Yeah, it's Lucy," said Lori. "Of course, it's going to be that place. I'll be right back. Come with me, Bobby?"

"Sure thing, babe. I'll be back, Ronnie," said Bobby, patting her head.

Lori and Bobby both grabbed flashlights and their weapons. They walked together to the forest with their flashlights on, searching for the little dark girl and her friend. Bobby stumbled on a tombstone but quickly got up. Leaves rustled, and this made Lori yelp. She apologized to Bobby and continued to look for Lucy and Rocky.

"Boo-boo Bear. Do you hear that?"

"Babe, those might just be leaves rustling again."

"No, listen…! Those are footsteps, and I think I hear... panting?"

Lucy and Rocky came out from the trees and ran to Lori and Bobby.

"Guys! Don't run off like that! Did you guys know how worried–" said Lori, until Lucy pulled on her shorts.

"We have to warn the group! Rotters! Everywhere!" yelled Rocky.

"What? Oh my god," said Lori, staring at the hundreds of rotters heading her way.

"Run! Shit, why is this cemetery so bumpy?" Lori yelled as she fell.

The rotters were closing in on Lori, Bobby, Lucy, and Rocky. They tossed the flashlight at Rocky for him to hold. Lori and Bobby took out their guns and shot at the rotters. Lori unloaded her AK-47 on the nearby rotters. Lucy thrust her shovel on a rotter's head. Bobby held his Luger with his two hands and carefully shot each rotter in the head. However, he ran out of ammo and kicked the rotters away from him.

"Lori, I'm out! We gotta go, now!" Bobby yelled.

"Lucy, stay behind me. Rocky, let's go! Rocky! Rocky!" Lori yelled, but to no avail.

Rocky was frozen in fear. He held the flashlights in his hands, but couldn't muster the strength to swing them on the rotters. He dropped the flashlights, looked for an opening, and ran away from the group.

"Rocky! Where are you going?" yelled Bobby.

Rocky tripped on a gravestone and landed on a sharp piece of rock. He yelped in pain and looked at his bleeding right arm. He picked himself up and turned around to look for Lori, Bobby, and Lucy, only to see a rotter. The rotter lunged at Rocky and sunk his teeth on Rocky's head, biting off his forehead.

"Oh my god…," said Bobby, choking before finishing his sentence.

Rocky screamed and Lori shot the rotter on the head. The rotters who were heading to Rocky turned to Lori and walked towards her. Bobby grabbed Lori and Lucy's arm and ran away from the rotters.

"What the hell? What is going on?" asked Richard.

The group stared at the forest and murmured among themselves. David went inside his RV and grabbed his Remington Model 870. Missy went into the glove department and grabbed more ammo for her AR-15. Richard ran with Missy while filling up his revolver with ammo. The group grabbed their melee weapons and stayed where they were. David, Richard, and Missy ran towards the forest. Suddenly, Bobby and Lucy came out of the forest, yelling. More gunshots were heard, followed by Lori yelling and running out of the forest.

"You guys gotta go to your RV! There are literally hundreds of rotters behind me!" Lori told the adults in a panic.

"Oh, hell. I'm going to need more than six bullets," said Richard as soon as the rotters came out of the forest.

David shot his shotgun at the rotters, killing many of them, before realizing he was low on ammo for his shotgun. Missy ran back to the camp with Richard. The rotters chased David, causing him to run back to the camp tell everyone to get inside their vehicles.

"We can't! There's no way to escape!" Chaz yelled.

Benny, Luna, and Sam went to the weapons crate in the back of Chunk's car. Benny pulled out his M4 Carbine and shot at the rotters. Luna pulled out an UZI, while Sam took out an MP5.

"Have you ever shot a gun before?" yelled Benny as he continued firing at the rotters.

"No! First time for everything though!" Luna yelled as she switched off the safety and fired the UZI at the nearby rotters.

Sam slowly burst-fired her MP5 at the rotters and was sweating while doing so. Bobby grabbed an M4 and fired at the rotters. Many rotters were killed, but many rotters were getting closer to the camp. The rotters stepped on the sleeping bags and some were set on fire due to being attracted by the fire that was used to cook the food.

Lisa hid in Vanzilla, along with Darcy. Lola swung her golf club and killed a few rotters before running back to Vanzilla. Luan ran to the weapons crates and grabbed an M9. She continuously fired at the rotters, missing three bullets before hitting them in the head. About half of the rotters were killed off, though they kept walking towards the group. Many of the group members continued killing them with their melee weapons.

Carol grabbed a flashlight and slammed it on a rotter's head, multiple times to kill it. Chaz grabbed the stick that he used for his marshmallow and thrust it into a rotter's head. However, the stick snapped on impact, and the rotter lunged itself on Chaz. He fell and tried to fight off the rotter. He pushed his hand on its face, but the rotter bit his hand, causing Chaz to scream in pain. Three rotters fell on Chaz to devour him.

"Ahh! Help me! AHH!" yelled Chaz.

Richard shot the four rotters with his Python and saw Chaz choking on his own blood. His face and his body were very deformed and bloody, unrecognizable with the skin torn off. What was left of Chaz's face was turning blue. He pointed his Python on Chaz's head and looked away. He pulled the trigger and shot him in the head, and he realized he was staring at Chaz's hat, which fell off. Leni stood next to Richard and broke down, weeping. Richard shook his head and shot a rotter heading for Leni in the head. Richard grabbed Leni and tried to take her inside Vanzilla.

"No. No…" wept Leni.

"Leni! We have to go! Come on!" Richard said as he carried away Leni.

David took out his M9 and shot the last rotter in the head. He wiped away the sweat covering his face, and he looked for any rotter in the ground that might still be alive.

"We can't stay here. We should go, umm, outside the medical center," said Missy.

Benny, Luan, Luna, and Sam, switched the safety on and put the guns back in the trunk of Chunk's car. Carol and Sergei went inside David's RV. The vehicles headed out of Palmer Field and drove to the medical center.

After they arrived at the medical center, David got out of his RV and closed the gates. He locked the door for the building and decided that everyone should sleep in their vehicles. Every driver turned off their cars and told the passengers to go to sleep. Lori got out of her car and walked inside David's RV. She walked to Leni and Rusty and decided to comfort them.

Lucy was letting her tears run until she fell asleep. Many rotters infested the field, and wandered all night in the field, until daylight.

The black shovel was thrust into the dirt and threw away the dirt from the grass to make space for something. For someone. Bobby was shoveling a second and smaller hole in the cemetery.

"It has been done. The poor boy was wandering around, except he wasn't a boy. Not anymore. I think of it as taking them out of their misery," said Richard, wiping his knife with a towel.

David had Rocky's body covered by a blanket. Bobby walked to Lucy and gave her shovel back. Lori picked up the flashlights that Rocky dropped and turned them off.

Lynn finished engraving a large rock and carried it to the smaller hole. Carol finished engraving the other rock made to respect and preserve the memory of Chaz. It took Carol quite a while since Leni was not in a cooperative mood to give a quote. Lucy also stood silent, making it difficult for Lynn to carve what Lucy wanted to say about Rocky. After a moment of silence, the group entered their vehicles and waited until Palmer Field was clear from rotters to retrieve Chaz's car. Sergei volunteered to drive his car and was allowed to.

"Day 13: A new discovery was made. It seems that these rotters have an ability that we weren't aware of. They are attracted to sounds just as they are attracted to fire. Some pieces of evidence to tie that conclusion would be the firing in Detroit…" spoke Lisa into a tape recorder.

"So where to now?" David asked through the walkie-talkie.

"The golf course. There are many bumps and traps that the rotters can get stuck on. I saw one opening and we can easily barricade that with our vehicles," said Lori into the walkie-talkie.

David drove out of the medical center, followed by Lori, then Chunk, then Sergei. After an hour of struggling through the city, they finally made it to the opening that the golf course had and made their way in. They all entered when David made a U-turn and stopped the RV facing outward of the golf course.

"This is where we wait?" asked Lola.

"Yeah. It's too dangerous to explore the city," answered Lori. "Although, I feel like we have to explore the neighboring blocks for Vonda. If we can't find her after a week, then we are going to leave the city and head to Houlton."

The group sat on the golf course. After what happened last night, Lori was not in a mood to play golf. In fact, no one was in a mood to do anything. Their spirits died along with Rocky and Chaz. The group would sometimes chatter among themselves, but the majority of the time, they would stay silent in the hours of waiting for some strangers to pass by. Lori went over the tapes. Some of them wouldn't play since the taping was distorted and tangled in a certain pattern.

"Hmm. See, I told you Lori would be here. Here, see for yourself," said the redheaded girl, passing the binoculars to her brunette friend.

"Yeah… I can't believe it. Lori is alive! And there is Leni and Bobby as well!" said the brunette girl excitedly. "Wait is that Carol? What is that bitch doing here?"

"Bobby is there? Awesome! And who's Carol?" asked a tanned teenaged boy.

"A snake. We used to hang out with her. She insults us along with her other bitches and she even tried to steal Lori's boyfriend," answered the redheaded girl.

"So, what do we do now?" asked the tanned long-haired teen.

"We should reunite with them, Tad! Last time we were all together was at Lori's awesome party!" said the redheaded girl.

"Yeah! We can also introduce Vonda to them and maybe she can have fun with Lori's brother and sisters!" said the brunette girl.

"Yeah!" yelled Tad, excited to meet Lori and Bobby again.

"Are you ready, Vonda? We're going to introduce you to our friends," said the brunette girl.

"Okay… that's a large group, Dana," said the other and smaller redheaded girl.

"Most of them are just Lori's siblings. She has a pretty large family. Now, let's go, Becky and Tad!" explained Dana.

"I think this is a waste of time," said Lynn. "We should already be on our way to Houlton. Vonda probably isn't even here! She probably ditched as soon as the rotters started coming!"

Lori sighed and looked down. She looked at Leni, who was lying her head on her shoulders, whimpering quietly. She then looked at Lucy, who was sitting away from the group. She sighed and closed her eyes.

She immediately opened her eyes when she heard loud banging coming from the vehicles. David, Richard, Missy, and Lori pulled out their guns and pointed at the vehicles.

"Wait, wait, don't shoot! Sorry for startling you guys!" yelled Becky.

She came closer to the group wearing her striped light-green and blue sleeveless shirt along with black skinny jeans and a brown backpack. Her brown sandals stumbled on a little bump in the golf course. She had a dark tint on her red hair and was recognized by Lori. She was only holding binoculars and a Glock 17.

After her, came Dana, sporting her long-sleeved off-shoulder shirt, striped with white and lavender colors. She wore a black dress which gave the appearance of a skirt and lavender socks with brown leather boots. Her hair was bent into a ponytail and she carried a machete.

After she was Tad, a tanned 17-year old man, with long brown hair, a growing mustache, and thick eyebrows. He was wearing blue shorts, white flops, and a turquoise shirt with an alien logo imprinted on it. He was carrying a machete as well.

Behind him was a 13-year old girl, who had red-orange wavy hair, reaching her shoulders. She was slightly taller than Lynn but smaller than Luan. She was wearing a curved hem top with dark-purple jeans and brown leather boots, matching Dana's. She was carrying a black leather quiver, with two dozen arrows, each arrow having black and red fletchings. She carried a recurve bow with her left hand and stared at the group silently.

"I can't believe it," said Lori smiling. "It's you guys! Becky, Dana! And it's nice to see Tad too!"

"Nice, Lobby lives! Or was it Bori?" said Tad as he gave Bobby a high-five.

David, Richard, and Missy lowered their guns. They looked at each other in confusion.

"How'd you guys know we were here?" asked David.

"Becky was patrolling the area when she found you guys on the golf course. She returned to the group and told us, and we walked here! Simple!" answered Dana, as she continued hugging Lori.

"Who's this?" asked Lori, looking at the small redheaded girl.

"My name is Vonda."

"Vonda? As in Vonda Crowley?" asked Lori.

"Y-Y-Yeah… how'd you know my last name? Do you know my father?" asked Vonda, with growing curiosity.

"Tim Crowley?"

"Yeah! Where is he?"

Lori looked back at her group and smiled slightly before frowning. Both groups settled down together. The group prepared to tell her about her father and why she was so important.

"Your father is no longer with us. He was killed by a section of the military, who were rogue soldiers working for General Quentin Black," stated Lori.

"I knew it was going to happen one day," said Vonda, looking down and struggling to fight back her tears.

"After the bombing in the Detroit safe-zone, we went to his room and found his cassette tapes. We played each one, although some of them were distorted. We also found a picture of him and you in Disney World. Here you go…"

Tears dropped on the photo. She grabbed one of the cassette tapes and opened it up. She moved some of the tapings around and fixed the tapes. She then played it and heard her father's voice. She looked at Lori and hugged her. Becky, Dana, and Tad looked at each other shocked since they weren't able to reach Vonda on such emotional levels.

"I have a question… why does it seem so depressing in the group? It looks like you guys lost a lot already," asked Becky.

"It all started with the bombing of Detroit…" said Lori, as she started her story which would last for more than a couple minutes, "...then we lost Chaz… and Rocky…"

Dana hugged Leni, and comforted her, while Becky talked with David. Becky nodded her head as David told her about the situation in Houlton.

"Looks like Dana, Tad, Vonda, and I are joining your group. We were running out of supplies in here anyway, and I have to find my parents. They went to Detroit as well, while Dana, Tad, and I were visiting the University of Michigan. However, Vonda has to go back home and grab a couple things for the road," said Becky.

After half an hour, Vonda and Tad returned with two new weapons in their hands. Vonda was carrying another recurve bow, and Tad was carrying a ninjato sword. They took it inside David's RV and they stayed there. After a discussion about which passengers each vehicle carried, the drivers headed to their vehicles with Dana, Becky, Tad, and Vonda heading inside David's RV.

"We were looking for you for a while… your father was a very important and knowledgeable man. Are you the only living kin?" asked David.

"It think maybe so… my mother left when I was very little. Who knows if she is still alive? My father never remarried. And my aunt was killed a couple days earlier. So yeah, I'm the last of my kin. I can see why I'm so important. This is about the information that my father possessed, right?" replied Vonda.

David started his RV and slowly left the golf course. He nodded and took a glance at Richard.

"I assume you know what your father knows. If so, tell me everything you know about how the infection started and who General Quentin Black is."

"I am pleased to tell you what you want to know. After all, I've been waiting to tell someone for a very long time…" responded Vonda with a growing smile on her face.

David drove away from the city by heading south to a highway. Lori followed David and the usual order of vehicles followed each other. They drove away, heading for the southern border of Michigan, where they would cross to Ohio. The dead wandered in the cemetery, coming from the nearby morgue behind the medical center. One certain rotter walked over two gravestones. The one with Chaz's hat on top of the stone read:

CHAZ

1999-2016

Loving friend and loving son

"Nothing gives happiness like doing something you love, with the ones you love."

The other, with a knife hanging a string attached to the rock read:

ROCKY SPOKES

2008-2016

Loving brother and loving son

"The ones who do not make it will watch and guide those who will, in the journey ahead."

* * *

 ** _Oh no! Shit went down and now we have dead characters! And many, MANY, more are going to meet their demise! Or who knows? Maybe they will all make it? Now the path to Houlton won't be a short one and it will surely not be an easy one, but the group can make it... right? Find out next chapter! See you guys again in 2-3 weeks and have a nice weekend!_**


	4. Borderline

_**Here comes the fourth chapter to the story! I am honestly considering changing the title of the story. Instead of Infection of the Dead, it could be titled The Roaming Dead or The Dead Roam, or something like that. I don't know, but suggestions are always helpful. If you have any suggestions, questions, or you just want to tell me how you feel about my story, feel free to leave a review! As always, enjoy!**_

* * *

An arrow flew through the air as if it was a bird diving to catch a worm to eat. The air drag pulled the arrow closer to the ground as gravity played a part as well. The arrowhead pointed at a wooden round board with white paint as the outer target, the black paint between the blue and red paint acting as the inner target, and yellow paint acting as the center target; the bullseye. However, the arrow was dragged to the left by the wind and it hit the ground, missing the target. The arrow stuck itself in the dirt near a squirrel, making it scurry away in fright. A seven-year-old Vonda lowered her small bow and frowned.

"Daddy, this is too hard. I aim at the target, and yet I still miss!" sighed Vonda glumly.

"It's okay. You're just a beginner. This takes practice!" said Tim as he crouched to talk to Vonda.

"Why can't I just walk up to the target and shoot at it there?" whined Vonda.

"It doesn't work like that. How else are you going to hunt food when there are no grocery shops around? What about when you need to slay any scary monsters?" chuckled Tim.

"Why wouldn't there be grocery shops and why would there be monsters? I don't want to do this if I can't shoot like you do."

"It took me years of practice to aim very well. You can shoot like me. You just need to keep practicing. You'll notice when you get better. That's the best part about archery."

"But a few years is still a long time! Do I really have to keep practicing for that long?"

"Yes, but don't worry! One day, you will wake up and notice that a couple years have already passed. Now keep aiming for the target, Vonda," said Tim, grabbing a Fizz soda can and drinking it.

 **Chapter 4: Borderline**

 **I - Red Arrow**

"Hello… Tim Crowley here. This is my seventh installment of Tim Tells The Truth. Today, we are going to talk about the incident in Iraq during the past week. As you know, as most people know… Major Quentin Black saved many civilians inside a hospital after the city was bombed. He got a Medal of Honor award for his courageous actions. Congratulations to him for doing that, right? Except, he doesn't deserve the medal. Who do you think was responsible for the bombing of the city…?" said Tim as continued to ramble on.

The tape, which was titled 'WAR HERO? 1/14/91', was 22 minutes long. Tim continued talking about Black's actions in the Gulf War. Lori played the tape in the walkie-talkie so that Vonda could hear it. Vonda wiped her tears and smiled a little, feeling grateful towards Lori for taking the tapes.

"Is it true? All of it?" asked Lori.

"Yeah. My father was a very intelligent man and saw things that others did not. Hell, he even saw this whole apocalypse coming while we were worried about the 2008 election. I just… miss him so much," replied Vonda through her own walkie-talkie.

The group drove to a nearby pond about 40 miles south of Ann Arbor. The roads, as always, were filled with abandoned vehicles, making the trip longer than it had to be.

The group were prepared to go to sleep inside their vehicles when David knocked on all the vehicles. Everyone walked out of their vehicle and were ready to hear what David had to say.

"Tomorrow we'll leave the state of Michigan and enter Ohio. We won't stop for nothing, except maybe for lunch. We'll push forward on the journey ahead, and make no mistake, we won't lose another member! No matter what comes our way, we will keep pushing onward! Before we know it, General Black will get justice for what he's done and your parents will be rescued!" David shouted.

The group cheered and returned to their vehicles. However, David noticed that most of their spirits were down, and he knew that he needed to raise their morale in order for his mission to Houlton to go well. He also knew that the group was tired and that they suffered a tragedy only 24 hours before. The group went on to take their well-deserved sleep.

"Daddy! I did it! I hit the target! I actually hit it!" screamed Vonda in joy.

Tim looked at the target and did indeed see that Vonda hit the target. He also noticed that the arrow landed on the bullseye. He laid down his Fizz can and smiled. Vonda ran up to Tim and hugged him.

"See? Now with plenty of practice, you will be landing the bullseye every time!" said Tim.

Vonda woke up and saw the roof of David's RV. The warmth of the sun softly flowed through the curtains of the windows to her face. David started up the engine of the RV. Everyone was rubbing their eyes or stretching inside the RV. Vonda took out a small leather quiver from her backpack and attached it to her hips. She then walked to the booth table and sat there, staring out the window.

"Are you all ready to go?" asked David.

Everyone in the RV nodded their head. David then turned on his walkie-talkie.

"David to all. Ready to go?"

"Lori to David. My group and I are ready."

"Chunk to David. Luna, Sam, and I are ready."

"Sergei to David. Carol and I are ready."

"Remember guys. Today, most of us leave home and enter the unknown. We will face the unknown together as a group. The month ahead of us will be difficult, but we can make it. I know we can," said David, now driving his vehicle and handing the walkie-talkie to Richard, who sat in the passenger seat.

"You remember to avoid the center of the cities, right?" reminded Lori.

"Well, the upcoming city, Toledo, can't be avoided. We have to drive straight through the city, but the good news is that the highway is separated from the rest of the city by a couple hundred meters," said Richard.

After a couple minutes of driving, the group passed by a sign, saying 'Welcome to Ohio'. By then, the group knew that they crossed the borderline of Michigan and Ohio. The view of the city was nice, but the rotters roaming around killed the once beautiful view.

"For the past two days, I've been pondering on the name that we classified the zombies as which are 'rotters'," said Lisa in Lori's walkie-talkie. "It seems to my understanding that these zombies do rot, but they are in need of a more accurate name to precisely describe them."

"How about 'roamers'? That's what my dad used to call them," suggested Vonda.

"Roamers? That fits perfectly," said Lincoln into Lori's walkie-talkie.

"I was going to suggest _viventem et recedens abiit_ , but the term 'roamers' is simpler," said Lisa.

The roamers as they are now called, followed the group's vehicles at their incredibly slow pace. As for the other roamers in the city, they kept chasing whatever they saw or heard days ago. The group left the city quickly to avoid any tangles with the undead. The sun was high in the sky, signifying that it was already noon. The passengers were very grateful that each vehicle had their own AC. However, they were hungry since they skipped breakfast for the sole purpose of rationing food, so they decided to stop for a lunch break.

"Boo-Boo Bear, can you get me another can of tuna?" asked Lori while she grabbed a tiny water bottle for Darcy.

"Sure thing, babe," responded Bobby, opening the crate of food.

"Vonda, I've been meaning to ask. What did you bring another bow for?" asked Missy.

"Oh, umm… I brought another bow for anyone in here that knows archery," replied Vonda.

Lynn burped as she threw her can in the field as far as she could. She stood up and walked towards Vonda and Missy.

"I know a thing or two about shooting arrows. Archery is a sport, and I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I am very good at sports. Can I grab the bow?" asked Lynn.

"Sure thing. And here you go," said Vonda, handing the bow and an arrow to Lynn, "show me what you can do!"

Lynn looked around and pulled the string with ease. Vonda looked surprised as she never seen another girl her age pull a bow with 55 lbs draw weight. Lynn then pointed at a tree with her index finger about fifty yards away. She placed the arrow on the string and aimed upwards. The group watched as Lynn shot the bow. The arrow flew through the air and stuck itself near the middle of the tree. Lynn turned around and smirked at Vonda. Vonda smiled and grabbed her bow.

"Think you can do better?" asked Lynn cockily.

"I don't know…" replied Vonda as she grabbed an arrow from her back quiver.

She aimed carefully at the sky and smiled when she noticed the lack of wind. She shot the arrow and quickly grabbed another arrow and shot it. The first arrow landed on the top of Lynn's arrow, knocking it down from the tree, and the second arrow landed where Lynn's arrow was.

"...can I do better?" finished off Vonda, lowering her bow and smirking at Lynn.

"I thought you were going to split the arrow like in _Brave_!" exclaimed Lola. "But this was better!"

"I can't split arrows. At least not with the type of arrows that I have," said Vonda.

"Woah, someone actually beat Lynn in a sport!" said Lincoln happily.

"That was very, very impressive!" complimented Richard as he clapped.

"Woah, slow down there buckos," boasted Lynn. "I admit that was cool. But we didn't have any sort of game yet, so I didn't lose in anything. Anyways, you gotta teach me how to do that!"

"I was just lucky that there was no wind! And even after five years, I'm still practicing!" said Vonda. "You have a lot of potential, Lynn. We should train and hunt together. Are you the only one who knows how to shoot a bow and arrow?"

The group nodded their head.

"This bow is yours then," said Vonda.

She handed the red recurve bow to Lynn. She also handed another back quiver that she had in her backpack to Lynn. The quiver was red as well, to match her bow. She took eleven arrows out of her backpack and handed them to Lynn. Vonda and Lynn walked together to the tree, grabbing their arrows.

"Lori, why is she here?" whispered Becky while glancing at Carol quickly.

"Well, my boyfriend and my brother convinced me to keep her in the group," replied Lori as she nudged Bobby in the shoulders.

"Can't we do something about her? I don't like her and I think she is going to cause a problem in the group," whispered Dana.

The group looked at Carol. She was lying on her stomach while reading _The Scarlet Letter_.

"Oh come on, what can she possibly do? I'm never going to let her take me away from Lori," said Bobby.

"True, but what about the other boys, or even the adults? It's not long before she turns 18," said Becky.

"See, now that's just unreasonable," said Bobby. "Francisco, Clyde, Zach, Rusty, Liam, and Lincoln are too young for Carol. Luan and Benny are too infatuated with each other. David and Richard are way too old for her. Besides, David is too focused on his mission to interact with most of us and Richard already has a wife. Carol is lonely and that is exactly why we took her in."

"I still do not forgive her for what she did to us," said Becky.

"Why don't we confront her right now?" said Dana.

Becky and Dana got up and walked towards Carol. Lori stood up and watched them with her arms crossed. Bobby distracted Darcy and played with her. Tad looked at Becky as she kicked away Carol's book.

"Damn, she must have really pissed you girls off!" said Tad.

"Believe me. She deserves more than that," responded Lori.

"Guys, I'm really sorry about— hey!" yelped Carol as Becky grabbed her shirt.

"Are you really sorry about the things you did? How do we know you're not going to do them again?" asked Dana.

"Hey! Hey! What's going on?" asked David as he ran to the girls.

"I'm s-sorry. I-I-I didn't mean to ruin your relationship– and Lori's relationship! I-I-I just crushed on the wrong guys. Bobby was j-just so handsome…" replied Carol in fright as held tight onto her shirt.

"Hey! Don't call him handsome!" yelled Lori. "Only my friends, my family, and I get to call him that!"

"I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking straight! Let me go! Please! I really am sorry for tormenting you guys as well! Please! I'm sorry!"

"Girls! Let her go!" shouted David.

Becky released her grip on Carol's shirt. Dana walked away into the RV angrily. Everyone was staring at Carol and Becky. Becky bent down and picked up Carol's book. She shoved the book in Carol's arm as she shook in fear. Then, she walked to the RV as David followed her. Carol looked down in shame and embarrassment as Lori shook her head. Bobby and Tad looked at each other and felt pity for Carol.

"Girls, what the hell? What did she do to you guys?" asked David angrily.

"What didn't Carol do? She ruined my relationship with my ex-boyfriend!" yelled Dana.

"She was also really close to ruining Lori's relationship with Bobby! On top of that, she always acted like a bitch to us and did everything to make my friends and me mad!" shouted Becky.

"That doesn't give you and your friend the right to harass her! Be more like Lori! She's mature and I know she's struggling to keep her hatred toward Carol hidden, yet she still never lifted a finger on her!" argued David.

"Lori would've done the same thing," muttered Becky. "Carol just didn't do anything yet. But watch, she's probably going to cause problems for Lori, she'll probably even get her killed!"

"She has not caused a problem yet, and probably won't in the future... intentionally at least. However, you guys are already causing a problem right now," said David.

"You're right. But that doesn't mean we are wrong. Carol is going to cause a conflict soon. Just watch," said Dana.

"Apologize to Carol. Both of you," said David.

"You're not the boss of me. You're not even the leader of the group," replied Becky.

David frowned and kept quiet for a couple seconds. He chuckled and rubbed his face and quickly stopped chuckling.

"Yes, I am."

Becky scoffed and left the RV. Dana frowned and followed Becky out of the vehicle. David looked at Lori and glanced at her to come over. Lori placed her can of tuna down and walked over to David's RV.

"I know why you called me here. Yes, I can tell them to not do it again, but you gotta understand why they did it."

"Sure, I get why they were frustrated, but that was still uncalled for. I allowed your friends to come inside my vehicle because I trust you. If they continue to cause problems, then I won't hesitate to remove them from my vehicle. They would be your problem. Understand?" warned David.

"Yeah. I understand."

"Also, that's not the only reason why I called you here. I also called you here to discuss leadership."

"That's one topic I did not want to talk about. Let's just leave it as we both take responsibility to take care of our group. Essentially, we're both de facto leaders. We're the only ones with actual leadership skills."

"You do realize that will eventually create conflict, later on, right?"

"Maybe not. We both think alike. Besides, this journey should take about a month, right?"

"Right."

"We can keep it together in a month. We should probably head on to the road now."

Lori exited the RV and finished her food. David called for the group to enter their vehicles. Lori and her family entered their vehicle. Carol and Sergei went inside theirs. Chunk, Luna, and Sam entered their own vehicle. The rest of the group entered the RV. They headed back into the journey, filled with hours of boredom and gloom. Rusty spent most of his time clicking the buttons to an already dead Game Boy Color which belonged to his younger brother. Leni lied her head on Lincoln's shoulder, while she weeped softly. Clyde and Lynn sat together when Clyde brought up his fathers. Lynn started to sweat as she was attacked by flashbacks of Howard and Harold McBride's corpses.

"My poor dads," said Clyde. "Who knows what that evil scumbag Black is doing to them? At least they weren't killed in the massacre or the bombings. Now that I think about it, I think I heard a helicopter fly away when my dads disappeared. Why do you think the General captured them first, Lynn?"

"I-I don't know," replied Lynn.

"Are you okay, Lynn? You seem a little sweaty. Sweatier than usual," worriedly asked Clyde.

"Yeah, she does. Something wrong, Lynn?" asked Francisco.

"No, it's nothing. I'm just feeling a little hot," said Lynn.

"Lynn, the AC is on," said Francisco.

"Yes, I know… please shut up, Francisco," whispered and pleaded Lynn.

"Is everything alright, Lynn?" asked Clyde.

"No. I can't take it anymore. I can't keep it a secret anymore!" said Lynn, hyperventilating.

"What are you talking about?" asked Clyde.

"I'm talking about your dads. They aren't alive anymore, Clyde! They were murdered! They were… murdered."

A complete silence washed over the group as Lynn panted for breath before swallowing hard. Lori drove awkwardly. Clyde just stared at Lynn with his mouth kept wide open.

"Clyde?" asked Lynn.

"Stop the car," said Clyde bluntly.

"Lori to all. Stop your vehicles."

After the vehicles came to a complete stop in the middle of the highway, Clyde stepped out of Vanzilla. All the group members decided to step outside their vehicles to see why they stopped. Lynn got out Vanzilla quickly.

"Wait, stop, Clyde. Don't leave."

"Why shouldn't I?!" screamed Clyde, tears running down his face. "You kept quiet when I wondered whether my parents were alive! How could you do that!"

"I'm very sorry, I was just too afraid to tell you."

"How do you even know they were murdered?"

"I saw their bodies."

"Y-You saw their bodies? Who else saw?!"

"Lincoln, Luan, Benny, and Lana."

Clyde looked at Lincoln. David and Richard looked at each other confused.

"Is it true, Lincoln?"

"Yes. I snuck inside General Black's station and went inside his basement. I saw Howard with his... dead in the floor, and Harold with his... stomach– oh geez. They were also stabbed in the head if I remember correctly," replied Lincoln.

"Oh, God!" cried Clyde as he started hyperventilating.

Clyde collapsed to the ground and started wheezing and coughing.

"Oh my god, he's having an asthma attack!" yelled Lori.

Lincoln rushed inside Vanzilla and grabbed Clyde's backpack. He rummaged inside of the backpack and found his inhaler. He quickly went outside and handed the inhaler to Clyde. Clyde took a deep breath and held his breath. After releasing his breath, he looked at Lincoln.

"Why… didn't you tell me earlier? I trusted you, Lincoln."

An immense feeling of guilt washed over Lincoln. He could not find the right words to explain to Clyde why he refused to tell Clyde. After all, Clyde had the right to know since they were his parents. Lincoln opened his mouth, but no words came out.

"I told him not to. I also told Lana not to tell you. Since I told Lincoln to not speak a word about what happened, he decided to tell Luan to keep it a secret as well. I thought you weren't going to be able to handle it, but the truth is... I couldn't handle it. I'm sorry, I should've told you earlier. Blame me. Don't blame Lincoln," apologized Lynn.

"Sorry for doubting you, buddy. You're right, Lynn. I am going to blame you. Don't talk to me, Lynn. I just want to be away from you for now," sniffled Clyde.

Clyde went inside Vanzilla and grabbed his backpack. He walked outside of the van and headed to David's RV. Clyde sniffled loudly and walked inside of the RV. The guilt that washed over Lincoln also washed over Lynn, and they both walked into the van in shame. David walked back inside the RV, which signified the other drivers to get their vehicles ready for the road again.

"Looks like we gotta stop before we reach Cleveland," whispered Richard.

"Yeah, it would be best to do that anyway since we want to avoid being near the big cities," whispered back David.

The ride for the rest of the day was a long and awkward one. Everyone in Vanzilla was quiet except Leni who sniffled very softly and Darcy who fidgeted with her giraffe. After sundown, the group stopped by a field. They grabbed a couple cans and ate dinner by a small fire. Carol stayed inside the vehicle reading her novel. Dana, Becky, and Lori took quick glances at Carol while Bobby and Darcy would play with each other. Clyde stayed inside the RV. The rest of the group finished their dinner in silence and headed back to their vehicles. The lights were off in the vehicles in order to prevent attracting roamers and uninvited guests. Some of the people inside the vehicles had trouble sleeping, but others did not. Vonda was sleeping lightly until her exhaustion took over and a deep sleep took over.

"Can you share some of your arrows to the young boy over there?" asked Tim to an eight-year-old Vonda.

"Why do I have to? It's not my fault he ran out of arrows before I did. I was conserving arrows like you told me to. Besides, I can win just by myself," whined Vonda.

"You and that boy are in a team. You gotta work with him or else those other kids are going to beat you," said Tim.

"Fine. Here you go. Thanks for nothing," said Vonda harshly to the boy.

After a couple hours, Vonda sat on the field angrily fidgeting with her arrows.

"You look annoyed, Vonda. You know, winning isn't everything," said Tim while sitting down next to her.

"I know that. It's just that little boy ruined the game for my team. He's so useless."

"Now, Vonda, don't say that. He tried his best and that's all that matters. You gotta learn to work with your group, your teammates. After all, they are the people who are going to have your back at all times whether it's just a game or in another sport. You never know, maybe that boy will win the next game for you," said Tim.

"Yeah, I understand now. He also drooled on my arrows."

Time chuckled and picked up Vonda.

Vonda woke up yet again to another beautiful morning. Everyone was already awake and some even washed their faces. She noticed that there were strong odors inside the RV, and realized that it has been a while since the group members took a nice, hot shower. She also realized that she would never be able to take a nice, hot shower since electricity went out in Ann Arbor on Day 5 after the Global Infection Event. She remembered the panics caused around the stadium as riots flared across the city, causing people to die and in effect, turn into a roamer. It was that day when the population of zombies outnumbered the population of the living. She stayed with her alcoholic aunt, who was her mother's sister, who was destined to die as she was part of the riots. Her father showed no signs of returning and that's when Vonda knew she was on her own.

Time flew as Vonda was zoned out. She quickly snapped back to reality when David started driving. She walked to the back of the RV and stared out of the window by the booth table. Through the back window, she saw Lori driving Vanzilla. Lori smiled and waved at her. Vonda waved back and walked away from the window. The group inside the RV grabbed a cereal box. Tabby, Liam, and Zach tried to talk to Rusty to no avail. He would just grab his bowl of dry cereal and eat alone. Usually, the groups would stop at someplace at noon to eat together. The rising tensions between some people might be a factor in this decision, but David decided that it would be better for the groups to eat breakfast instead since they would arrive at Cleveland at noon.

 **II - Strangers**

After a couple hours of riding in the vehicles, their minds still processing the world around them, the group arrived at Cleveland. Luckily, they were always on the highway, so the roamers from the city couldn't land a finger on any of their vehicles. However, they were on higher alert since the abundance of abandoned vehicles increased in the highway near the cities. Their alertness also caused David to notice a gang of survivors as he approached the downtown section of the city.

"Hey, Richard. You see 'em right?" pointed out David.

"Yeah, I see them. Nobody told them hitchhiking was dangerous?" responded Richard.

"Well, they look like... teenagers. Look at their faces, their sweaty hair, god they look exhausted," said Missy.

"It's a damn miracle if they managed to survive in downtown Cleveland around roamers for fourteen days," commented Richard. "They finally decided to get the hell out of Dodge on Day 15, huh?"

The group of survivors consisted of six people, worrying David, as personal space was more violated with each coming guest. Vonda looked out the window and quickly dashed to the sofa. She opened the upper cabinet above the sofa and stashed her arrows inside. Just in case. David drove closer to the group and spoke into the walkie-talkie.

"David to all. We're about to pick up six kids. Slow down your vehicles."

The vehicles slowed down until they came to a complete stop. David opened the RV door and walked out, taking out the shades from his eyes.

"How may I help you gentlemen?"

A Puerto Rican teenager walked in front of his group. He had long black hair that reached his shoulders and a cap worn backward much like Lana's, but it was black instead. He had a purple shirt along with baggy jeans and chains around his pockets. He wore a gold necklace and had a Glock 17 behind his pants. He also had a tattoo of grapes on his right arm.

"Hope y'all don't mind if we _janguiar_ with you. Me and my three homies need a ride anywhere away from this shithole. Just drop us off when y'all find someplace safe," said the teen.

"Sure thing," said David. "We don't have a lotta space... but it's enough. But first, what is your name?"

"Oh, my name's Carlos. My homeboy with the army-cut hair is Esteban. My other home with the shades is Angel. And my other homeboy there with the purple jeans is Adriel."

"What about the other two fellas over there?" asked David.

"Oh, the Haitians? Yeah, I know 'em _morenos_ too. The tall one is Derrick Tyre Chery, but we call him D. The short one is Wesley Hill, but we call him Wavehead."

D was six-feet tall and thin. He wore a white shirt with a blue circle on it and khaki joggers. He had short hair and wore a tiny watch on his right hand, along with a pair of blue and white sneakers. He carried the same gun that Carlos carried, as did the other group members did.

Wavehead was about Luna's size and was of average weight for his height. He wore a black shirt with white thin lines, giving the appearance of sleet, and white cargo pants. He had dreadlocks that hung in a wavelike manner, hence his name, and wore thin rectangular glasses. He wore black sneakers and a black belt. He was the only one in the group who didn't carry a gun, carrying a trench knife with a gold handle instead.

"For our safety, I'm gonna need you fellas to hand over your weapons," demanded David.

"Aight, we can do that. What's yo name?" asked Carlos, grabbing his friends' guns and handing them to David.

"I'm David. I'm gonna introduce you all to my group," answered the leader, putting on shades while handing the guns to Richard. "David to all. Come to the RV."

"Aye yo, I'm just wondering, when can I get my piece back?" asked Carlos.

"When we find a good place to drop you guys off," answered David as the rest of the group crowded themselves outside the left door of the RV. "The tall blonde girl is Lori. From right to left, their names are Bobby, Darcy, Leni, Lily, Luan, Benny, Francisco, Lynn, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, umm… Lucy, Lola, Lana, Lisa, Carol, Sergei, Luna, Chunk, and Sam. Inside the RV from left to right is my best buddy Richard, his wife Missy, Rusty, Liam, Tabby, Zach, Clyde, Becky, Dana, Tad, and Vonda. Everyone, this is Carlos, Esteban, Angel, Adriel, D, and… Wavehead."

"I had a cousin named Carlos. And an uncle named Carlos as well. And some variations," said Bobby, getting flashbacks of what he saw when he left Detroit.

"I'm sure they ain't more handsome than me. Where are y'all heading? How are y'all saving food?" asked Carlos. "Come on, homes, come head inside!"

"Yeah, come inside. We're going to Maine. We're rationing food. Everyone, you can head back to your vehicles."

Lori and her group headed back to Vanzilla, unsure how to feel about the guests. Luna, Sam, and Chunk walked back to their vehicle. Sergei and Carol walked back to Chaz's car.

Carlos and his friends headed inside the RV. They looked around in awe and gave each certain looks of satisfaction. They slowly made their way to the back of the RV and took off their backpacks. Some placed their backpacks on the table while the others placed their backpacks on the floor.

"This place is damn cool!" gasped Wavehead as he looked inside the bathroom.

"Y'all have some chips and shit?" asked Adriel.

"No," replied David, getting increasingly frustrated with the teens. "Why, you want me to go in the city and get you some chips too?"

David started the car and drove off. Missy handed the boys water bottles in an effort to keep their mouths hydrated. As she walked back to her seat behind Richard, some of Carlos's group members inappropriately stared at her haunch. Esteban wolf-whistled, which stopped Missy in her tracks. The group focused their attention on Carlos's group, become uncomfortable. She formed an angry smile and looked quickly at the floor before turning to the boys, crossing her arms.

"Damn ma, why do you look so pissed?" asked Esteban.

"Did you guys just stare at my ass?" asked Missy, already knowing the answer, demanding an explanation.

"So what if we did? Ain't my fault you look fine," responded Carlos, snickering.

"Hey, guys, are we going to have a problem over here?" said Richard frustratingly.

"Yo guys, can you chill?" exclaimed D. "She's married! Her husband is right there!"

"Thanks for being mature. You all know that she would never go for you... boys? She's like twenty years older than your immature selves," added Richard, this time turning to the group and away from the windshield.

"I'm eighteen. I don't mind tapping that MILF ass," chuckled Carlos.

"Hey! Shut your goddamn mouth!" yelled Richard, getting up from his chair.

"Get over here then!" yelled back Carlos standing up.

The two walked closer together yelling at each other. Even Missy cracked her knuckles and made a step forward.

"Hey! Hey! Calm down! Both of you!" shouted David.

"You kids need to learn some fuckin' respect," hissed Richard.

Carlos went back to the table, scratching his head. Missy shook her head and sat in her seat. Carlos's group chattered among themselves. David continued driving, now leaving Cleveland.

Meanwhile, Leni sat next to Lori, slowly going through her backpack. Darcy napped on Bobby's lap and as Lori set her eyes on this wholesome sight, she smiled. Lucy wrote poems after poems, writing about her guilt and how much she missed Rocky. Francisco and Lynn wondered what happened to their favorite sports team, but Lynn often drifted away from that subject and thought about Clyde. Ronnie Anne and Lincoln would read comics, despite the tough girl hating the graphic novels, but Lincoln always somehow convinced her to read them with him. Benny looked at his bruise and saw that it was barely noticeable.

"Leni," whispered Lori.

No response.

"Leni?"

Still no response.

"Leni, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, what do you want me to do?" finally replied Leni.

"Can you organize all the pictures I grabbed from the house?"

"Okay. How do you want me to organize them?"

"However you want it, as long as it looks nice."

Leni took out the pictures and started organizing them inside the empty photo album. Lori needed a way to keep Leni distracted from thinking about what happened to Chaz. If Leni was too depressed, she would be unpredictable given her petite intelligence. However, something else bothered Lori. As the hours passed by, she noticed that Lincoln attempted to talk to Clyde, but received no response from him. She was not annoyed at Clyde; in fact, she no longer felt just pity for him but loved him like she loved Lincoln and her sisters. What bothered Lori was the fact that someone else would answer, someone who Lori assumed was Carlos.

"Yeah, can you pass the walkie-talkie to Clyde?" asked Lincoln through his walkie-talkie that he used to communicate with Clyde before and during the Global Infection Event.

"Is Clyde the little nerd with the round glasses? Looks like a lil' version of Wavehead?"

"Yeah... that's him."

"Yo, Clyde!" shouted Carlos before turning to the walkie-talkie. "What's your name again?"

"Lincoln."

"Lincoln wants to talk to you! No? You don't want to talk to him?"

Lynn swiped Lincoln's walkie-talkie.

"Hey! Tell Clyde that Lynn wants to talk to him!"

"Hey, Clyde! Lynn wants to talk to you! No? You don't want to talk to her either? Sorry, y'all. Clyde don't wanna talk," replied Carlos.

"We can talk to you though, Lynn. How old are you?" said Adriel.

"I'm good. Here you go, Lincoln."

"Aww, don't leave me hanging like that."

Lynn moved away from the device and shivered.

"Lincoln? Can you pass me the walkie-talkie?" asked Lori, agitated at the boys.

Lincoln handed the walkie-talkie to her older sister, almost afraid for the boys. She kept her left hand on the wheel and held the walkie-talkie with her right hand.

"Can you guys not do that with my little sister? That's literally creepy," said Lori.

"You sound older. You're right," said Esteban. "These guys are creepy liking an older woman or a young girl. But you… you are about the perfect age if I'm not mistaken."

"I don't think my boyfriend would like that."

"Man, fuck him! You need a real man."

Lori felt very heated and felt the urge to leave her van, enter David's RV, and start choking the boys.

"You know we don't have to give you transportation," warned David. "We can just drop you off in this town, and it would only be a little easier than what you guys went through in Cleveland. So I suggest you guys shut the hell up."

"Ese, we're just playing around," said Adriel passing the walkie-talkie to Carlos.

"Yeah, damn," said Carlos. "Only thing fucked up about us is that we play too much. Sorry about bothering y'all. Especially you, Lori. By the way, call me when things don't work out too well with Bobby."

Carlos snickered.

"Hmph. Here you go, Lincoln," huffed Lori, passing back the walkie-talkie to her brother.

The group all agreed to eat in their vehicles instead of camping outside. As Carlos's group suspected, they aggravated David and Lori's group enough to make them not want to talk to them. It did not matter to them anyways. They had a plan and they were going to stick with it. They did not need to make friends with them. That would in fact, hinder their plan. They knew that no matter how their plan went, they were never going to see David and Lori's group again. With the sun already set, and the group exhausted from the ride, David decided to call it a day and allowed Carlos's group to leave.

"Hey, y'all. Can't we just stay here for the night? It ain't safe out there at night," pleaded Carlos.

"Alright. I'm letting you guys stay here for just this night. I understand how dangerous it would be to run around killing roamers at night," agreed David.

"Thanks, ese. We'll be out of your nut sacks tomorrow," thanked Carlos. "And is that what you call 'em? Roamers?"

"Yes. We called them rotters before."

"Why not just zombies?"

"I have no clue. It wasn't my idea. Now go to sleep. I'll keep watch up on the roof of the RV."

Carlos, Esteban, Adriel, Angel, D, and Wavehead laid their heads in the booth table and pretended to fall asleep. Actually, only Carlos and Angel pretended to fall asleep. Adriel, Esteban, D, and Wavehead actually fell asleep, feeling the toll of walking all day long. David, carrying his shotgun, climbed up to the roof of the RV with the ladder in the back of the vehicle. He took off his shades and rubbed his face.

...

"Goodbye, Mom!" said a young man, about 18 years old.

"Goodbye, my beautiful boy," said the young man's mother as she hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Bye, Sandy. Stay safe. I love you," said David as he gave the young man's mother a kiss on the lips.

"I love you too, David. You too, Seth. This mission shouldn't take too long. General Black likes to finish his missions quickly," said Sandy to her husband and son.

"I bet he does," said David, chuckling. "Good luck."

Sandy walked away with her bag of black ops soldier uniform. She had a black jacket on and two pairs of jeans to go with her black boots. She had a blue scarf around her neck and her hair in bangs. She hailed a taxi as the snow started to set harder in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. She got inside the taxi, and the taxi drove away, leaving David and Seth alone.

"I'm going to leave in a couple hours. I can't miss my flight to Miami," said Seth to his father.

"Alright, Seth. Want to watch a show before you leave?"

"Sure. Watcha' wanna watch?"

...

David was zoned out. He stared at the empty field around him and paid no attention to the roamers wandering in the distance.

Carlos and Angel quietly snuck around the RV. However, they couldn't get any further than a couple feet away from the booth table since the other group members were sleeping on the floor. Angel went in the bathroom and turned on the lights. Carlos took out his flashlight and shone it on the closet. Angel put his shades on since the light proved to be too bright for him. He only saw a bar of soap, a bucket of water, toilet paper and a toilet with a sink next to it. He grumbled and continued to look around.

Carlos only found more toilet paper until he shined the flashlight above it. Then, he found the guns that have protected him and his friends even before the apocalypse. He snickered quietly and went into the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Lori found it difficult to keep her mind quiet as she tried to get some shut-eye, so she grabbed a flashlight and exited Vanzilla. She walked to the RV and saw David staring out into the field. She shined the flashlight on David's RV upwards to the roof onto his face. Carlos and Angel froze where they were, and saw a silhouette of someone outside of the RV. However, Lori did not know anyone was awake since Carlos and Angel were inside the bathroom. David slowly snapped out of his zone-out and looked at Lori. David went down the RV and greeted Lori.

"Why are you awake?" asked David.

"That's what I was going to ask you," said Lori.

"I'm on watch-duty. Looking out for roamers."

"Isn't that Richard's job?"

"Yes, but tonight I let him rest. Plus, I'm watching out for those douchebags to see if they'll try anything. So far, they haven't."

"I don't think you should be awake. You need the energy to drive the RV."

"Richard's taking the wheel tomorrow. I'm gonna take a little break from pressing a pedal all day long. You should go to sleep. I assume Bobby can't drive."

"He can... he just needs more practice."

"Nobody has the time to practice in this world."

Carlos and Angel left the bathroom and grabbed their guns. They hid the guns in their bags.

"Remember. We need 'em _putos_ to drive us a little further. Then, with Esteban, Angel, D, and Wavehead, we can light em up," whispered Carlos as he closed the closet.

Angel nodded his head and went back to the bathroom.

"You're right," sighed Lori. "Wait, what the hell? There's someone awake inside the RV. And I'm guessing it's one of those douchebags."

David and Lori walked into the RV and turned on the lights. Carlos flinched and was only a gasp away from waking everyone up. Then, he sighed loudly, waking almost everyone up. They all stared at David and Lori, then they noticed Carlos was awake.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked David.

"Fuck! You almost scared the shit out of me! I just needed to piss, but my mans Angel was inside," responded Carlos.

Angel came out of the bathroom and motioned his arms towards the bathroom.

"Oh thanks, _ese_. I was waiting for like a whole ass minute. Now can you guys turn off the lights? People in here need to sleep or do their business."

Lori crossed her arms and left the RV. David turned off the lights and closed the door, following her. Carlos sighed and entered the bathroom. Everyone went back to sleep. David climbed back up to the roof of the RV, and Lori walked back to Vanzilla to fall asleep. Vonda looked at the shadowy figure of Carlos as he walked back to the booth table to sleep. Then, Vonda fell into a slumber.

"Mr. Crowley. It is disappointing to say that I am here to inform you that your daughter, Vonda, has been suspended from our school for three days for fighting with another student," said the principal.

Vonda was sitting outside of the office. After a couple of minutes, Tim came out of the office. Vonda and her father walked out of the school together.

"You know, my friends told me to beat up Randy. I didn't want to do it, but, but, Angelica and Martha told me to," explained a nine-year-old Vonda.

"They don't sound like real friends, Vonda."

"They sit with me in lunch and we talk. That's what friends do, right?"

"Yes, but you have to learn when someone might be too toxic to you. If they tell you to do something you really don't want to do or make you feel uncomfortable, then you shouldn't hang out with them. You can go ahead and make more friends. However, you can't trust them all. You have to find the right people that you can depend on and trust them. Not everyone can be trusted, Vonda. Understand?"

"I think so. I'm sorry, daddy."

"It's alright. Come here and give me a hug," said Tim, crouching to hug Vonda.

 **III - Raided**

Vonda woke up to a cloudy morning. The RV was already moving, and this is when she realized she overslept. She went to the bathroom to wash her mouth uncertain to why she was able to sleep well.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we crossed the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Every day, we get closer to Houlton," announced Richard. "Damn. Feels good to be behind the wheel!"

"Lori to Richard. Requesting to stop vehicles for the reason of a much-needed lunch break."

"Richard to all. I accept Lori's request and order that all vehicles should stop since we are about to have some lunch!"

All the vehicles stopped by the massive Lake Erie. Everyone stepped out of their vehicles. Lori headed straight to the RV, followed by Lynn, Lincoln, and Francisco. Upon entering, Lynn, Lincoln, and Francisco walked towards Clyde, in hopes of him forgiving Lynn.

"So, can we finally kick out the dynamic douchebags?" asked Lori. "Except for the Haitians. I mean, they are still being kicked out, but they don't seem like douches. I kinda feel bad for them actually."

"Yeah, I agree. Hey! Carlos! It's time for you and your friends to leave!" said David as he walked towards them.

"So soon? Damn, I mean just a little bit further up the road?" asked Carlos.

"No, you guys have to leave now. The next time we're stopping is at nighttime," said David as he stood near the booth table.

"Alright, homes. Let's go," said Carlos.

Angel, Esteban, Adriel, Wavehead, and D stood up and grabbed their bags.

"Come on, Clyde. You have to forgive Lynn. She did what she thought was best for you," pleaded Lincoln.

Clyde looked away at Lynn and glanced at David.

"Hey, aren't you guys forgetting something? Your guns and knives. Let me just get 'em for you," said David as he opened the closet.

"You don't need to. We got 'em right here," said Carlos as he, Esteban, Angel, and Adriel took out their handguns and pointed them at the group.

Angel pointed his MP5 at Richard, Missy, Lori, Becky, Dana, and Tad. Adriel pointed his Glock 17 at Lincoln, Lynn, Clyde, Francisco, Rusty, Vonda, Tabby, Liam, and Zach. Carlos pointed his own Glock 17 at David and cackled. Esteban grabbed his double Glock 17's and went out of the RV. He pointed one at Sergei and Chunk's group, and the other at Lori's group. They yelled in fear and cowered at the ground. Wavehead and D stared at Carlos and his gang in fear.

"Come with me, David. I ain't stupid. I saw all 'em guns you were holding in a crate. I need you to open 'em for me," said Carlos as he walked out of the RV. "Esteban! Watch this _puto_! I needa' have a talk with the others."

"Yes, Carlos! This way, David. Open the fuckin' car!" yelled Esteban.

"Chunk… can you hand me your keys?" calmly asked David.

"S-Sure. Here you... here you go," responded Chunk with buckets of sweat, handing over his keys.

Carlos returned to the RV and put his gun back into his pants. He walked to the booth table and grabbed the shotgun that was hanging over it.

"Bet you thought we were big assholes, right?" said Carlos as he stared at the Remington. "No, we're just doin' what we gotta do. Life just got harder, and it belongs to those who'll TAKE what they want!"

"So you're just going to rob us and dump us out on the road?" asked Lori.

"Yeah. That's exactly what we're gonna do. And don't think you're gonna be alive when we dump you out. Because after we take everything that belongs to you, we're going to kill most of y'all."

"That is not right," said D. "We didn't expect this."

"Hmm. Hey, Wavehead and D. You want my gun?"

"No thanks. I want you to keep these guys alive," said Wavehead.

"Oh, alright," said Carlos.

Carlos grabbed the shotgun and smacked Wavehead in the face with the butt of the gun, causing him to fall. He pointed the gun at D, who went on his knees and started sweating.

"Where was I? Oh yeah. Y'all gonna die. Even you two, D and Wavehead."

Lori's pupils shrank and she got goosebumps upon hearing him. Dana, Tabby, and Zach began to sob. They closed their faces, but their tears were visible through their fingers. Angel scanned around the RV, while Adriel rummaged around the cabinets, and grabbed the medical supplies. Carlos laughed as he smacked his forehead.

"Wow! Don't tell me y'all actually wanna live in this shitty world! Oh my fuckin' god…" cackled Carlos.

"Why are you doing this?" hissed Lori. "Why do you have to kill us? Do you really want to waste those bullets on us, instead of the roamers?"

"Y'all have a lotta fuckin' guns. So yeah, why the fuck not?" replied Carlos.

"You can take what we have and go! You don't have to kill us!" yelled Missy.

"You see, sweetheart, I do gotta kill most of y'all. Ya know how uncomfortable it is to fuck the brains out of someone if another person is watching?"

Missy's heart sank. She realized that Carlos's gang were not just homicidal raiders. She looked at her husband and noticed his stern eyes. Richard knew what kind of people they were. To raid people was one thing, but to rape them was another.

"So you're just gonna rape me? Might as well shoot me now," spat Missy.

Carlos cackled again.

"No, we're not just gonna rape you. We're takin' Lori as well. And the two redheads. And the two brunettes. The girl with the purple streak on her hair is way too young for me, but I don't know. Maybe one of my other boys prefer young girls. Also, you WILL die. Just after we're done with you girls."

"I'll fucking kill you before that happens!" yelled Richard. "Come on! Come here and we settle this like men!"

"I've been dying to kill you first. You fucking piss me off!" yelled Carlos, as he pointed the shotgun at Richard.

Missy jumped at Carlos and punched him in the jaw. Angel grabbed Missy, and pinned her to the floor. Lori looked at Becky, and pointed at her Glock 17. She motioned the gun towards her, to which Becky responded by sliding the gun at her quietly. Carlos held his jaw and noticed blood seeping out of his mouth. Carlos spat a tooth out and smiled.

"What a fuckin' bitch! I'm going to fuck you up so hard. You know what? Fuck it. I'm just going to kill your bitch-ass husband now!" yelled Carlos as he pointed the gun at Richard.

"Come on, what are you taking so long for?" barked Esteban.

"I need help with the boxes. It is so much easier with someone helping me out, you know?" gasped David.

Leni held onto Bobby as he watched and kept Darcy's eyes covered with his own hands. Lola and Lana grabbed each other's arms, Luan held Benny tightly as he watched Esteban in anger, Lisa frowned with her eyes, Luna and Sam held each other's head tightly while Chunk hid behind them, Lucy looked down at Lily on her arms, who was on the verge of tears, and Sergei stood in front of Carol, who was biting her nails. Esteban looked around the cars, and glared at Leni.

"Oh, fuck yeah. You can keep tryin', David. I just found the hottest girl to smash," said Esteban as he walked towards Leni, who trembled in fear.

"No! Stay away from her!" shouted Bobby, as Leni held on to him tighter.

Esteban lifted his right pistol and aimed at Bobby. Bobby and Leni closed their eyes while everyone held their breaths. David moved his arms out from the boxes and ran towards Esteban. He wrapped Esteban's neck with his arm and quickly twisted his head, snapping his neck. Bobby immediately opened his eyes to see Esteban lying on the ground, dead, and David taking his guns.

"You killed him…" gasped Bobby.

"Yeah, now we gotta save the group inside the RV," said David as he stood up.

Carlos pressed the trigger, making Richard flinch. However, nothing came out, so he immediately cocked the shotgun and tried firing the gun again. Again, nothing came out, so he checked the chamber and noticed it was empty.

"Shit."

Lori took a deep breath before she stood up, pointed her pistol at Angel, and unloaded the bullets on him. He was shot three times in the stomach, and once in the chest, splattering blood on the windshields. As he fell, Adriel and Carlos turned around and looked at Lori. Before Adriel could point his gun at her, she aimed his gun at him and shot him in the head, killing him instantly. Carlos, realizing he dropped his pistol when Missy punched him, dashed out of the RV, dropping the shotgun.

Lori quickly ran to Angel's body and grabbed his MP5. She aimed out the left door and shot at Carlos's leg. Carlos yelled as he fell to the groung in the middle of the road.

David saw Lori come out of the RV. He followed her as they walked closer to Carlos. Some of the riders in the RV looked out the windows while some others were frozen with fear. The group outside looked at Lori and David as they came to a stop.

"Please, help me," gasped Carlos as blood ran through his pants. "Help me and I'll… I'll leave you guys alone. On God."

"No. I'm going to do whatever it takes to protect my group. Sorry if this feels personal," said David. "On God."

David lifted Esteban's Glock 17 and shot Carlos in the head, blowing his brains out. The group stared in shock. Even Lori, who just killed two people to protect the ones she loved, flinched at David's sudden kill.

After a few minutes of silence, everyone outside went back inside in Vanzilla, Chaz's car, or Chunk's car. Richard and Missy grabbed Angel's body and lifted it out of the RV. David and Lori went back inside in the RV and lifted Adriel's body. They dragged the body out of the RV and left it in the streets. As Lori scrubbed the bloody floor and Richard wiped the bloody windshield, Missy talked to David.

"So, what do we do with them?" asked Missy, looking at D and Wavehead.

"Gentlemen. You two don't seem like shitty people. Why'd you associate yourselves with these lowlifes?" asked David.

"We knew 'em from school," said Wavehead. "They found us when our parents... were killed by the roamers. I guess they felt pity for us and they helped us out. We helped them too since we thought that they were just douches and not murderers. All they wanted in return for their help was for us to help 'em escape Cleveland. Honestly, I didn't know they were going to do this. We're so sorry about all this."

"We should leave. Sorry about all of this," said D.

"No, guys, it's fine. It really is fine," replied Missy.

"How… how would you guys like it if we asked you guys to stay with us?" asked David.

"We would like that very much," replied Wavehead. "We got nowhere to go. Where are you folks heading?"

"We're heading to Houlton, Maine," explained David. "It's a town bordering Canada. It's controlled by a man far worse than these people. I'll tell you more about the mission later on. For now, I need some shut-eye. I didn't sleep last night. Oh, and Richard. Can you put these back in the shotgun?"

David tossed two shotgun shells at Richard. Richard looked at David and laughed.

"You smart son of a bitch. You were prepared," said Richard.

"I wasn't going to leave a loaded shotgun near them. Now, are you finished cleaning the windshields and the seats? Because I am going to take a nap."

"Yeah. We're all set to go."

"Alright, I'm going back to Vanzilla," said Lori.

"Vanzilla?" asked David.

"The name of my van. It's a long story. Let's just go. No one is hungry after witnessing this."

"I bet you got a sick kick out of killing them," whispered Rusty loudly.

"Excuse me?" said Lori, feeling offended.

"I bet you loved killing them. I can see it on your face. It's the same face I saw when we left the graveyard. After my brother died. You didn't care about my brother's life when he was eaten by the roamers! Even Lucy doesn't care! Look at her now! She just left my brother to die and she didn't care!"

"No, she just looks like that. What is your problem, Rusty? I had to kill them!"

"I understand that you had to kill them! I just don't understand why you enjoyed killing them! Even back then in the cemetery, you seemed careless about Rocky!"

"What the hell are you talking about? I did not enjoy killing them! And I do care about your brother! What the hell, Rusty?"

"You're right. You're right, what the hell am I thinking? I'm so sorry, Lori, I just feel very hurt. These bodies. They just looked so familiar," whimpered Rusty.

"It's alright. You should get some rest. I don't blame you for your sudden outburst. I understand how traumatizing this must be for everyone. But remember, it was us or them," stated Lori.

Lori stepped outside the RV before noticing that her siblings' eyes were set on her. Even her friends seemed afraid of her.

"You know..." said Lori, her voice trembling, "...that was not easy for me. But I have a job to do. I have to protect you guys and they threatened you all. I know Benny already saw me get blood in my hands, and I forgot you aren't like him. It was scary, I know. But the most important thing is that we're alive. Sometimes... you have to take a life to save a life. It's called self-defense, and self-defense is a legal thing."

"We know," said Lincoln. "We just wanted to see if you are okay."

Lori gulped and nodded.

"Richard, where's our next stop?"

"Our next stop should be by the New York-Pennsylvania Border."

"Let's go. Every second counts," said Lori.

"Wait. Lynn… can you stay with me for a little?" asked Clyde.

Lynn looked at Clyde in surprise and smiled.

"Yeah, I will."

"I'll be at Vanzilla with Lincoln, alright?" said Francisco.

Lynn nodded her head and sat on the floor next to Clyde. As Lori headed out of the RV, she noticed one of the bodies moving.

"Oh my god. That quiet guy with the shades is coming back to life. Did we know he was infected? Now that I think about it, weren't all those rogue soldiers back at the park infected as well?" asked Lori.

"Who knows? All I know is that we gotta destroy his brain now," said Richard as he pulled out his knife.

Richard walked up to a zombified Angel and stabbed it in the head. The recently-turned roamer fell to the ground to its everlasting rest. Richard wiped his knife with the towel he used to clean the windshield. Lori, Lincoln, and Francisco went back inside Vanzilla.

"I'm so grateful for David," whispered Bobby. "Did you know that one of the guys was going to rape Leni? He was also about to shoot me after I stood up for her. David snapped his neck and it was just so… relieving. Am I a monster for thinking that?

"No, you're not a monster. You are the most wonderful man I know," whispered back Lori as she saw that Leni was sniffling into Bobby's arms. "You would do anything to protect my sisters, just as I would."

The RV moved, which was Lori's cue to start driving. Carol sat in the backseat in Chaz's car, which confused Sergei.

"Carol? Why you sit in the back?" asked Sergei.

"I just want to relax my back for a little," said Carol as she took out her anti-depressant pills.

"Feeling down?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"My wife used 'em pills before. I don't think they worked for her. I rather not talk about it."

"I take them when times are hard, you know?"

"What about those oxycodone pills? Help you as well?"

Carol looked at Sergei guiltily. She quickly swallowed the pills and put the bottles away. Sergei sighed in disappointment.

"None of your business, Sergei."

 **IV - Losing Ourselves**

A couple of hours passed by. The sun was setting, signifying the end of another long day. Every day seemed to only get worse, and no one, not even Lisa, could predict what would happen after the sun rises or after the sun sets. Inside the RV, Lynn and Clyde sat next to each other at the booth table while the other group members tried to shake off the traumatizing situation that happened in the same day.

"I'm so sorry, Lynn. I should've forgiven you before. When I had a gun pointed at me, I thought about how life is too short to hold grudges. Life is even shorter in this scary world, especially for someone like me," apologized Clyde.

"No, don't say that. You'll make it, along with everyone in this RV," said Lynn.

"Come on, Lynn. I am a weakling. Weaklings do not survive in a world infested by the dead. Only the strong will live. And guess what, Lynn? You are strong. You are the strongest girl that I know. You will make it."

"I'll make sure that you make it as well. I ain't gonna let you think that you'll die in this new world."

"Lynn…"

"No! I ain't letting you die! I swear I won't!"

Lynn rubbed her shoulder.

"And I thought you believed that Lori was the strongest girl."

"Well, it does take might to fight off four thugs, a couple rogue soldiers, and many roamers– all carrying skin crawling disease. But I see something special in you, something that I haven't seen in Lori. It's almost like I can see a warrior inside of you, burning whenever you fight off the roamers. You're like an Amazonian! You even got your own bow! Not to mention that you're beautiful as well."

"You think a sweaty girl with a ponytail and freckles is beautiful?"

"If her name is Lynn Loud, then yeah. And I'm not talking about your dad!"

Lynn laughed and blushed.

"You're too sweet, Clyde. I can see why Lincoln loves to have you as a best friend."

The group stopped a couple miles away from the border of Pennsylvania and New York. Usually, the loss of appetite would have hit hard on the group, but it has been almost 24 hours since they last ate. It would be dangerous for the group to continue on their journey on empty stomachs. The only person that did not take rations was Lily, and only because she was the only group member to drink formula milk and baby food. Even Darcy had to share rations, but she understood why she had to– she would have shared her food anyway if she saw that someone was pained by hunger. The group grabbed the food that they had stashed in the RV, in Vanzilla, and in Chaz's car. Chunk's car lacked foodstuffs since it was mostly used as storage for weapons and clothing.

The group ate quietly. Leni clung to Bobby and Lori. It seemed she never wanted to let go of both of them. Bobby would talk with Clyde and Lynn as Lori played with Darcy. David, Richard, and Missy sat together, watching Lori. David stuffed a slice of canned peaches into his mouth.

"When are you going to break the news to her? That she can't be the leader? That it has to be you?" asked Richard.

"When the time is necessary," replied David, reaching for another slice.

"It's a shame. She's a strong, determined, courageous young woman," said Missy.

"Too bad she has so much to lose," sighed David. "She wouldn't be able to handle major losses if they occur frequently. I mean, look at how many siblings she has! The loss of each sibling would break her."

"I thought we weren't going to lose any more people other than Chaz and Rocky?" asked Richard.

"We can try, but frankly, we are nowhere close to Maine, and look at the threats that we've already faced. Shit, our luck's gonna run out soon."

Clyde and Lynn hugged each other before throwing away their cans.

"I'm going to grab my stuff from the RV, and then head back to the van, okay?" said Clyde.

"Okay," whispered Lynn.

Clyde walked to the RV and went inside. Francisco snuck behind Lynn and spooked her. Lynn yelped, catching some of the group members' attention.

"I saw that coming from a mile away," said Lucy. "Good spook, nevertheless."

"Thanks, Luc–"

Lynn grabbed Francisco's collar and moved him and herself out of sight.

"Francisco! God! Why the hell did you that!"

"Sorry, Lynn. I just wanted to see what you and Clyde were up to."

"Jesus."

"What, you get scared that easily?"

"What, no! Its's just..." said Lynn before clearing her throat. "We were just talking about who knows more about Lincoln. It's actually kind of surprising to see what Clyde knows about Lincoln. It's almost scary– like that shit you just pulled."

"What's almost scary is the amount of time you have been hanging out with Clyde, and how close you two already became."

"Well, we were friends before all of this. I'm sorry, is me hanging out with Clyde bothering you?"

"No, I'm just joking, Lynn. Busting your chops, haha. What else were you guys talking about?" Francisco asked.

Francisco already knew the answers to the question that he asked Lynn. He just wanted to see if Lynn would share these answers with her best friend.

"Clyde and I also talked about making sure that we can protect each other."

"And?"

"And what we knew about each other."

"And?"

"And just crazy things that happened in our house before the Global Infection Event."

"And?"

"Alright, quit busting my chops, Francisco. You can ask Clyde any more questions you have. You two would make good friends."

"I'm sure we would."

Francisco walked into the RV, leaving Lynn to walk back into the group's sights. It was a little dark inside the RV since the sunlight did not pass through the curtains too well at sundown. Clyde was packing up his stuff when he looked back at Francisco.

"Hey, Francisco. What brings you here?"

"Just wanted to ask you a few questions."

"Ask away."

"How do you really feel about Lynn? Liam told me you called her beautiful."

"She is beautiful, and I happen to like her a lot as a friend."

"It's much more than that, isn't it? Come on, be an honest boy, Clyde."

"It… is more than that. I might like her romantically… but if I do, so what? Can't a man be allowed to feel?"

"You can feel. You just won't do anything with her. Not just 'cause you're a cowardly nerd. Because I won't let you do anything with her. She's my best friend and you're staying away from her. Got it… Clyde?"

"No. Make me, you asshole!"

Francisco let out a small laugh. Suddenly, he punched Clyde in the nose, spraining it. Clyde fell to the ground, dropping his glasses. Clyde kicked Francisco in the stomach and stood up, his nose bleeding. Francisco held his stomach tightly and shoved Clyde to the floor. He swiftly grabbed his shirt and punched his face three times.

"You fucking bastard. This is how I make you stay away from her!" yelled Francisco as he swung his fist at Clyde's chest.

Clyde coughed and struggled to grab Francisco's arm. Instead, his attacker grabbed his hands and held them tightly to his stomach. Clyde yelled as he was being beaten in the stomach.

"Get away from me!" yelled Clyde as he shoved Francisco away from him.

Francisco, almost losing his balance, held onto the sofa. He quickly regained his balance and stomped Clyde in the foot. Clyde yelped in pain. Clyde struggled to find his walkie-talkie. After pushing Francisco again, he found it sitting on the floor next to the booth table. He ran towards it, but not before Francisco kicked his buttocks, sending Clyde forward to the booth table.

"That's what you get. You should've known I was going to kick your ass!" yelled Francisco as he walked slowly towards Clyde.

Clyde held his stomach tightly again since he slammed it against the booth table. Getting on his knees, Clyde grabbed the walkie-talkie.

"Help!" cried Clyde, before Francisco kicks the walkie-talkie away from him.

Lincoln heard Clyde's cry for help and alerted the group. David, Lynn, Lori, and Richard ran to the RV with the rest of the group following them.

Francisco stepped on Clyde's left wrist, making him yell in pain. David busted inside the RV, turning on the lights, to see the 13-year-old boy stepping on the 11-year-old boy's wrist. Lynn and Lori went inside the RV.

"Francisco! What the hell did you do?!" yelled Lynn.

Francisco looked at Lynn and then back at Clyde. He opened his eyes widely and let go of Clyde's wrist. Clyde was whimpering in pain and Francisco closed his eyes.

"Oh fuck. What did I do? I'm… so sorry guys. I gotta go!" cried Francisco as he rushed to leave the RV.

"Not so fast. Where do you think you're going? Explain this to us," said David as he crossed his arms in front of the left door of the RV.

"Things got heated with Clyde and I. I'm very sorry, I got carried away. I want to be alone for now," replied Francisco as he bolted out the right door.

Lynn ran towards Clyde. Clyde was bleeding and swelling from his nose.

"Get Lisa! Clyde, what happened?" asked Lynn as she held Clyde in her arms.

"Like he said. Things got heated between us… and he got carried away," said Clyde, coughing.

Lori and Lisa ran inside the RV. Lisa grabbed a towel and wiped Clyde's face.

"I think we should call it a night," whispered Richard to David.

"Oh yeah," agreed David.

The fire was spreading around.

The police fired their guns on the protestors. Not only that, the police also set up barricades using cars and shot the roamers coming from the stadium. There were some people hiding behind the police, and they were the ones who were protected by them. There were rioters looting stores and murdering people who they thought were roamers. The gunshot attracted more roamers and the police were eventually surrounded by the roamers in the maze of cars. Vonda peeked out of her window and saw the roamers piling up over the cars, allowing the police to get caught by them. One by one, Vonda saw the roamers eat the officers. Suddenly, a few roamers started banging on the door. Vonda ran upstairs to her room and grabbed her bow and her quiver of arrows. She opened up the window, climbed to the roof, and stared out into the world. The world she saw was one of madness, one that has lost its way, a world on fire. She crawled around the roof and found the roamers. She stood up and shot an arrow at each of the roamers. She climbed back into her room and shut the window.

"Please, come back, Dad," whispered Vonda to herself.

Vonda woke up to a tense morning. She was the first one to wake up. She went to wash her mouth and face as usual, which awoke everyone else in the RV.

"I'm so stupid. I'm so stupid," repeated Francisco.

"Okay, stop. I know you're stupid. Just tell me why you beat up my best friend?" asked Lincoln, his arms crossed.

"It was for a very stupid reason. Since I'm so stupid. I'm so stupid," repeated Francisco.

"We're not going anywhere with this. Just tell me!" said Lincoln, losing his patience.

Francisco stayed silent. Lincoln sighed. He got out of the van and went inside the RV. He saw Lynn pressing an iced can to Clyde's stomach.

"How do you feel, buddy?" asked Lincoln.

"Fine. Except, my stomach hurts when I try to get up and my nose is just throbbing. Give your sister, Lisa, a big thanks from me. She is fixing my glasses too," replied Clyde. "Also, thanks, Wavehead, for offering me your glasses! It was thoughtful of you, for while Lisa fixes my glasses."

"No problem, bro! I don't need them right now!" said Wavehead, while he kept his eyes closed and his face laid on the booth table.

"Can you tell me why you two fought?" asked Lincoln.

"It's no use, he's just going to say–" said Lynn.

"That discussion is for another day," said Lynn and Clyde simultaneously.

"Alright. I'm going to be at Vanzilla. You two are going to stay here?"

Lynn and Clyde nodded their head. Lisa came into the RV and handed Clyde's glasses back to Clyde. Clyde handed back Wavehead his glasses. The then put on his own glasses and sighed at Lynn.

"You're great at stitching," said Clyde.

"Yeah, I often stitched myself after I got hurt from playing too _rough_ with the other players in sport games," replied Lynn before lowering her voice. "You sure you don't wanna tell me what happened?"

"I will tell you. Just not now."

Lincoln and Lisa headed back to Vanzilla. David and the other drivers headed off into the road. Richard opened up the map and told David to head on a particular road. After a couple of hours of silent tension, the group finally arrived at the border. However, there was something different about this border.

"I see two people. David to all. Slow down. We're gonna stop. Gotta see what these people want."

"Chunk to David. What if they try to maraud us?"

"Doesn't seem like it. Can't even go ahead, they got some traffic gate blocking the road."

The RV stopped right before a highway. A woman with black hair tied in a bun and glasses walked to the RV. A bald man with glasses as well followed the woman. They both wore blue toll booth uniforms. They had black pants and black shoes. They carried a UZI in their hands. They both also had tattoos on their back neck that resembled a piranha. David rolled down the window.

"My name is Madison, and this is my coworker Kevin. We're going to need to see some passes or proof of identification that you are allowed to come here."

"Did anybody tell you guys that we're in the middle of an apocalypse right now?" snarked David.

Madison and Kevin laughed.

"Yeah, we get that a lot. I'm sorry, but I'm asking for passes since I have a group to protect behind this borderline," said Madison, pointing at a large white line painted across the highway.

"Can't we just pass through whatever you're protecting? We're heading much further than here," asked David.

"No, sorry. I'm guessing you guys do not have passes, so I need you guys to leave," replied Kevin.

"Can't you guys just lead us through this road?"

Kevin shook his head.

"Where are we supposed to go?" asked Richard.

"Anywhere, but around here. Go to the Albany area or the Hudson area. We don't have more patrol guys guarding that area since we don't control that area," replied Madison.

"That is very close to the cities. I would want to avoid those areas," said David.

"Too bad. Don't make me ask again," said Madison, grabbing her UZI.

David looked at the group. Then, he looked back at Kevin and Madison.

"Are you protecting yourselves, or are you protecting us?"

"Go. Don't come back."

"David to all. Turn your vehicles around. We're taking a different road," said David into the walkie-talkie.

"Thank you for your cooperation," said Kevin.

Kevin and Madison headed back inside the toll booth and watched as the vehicles turned around and away from the tolls.

"Damn, now our trip is going to take a couple weeks longer if we go the long way to Albany," said David.

"Are we really going to listen to them?" asked Lori.

"We have to."

"What do you mean, we have to? Can't we just, like, I don't know, run through the traffic gate or something?"

"I've seen those tattoos that they have on the back of their neck. It's from a gang that calls themselves the Piranhas. They would stay around the Hudson River areas, which is very close to Albany."

"You mean they aren't actual toll collectors?"

"They could be. They could be leading us to a trap by sending us to Albany, but I doubt it. I think they are legitimately trying to protect the remaining Piranhas, but what do I know? I wasn't too informed on gangs in New York."

"I'm just pissed that we're gonna have to wait longer to see our parents," replied Lori.

"I agree. I really need to get to Houlton as soon as possible to take out that son of a bitch," said David.

The road back was a long and rainy one. The group was forced to see the deceased corpses of their attackers. A zombified Esteban struggled to lift itself up, but its broken neck only allowed the head to move. The RV, Vanzilla, Chaz's car, and Chunk's car drove quickly past the head and moved to a different road. The group took a quick stop at noon in order to distribute the food that they were going to eat for lunch. If it wasn't for the rain, the tense emotions between some of the group members were enough to keep everyone inside their vehicles.

While the group ate inside the vehicles, roamers would sometimes stumble upon the vehicles and bang against the windows. In one instance, Lola was eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when a roamer suddenly banged on the window. Lola dropped her sandwich in fright and stared at the lifeless monster. She swallowed hard and then picked up her sandwich– too hungry to care about it being messy. Lori would get out of her vehicle with a golf club and shove the roamer away from the window. After the roamer was away from sight, Lori would swing the golf club at such amazing speed, that she chopped the head off its body. After the group finished their lunch, they moved on to a different road, heading towards Albany.

"Francisco. Francisco!" whispered Lincoln loudly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was thinking. What is it?" replied Francisco.

"My best friend won't tell me why you nearly beat him senseless."

Francisco stared at Lincoln guiltily. He knew what he did was wrong, but he did not insist on telling anyone else the reason why he did such a thing.

"Can you tell me why you beat up my best friend?"

"None of your business, Lincoln."

"How can you tell me it's none of my business? Clyde is my best friend! And now he's lying in pain on a sofa inside an RV!"

"The reason doesn't involve you, okay?"

"So, it involves someone?"

Francisco did not reply. He looked at the fields outside through the right windows of the van.

"Clyde told me about how much he loved hanging out with Lynn," said Lincoln. "He also mentioned how he doesn't have a puppy crush on Lori anymore… see where I'm going with this?"

Francisco looked away from the window and looked at Lincoln, frustrated.

"Yeah. It involves Lynn…" replied Francisco.

"Do you know how much respect Lynn had for you? Lynn sees you as a monster now! She just didn't respect you, she actually liked you. The whole thing about her liking you as a best friend is crap! She actually wanted something more–"

"Don't you think I know that? I know she liked me! She did this thing with a love letter and shit! I like her too! And so does Clyde! I told Clyde to back off and to not talk to Lynn! He didn't wanna listen, and I became so jealous, I couldn't control myself! I feel bad, okay! I know it was wrong to beat him until he bled over a girl! I know it was wrong!" burst Francisco out loud in a rage.

Silence overwhelmed the van. The raindrops could be heard dripping on the road. Some of the Louds stared at Francisco.

"Are you done over there?" asked Lori as she looked in her rearview mirror.

Francisco calmed down and the Louds looked away to wander in their own thoughts.

"You should apologize to Clyde. He's a forgiving person. Tell Lynn how you feel. She would probably stay mad at you for a couple days, but as soon as Clyde recovers, she will forgive you. However, don't expect Lynn to fall for you again. But that doesn't mean you should expect her to fall for Clyde," said Lincoln.

"Is that so?" asked Francisco.

"Trust me. I know my sisters very well. I also know my best friend very well."

* * *

After a couple hours on the road, the group came across a problem. There were roamers blocking the road. After David took a look at a couple trees in the distance with his binoculars, he contacted his group.

"David to all. There's a herd of roamers in the distance. We can't go any further on the road. Everyone turn back!"

The roamers roamed closer to the group and the trees distinguished themselves as the undead. Sergei led Chaz's car, Vanzilla, and the RV back in the road. The roamers then became indistinguishable in the distance as the vehicles drove further back where they were.

"That was close call. Look like we take different road now," said Sergei.

After the sunset, the rain disappeared, revealing the beautiful stars in the sky and a milky streak. Some of the group members ate dinner inside their vehicles. Others ate outside, heating their food in a fire.

"So, Becky, Dana, and Tad. How did you guys escape the university in Ann Arbor?" asked Lori as she heated her can of chicken soup.

"Care to tell her, Tad?" asked Dana.

"Sure. On Day 1– or the Global Infection Event, as they called it– we heard news of the dead coming back to life in Chicago and Flint. However, that was old news replaying in a loop on TV, and that's when we knew that we were in trouble. There were soldiers who guarded the University of Michigan– where we hung out, you know. Over the course of the next three days, they fed us, as the threat of roamers grew higher. The college students were protesting the police attacks on the roamers. People were leaving the city. The soldiers wouldn't let us leave. I don't know– something about a promise of safety. Then, all hell broke loose the next day. The town lost power, and the roamers broke inside the university, biting and eating many of our classmates. I grabbed a machete from some college student and met up with Becky and Dana. The college student showed us the way out of the building, which was through the window of a dormitory room. He leaped out... then he was devoured by the roamers. Dana, Becky, and I took the chance to leave while he was distracted… and we saw a zombified police officer. I killed it and gave its gun to Becky– it was a good-looking gun. Dana needed a weapon, so she took the one that the college student had, and we booked it. We ran outside, and the whole world was on fire. Cars, buildings, the sky was red. We ran to the golf field and made our way into the streets through a little opening, the same opening where you saw us. We wandered around, seeking shelter, calling out anyone. And that is how we met Vonda."

Lori looked into the stars, before turning to her friends. She opened up her arms and hugged Becky, Dana, and Tad. They each let out a few tears, knowing how lucky they were to survive. Lori also realized how different the apocalypse commenced for every survivor. While she was enjoying vanilla ice cream and making out with her boyfriend, her friends were struggling to survive during the fall of Ann Arbor.

"Time to rest!" yelled out Richard.

Every member of the group fell into a deep slumber, except Richard, who kept watch over the group at the top of the RV. The night was quiet, or so did Richard think. He didn't know or seemed to have forgotten that the herd of roamers would follow the last noise or object that they seen/heard. The herd was slowly making its way to the vehicles over the night. The thunder of growls was not yet heard until the sun rose over the eastern hills.

"Fuck," whispered Richard as he saw the herd coming closer to the group. "Wake up! Everyone wake up!"

The group looked out the window and immediately noticed the herd. David went behind the wheel and Richard made his way down the RV. A few roamers reached the vehicles. Richard quickly climbed back up to the roof of the RV. Vonda grabbed her arrows from the cabinet above the sofa and put them in her back quiver. She dashed outside the RV, surprising David. Richard reached for his Python and aimed at the roamers. However, each roamer was killed quickly by the redheaded archer. She swiftly shot her arrows to the heads of more roamers. She dashed and grabbed her arrows, putting them back in her quiver.

"Get down!" shouted Vonda.

Richard climbed down the ladder and entered the RV. Vonda grabbed all her arrows and went inside the RV. All the drivers drove their vehicles away, heading back to the familiar road. The roamers were hot on their tails and attracted more roamers from nearby cities. Danger followed them.

After a couple hours, the group reached the New York-Pennsylvania borderline, with danger still hot in their trail as they were unable to outrun the roamers.

"Oh, fuck, not these guys again," sighed Madison.

The group slowed down and came to a stop. David and Lori quickly escaped from their vehicles.

"You two let us through! A herd's on our ass!" yelled David.

"A herd? No, we're not letting you people through unless you have your passes," replied Madison.

"Please! Look! The herd is literally right over there in the distance!" begged Lori.

"Damn! In that case, we're going to hide. Sorry, you guys are still not allowed to pass," replied Kevin.

"We'll hide with you! Don't send us to our death!" yelled Lori.

"Get the fuck out of here! You led the herd here! Now lead them away!" yelled Kevin.

"Or else…" said Madison as she pulled out her UZI.

"Fine. Fine," hissed David.

David and Lori walked back to their vehicles. They pressed their gas pedals and moved slowly towars the herd. Lori turned on her walkie-talkie, her fingers leaving a mark of sweat on it.

"What do we do? We can't lead them away! We have to run over the gate!" said Lori.

"That's what I was thinking," said David.

"Are we doing that?" said Lori as she saw Kevin and Madison point their guns at the group.

David drove the RV closer to the herd. Suddenly, he made a U-turn, to which all the groups mimicked. Kevin and Madison stepped behind the traffic gate and stared at the group in confusion. Suddenly, David accelerated, his shoes not letting go of the gas pedal.

"Shit," muttered Madison.

As David drove faster and faster, he ran over the traffic gate, clearing it for Lori, Chunk, and Sergei. Kevin and Madison unloaded their UZI on the group, firing all their bullets. The group ducked as most of the bullets ricocheted off the vehicles. Madison jumped out of the way as the RV came very close. Kevin kept firing at the RV. David collided and ran over Kevin, crushing him. He kept his high speed and drove into the highway. Madison watched as Kevin's bones were crushed against his flesh before noticing a vehicle coming to her.

"Fuck," whispered Madison.

Lori drove her van towards Madison, running her over. The wheels of Vanzilla crushed Madison's ribs, forcing them into her lungs. Chunk and Sergei drove past the mangled bodies of Madison and Kevin, following Lori and David into the road in New York. The herd came closer. By the time they reached the border, there were hundreds of roamers. Madison lied on the hard pavement, coughing out blood. She looked at the herd and struggled to move. As she inched her body closer to the toll booth, she coughed more violently. The herd rushed to consume her, passing the toll booth. Seeing this, Madison struggled to cry out in anger, and only ended up struggling to breathe as she suffocated. The roamers dropped to the floor and began to tear the woman's flesh, little by little, adding to her suffering until she suffered no more. After the roamers were done, they got back up with blood on their decomposed mouth and kept on wandering, following the last noise they heard.

The group watched from the distance as the herd became smaller and smaller. David was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Lori was shivering and was probably the only person in the group to not look back.

"Lori to David…"

Lori continued to shiver. She struggled to get her words out as her throat began to feel clammy. But nevertheless, the words came out anyways.

"...did we go too far? Are we borderline in losing our humanity? If not, what would it take for us to cross the line?"

Lori did not receive a response.

* * *

The world on fire. It was mad, yet Vonda has already adjusted. She didn't grow any less sarcastic, but she did get more serious. She didn't get any less quiet, but she did grow more confident. An outcast adjusted easily to the world.

She quickly grabbed her perishable food and ate whatever would spoil first. She saved her nonperishable food in her living room. She closed all the curtains to the windows in her home. She lit some candles and grabbed a pamphlet that her father wrote for his own personal use.

"Hey! Anyone!" yelled Tad.

"Anyone! Please come help us!" shouted Dana.

"Over there guys!" Becky exclaimed.

Vonda went to one of the windows next to the door and peeked outside. Becky, Dana, and Tad walked closer to her home. She dashed to the living room, grabbing her bow and arrows.

"This has to be it. Someone has to be here," said Becky as she stared at the zombies with arrows on their heads.

She knocked on the door. Becky nervously tapped her foot before another explosion a few blocks away caught the group's attention. Then, the door opened slowly.

"Oh, thank god. Can we seek shelter here? We're miles away from home and we need somewhere to hide from the zombies!" asked Dana.

"What are your names?" asked the redheaded girl.

"I'm Dana. This is Becky and Tad."

"Hi," whispered Becky. "Hope you don't mind our weapons."

"I don't. You can come in. My name is Vonda. Vonda Crowley."

* * *

 _ **If you needed a cliffhanger, then here's one: a herd is coming for the group, and herds are never good! If you didn't need one and I just made you anxious, then sorry but: A HERD IS COMING FOR THE GROUP, AND HERDS ARE NEVER GOOD! You'll see what I mean in the next chapter. If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a review and don't forget to follow if you enjoyed this story! See you guys in 2-3 weeks!**_


	5. Out in the Open

_**It's been three weeks already? Oh! Welcome back guys! Mr. Potassium K. here bringing you another enjoyable chapter to read. This was a very long chapter to write, yet it still did not beat the Exodus Chapter. One day... I will beat that chapter... just not today. Also make sure to follow my Twitter ( MrPotassium_K) for any of the latest news and updates on my stories! If you have any ideas you want to bring to the story, have any comments, or you just want to talk about how potassium is your favorite element, leave a review! Anyways, if you enjoyed the story, make sure to follow! As always, sit back, relax, and enjoy! Happy Holidays everyone!**_

* * *

-Approximately One Year Earlier-

"You got it? Understood everything I just told you?" asked Lynn Sr.

"I think so. Hand me the lug wrench!" replied Lana.

It was a sunny and warm afternoon in Royal Woods. Lincoln was hanging out at Clyde's house. Lynn was biking around Ketcham Park. Lisa was in her room testing out her newly bought uranium. Leni was alone in her room, knitting a sweater while Lori went to hang out with her friends and Bobby. Luna and Luan were playing with Lily while Rita was shopping. Lucy was alone in her room writing poems. It was the perfect time for Lynn Sr. to teach Lana a few things about repairing a vehicle. Lola sat in her toy car, watching them while eating ice cream.

"Are you guys done now? I would like to go to the beauty pageant anytime now!" asked Lola impatiently.

"Ahh! I forgot you had a beauty pageant contest today!" shrieked Lynn Sr.

"You forgot?! How did you forget about your favorite princess' pageant contest?!" yelled Lola, tossing her ice cream away.

"Please hurry, Lana, before she kills me!"

"Don't worry, Dad! I fixed the flat tire and the engine battery!" replied Lana.

"Great! What about the radiator hose?" asked Lynn Sr.

"The radiator hose? Heck! I forgot about the hose!"

"So you didn't fix it? Can you fix it now?" gulped Lynn Sr.

"Uhh, can you teach me again?"

Lola screamed which caused Lynn Sr. to jump in fright.

"I'm not going to make it to the contest in time! Now Lindsey Sweetwater is going to win by default!" yelled Lola before whimpering. "Thanks a lot, Daddy."

Lola slowly walked away. Lana looked at her father in confusion.

"Why is she like that? Why can't she be more like me?" asked Lana.

"I don't know why you two are so different, but there's nothing wrong with her," said Lynn Sr.

"Is there anything wrong with me?" asked Lana.

Lynn Sr. looked at how messy she was. She had oil all over her hands and face. Her clothing was stained by the engine. She reeked of gasoline.

"No, there's nothing wrong with you, Lana. I have an instruction manual book on how to fix a radiator hose in the glove department. Read it. I gotta make sure your sister is okay," replied Lynn Sr.

Lynn Sr. ran inside the house. Lana went into the van and opened up the glove department. Indeed, the manual was there, so she grabbed it. Unclogging toilets are great, but fixing cars was something else for Lana. She flipped through the pages and smiled. She exited the van and admired the wheel before heading to the front of the van. The wheel was lustrous and smooth, working well now that Lana patched it up.

 **Chapter 5: Out in the Open**

 **I - New State**

-Present Day-

The left front wheel of Vanzilla moved slower and slower until it moved at a steady pace. Blood was stuck on the wheel and would sometimes stain the street with it. There was also blood on the wheels of the RV, even though the wheels have never seen a tidy day. The front of the RV was scratched slightly, but otherwise, no damage showed inside. The real damage happened inside the vehicle since Kevin's blood flooded places where it shouldn't have.

"Don't cry. You want some lactose?" Luan asked as she grabbed a bottle of milk for Lily.

"I'm low on fuel," said Lori into her walkie-talkie as she looked at her fuel gauge.

"So am I," said Sergei.

"Same here," responded Chunk.

"We could siphon some gas from nearby cars. We should do that later though. The herd is still too close by for us to stop," said David.

The group stayed silent as they did for the past few days. However, after an hour, someone finally spoke up.

"Why did you do that, David?" asked Lori. "Nevermind, don't answer that. What I meant to ask is… why did I do the same?"

"You did it because they were going to send the people you love to their deaths," replied David. "We gave them options… ways they could've helped us escape the herd."

"Yet, they didn't listen or even get out of the way…" added Richard.

"So, we had to do what we had to do. Like I told Carlos. Anything to protect our group. Don't feel bad about what you did, Lori," said David to the walkie-talkie.

Lori's hand shivered again, and she started sweating heavily. Her mind was racing with the images of Kevin's body being mangled. She felt her van bump up and down as it crushed Madison's chest again and again.

"Oh dear god," whispered Lori.

"What's wrong, Lori?" asked Leni.

Lori took a quick glance at Leni before looking back at the road. She was surprised to see that Leni was feeling less depressed despite the incident in the borderline.

"Oh god. Oh god! Did you see what Lori did… to that woman?" exclaimed Carol.

"Yes, it was brutal. I've seen worse in the motherland, though," replied Sergei.

"What? What was worse than that?"

"Dogs ripping a guy to shreds. I ran like hell when I saw that. Worst 9th birthday party ever."

"Jesus, Sergei!" cried Carol as she grabbed her bottle of antidepressants and oxycodone.

"Hey. What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to forget about everything that just happened."

"No! Put it away! Carol! God dammit, Carol!"

Carol swallowed her pills and sighed. Sergei shook his head and punched his seat. Carol closed her eyes and let out a soft moan. She then laughed softly.

"Oh, how could I not see it? What… what did I ever see in Lori? She obviously hates my fucking guts… and she fucking brushes off killing three people, excluding the ones she killed in the park, I think. What if she decides to kill me?"

"It's just the drugs talking."

"Yeah, you want some?"

"Nyet. You can keep those the hell away from me."

"Fine, your loss."

"I'm so disappointed in you. Weren't you one of the top students in your school?"

"How'd you know that?" curiously asked Carol.

"I had a daughter who went to high school. She mentioned how smart Carol Pingrey was," replied Sergei.

"You had a daughter?"

"Da. I had children. I'll tell you about them in another day. You're taking a shitload of pills. How long have you been taking drugs?"

"Not too long. Relax, it's not like I'm smoking crack or meth or anything like that."

"I expected more from a top student. You were destined to do great things and this is what you do? Abuse drugs instead of facing your problems?"

"It doesn't matter anymore! Look around you! What great things can I do? Huh! Tell me!" burst Carol.

Sergei stared ahead, looking at the rear of Chunk's vehicle and the road behind it. Carol closed her eyes and sighed.

"I just want to see my parents again. I want things to be back to the way they were. When Lori and I were friends. When I didn't care about being the best. When the dead didn't roam the fucking Earth! But that will never happen again! I will never be the things I wanted to be, and I will never have the things I had before. So what's the fucking point! I just want to escape reality when it gets really hard!"

"I just don't want you to do something you will regret in the future," explained Sergei.

"What future? What makes you think that one day, I won't swallow all these pills down my throat and end my misery? Knowing how life is going for me right now, chances are, my parents were killed in the massacre in Detroit! If it wasn't for the drugs, I would've killed myself by now."

Sergei took a quick glance at Carol.

"What did you say your last name was?" asked Sergei.

"Pingrey. What does it matter?" responded Carol, her mascara running a little.

"I happen to know a Mr. Pingrey and Mrs. Pingrey that escaped Detroit. Escorted to the park by General Black himself," said Sergei.

"What? You saw my parents?"

"I saw them taken away to Houlton by the rogues. Yes, I saw them, and they are alive."

"You're not bullshitting me right now, are you?"

"Am I an American millionaire?" asked Sergei.

"No? No! You're not! That means…!"

Carol smiled and looked at her pills. She stuffed them back into her backpack and hugged Sergei in the shoulders.

"David to all. We're stopping quickly for lunch. Park in the nearby merging highway."

David parked his RV to where another road merged into the highway that they were on. All the vehicles behind him did the same. Richard, Bobby, and Sergei were distributing the food to the group. Many returned to their respective vehicles. Some stayed outside.

"I have an idea. It's not too sanitary to be all dirty like I am right now. Why don't we all quickly bathe in the lake over there?" suggested Lori, pointing at Lake Erie in the distance.

"I got three bars of soap," said Missy.

"We have four," added Luan and Luna.

"Fine. We all take a few minutes to get ourselves cleaned up," said David. "Lori, Bobby, Ronnie Anne, Darcy, and Lily go first by the park."

While the group started eating, Lori walked to the lake, carrying Lily, while Darcy took a piggyback ride on Bobby's back. Ronnie Anne followed the couple, holding a backpack full of clothes and towels and three bars of soap.

"Next, behind the stray trees, Becky, Dana, Leni, Luna, Sam, and Luan will go and bathe there."

The girls grabbed their bar of soap, clothing, and towels and dashed to the lake.

"This is so embarrassing," grumbled Ronnie Anne, as her body was submerged in the lake.

"It will only take a minute or two. Now, wash while I change," said Bobby as he grabbed his towel in the ground.

Lori washed Darcy with soap and bathed Lily as well. Ronnie Anne hid her face from Lori as she bathed. Lori climbed out of the lake, holding Lily with her right arm while holding Darcy's hand with her left hand. Bobby walked up to Lori and handed her two towels. Ronnie Anne refused to leave the lake.

"How are you guys not freaking out, seeing each other naked?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Well, this isn't our first time," replied Bobby.

"Bobby!" gasped Lori as she smacked her forehead.

"Whoops! Pretend you didn't hear that, niní," giggled Bobby.

Ronnie Anne stared flatly at Bobby and blew into the water, creating small bubbles.

After a couple of minutes, they all walked back to the highway with a fresh pair of clothes that looked exactly like their old ones. The girls returned as well, with their hair still wet.

"Lincoln, Lucy, Lola, Lana, and Lisa are next to go to the lake by the park. Benny, Clyde, Missy, and Carol will go by the trees. The others have declined the offer to bathe," said David.

The ones who volunteered to bathe walked to the lake, while the rest of the group finished their food. After a couple minutes, Lincoln and his sisters returned from the lake.

"Alright, Missy, you're going to look north in the lake while we all bathe. Clyde, you're going to look to the left, and Carol, you're going to look to the right. I'm going to quickly wash while looking inland...," ordered Benny.

"Ugh, I just want to get washed already," interrupted Carol, while dropping all her clothes.

"Carol!" yelled Benny.

Missy slowly turned away, while Benny stumbled to the water. Clyde yelped and looked away, covering his nose as it started bleeding.

"Oh come on, am I not beautiful?" asked Carol, pouting.

"Just get in the water, Carol," said Missy as she grabbed her arm.

"God, what's wrong with you guys?" asked Carol.

"What's wrong with us? You just went nude in front of us!" yelled Benny, still covering his eyes. "Are you in the water now?"

"Yes… now it's your turn," slowly giggled Carol.

"Carol? Have you been smoking?" asked Missy.

"Nope," said Carol, before whispering in Missy's left ear, "but I did pop some pills earlier, and it's making me feel a little bit loose."

"Oh okay, just get yourself washed and we'll talk about it when we return to the highway," said Missy.

"Okay," giggled Carol as she grabbed the soap and started washing up.

"Clyde, are you good?" asked Benny.

"Yeah, I'm good. I'm just going to wash my face in the water," responded Clyde.

After four minutes, they returned to the highway, drying their hair. Carol sighed happily as she walked back into Chaz's car. The group returned to their respective vehicles, with the exception of Missy.

"Richard, I'm going to ride with Sergei and Carol. I gotta give that girl, Carol, some serious advice," said Missy.

"Alright, I'll see you at dinner," replied Richard.

Missy went inside of Chaz's car and sat in the back with Carol. Before Lori sat in the driver's seat, she put a suspicious look as she noticed that Missy sat next to Carol. She went inside Vanzilla and tied her hair back into a ponytail. David drove his vehicle and went ahead on the highway. As usual, Lori followed him, then Chunk, then Sergei.

-Approximately One Year Earlier-

"And that is how you siphon gasoline," said Lisa. "Don't tell Mother and Father that I taught you this illegitimate method of acquiring fuel."

"No worries, Lisa. Who do you think I am? Lola?" chuckled Lana.

"Did someone call me?" asked Lola as she entered Lisa's room.

"Nope! Want to annoy Lori?" asked Lana.

"Sure do!"

Lana and Lola dashed out of Lisa's room and ran to Lori's room. They entered her room and found no one inside. They looked at each other, confused, and wondered where Lori went. They ran back into Lisa's room.

"Lisa? Where did Lori go?" asked Lola.

"I believe she went to partake in a social interaction with her friend, Carol Pingrey and her boyfriend, Bobby Santiago at Ketcham Park," replied Lisa.

"Hmm, Lana, are you ready to go on a mission?" asked Lola.

Lana nodded her head. They both dashed out of Lisa's room and headed downstairs.

-Present Day-

"Oxycodone? And LSD?" Missy asked Carol as she pulled out multiple stickers from Carol's bag.

"LSD?" asked Sergei. "Where did you get that, Carol?"

"From this guy. It happened like three months ago," explained Carol as she rubbed her forehead. "I snuck out of the house at around midnight and went to hang out with my friends. One of my friends offered to give us a lift to the city. We went to Detroit and met a guy and his gang of friends. It wasn't in a nice part of the city, so as you can guess, there were drugs in that area. We went in one of their homes where they had strobe lights and lava lamps set up in their homes. They offered me crack cocaine. I abused oxycodone, codeine, and other prescription drugs before this, but heroin? No way! I was not going to go that far, so they offered me something less harmful. My friends put the friendly-looking stickers on their tongues and nothing happened. So I tried it, and boy was I wrong. It felt so amazing, and I let go of any discomfort I felt when I got there. They knew what I, a depressed girl, needed. However, that's all I needed, but they proceeded to do more for me. My friends and I had a one-night stand with I think, all of them. I didn't want that, but I was pressured to do it, just like I was pressured to take the LSD home. I just kept it in my drawer and used it whenever I felt down. I mean, it's not so bad."

"Carol, this is not what I thought of you. This seemed like something you wouldn't do," said Missy.

"What would you know about me?" replied Carol.

"Bobby told me some things about you. He seems like a very nice guy."

"He is so nice, I just want to be with him. However, I can't do anything since I don't want to hurt Lori like that. Ugh, what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing is wrong with you. It's hard to find such a nice guy like him, especially in this world. You're just looking for someone who will comfort you and will be your loyal companion for as long as you live. But I'm sorry to tell you, Bobby already has a companion and her name is Lori. You're going to find someone else eventually."

Carol looked out the car window and stared at the passing trees.

"I was told one of the happiest news of my life by Sergei. My parents are alive. But I just can't seem to put away the drugs. They make me feel good. How do I stop?" asked Carol as tears started forming in her eyes.

"I get it. It feels good. Reminds me when I had to kick morphine addiction. Richard helped me get through it. What you want to do is lower your dosage every day until you feel like you don't depend on them. Going cold turkey is going to suck. You'll get flu-like symptoms and life will feel like hell, but it'll get better as time goes by."

"That's too hard. Why do I even have to kick off this addiction? Can't I just keep on trying it? Maybe I shouldn't stop."

"The drugs might help you escape reality, but at the end of the day, you'll see that your problems are still occurring. You gotta face your problems head-on. Plus, it's too risky to take drugs in this kind of world when you're not in control of your judgment."

Carol was tearing up and panicking. She covered her head with her arms.

"I don't think I can do it!" cried Carol.

"Hey, hey, hey, Carol, remember, you're not alone! You're not going to go through this alone. You have the group to help you," reassured Missy.

"I want you guys to keep it a secret. Can you guys do that? Please?" whimpered Carol.

"Sure thing, Carol," replied Sergei, not looking away from the road.

"Okay," replied Missy, "but I personally think it would be better if the group knew so you can get more help."

Carol nodded her head and wiped her tears. She hugged Missy and put the drugs back in her backpack.

"So, what's up with the whole Lori and Bobby situation that has her and her friends ticked off?" asked Missy.

"It was one of my worst mistakes in my life. I really feel guilty every time I talk about it but I might as well… since we have time to kill."

-Approximately One Year Earlier-

"Leni! Leni!" called Lola. "Can you take us to the park?"

"Can I? Mom and Dad told me I can't take you guys anywhere. Or did they mean Luna and Luan?" wondered Leni.

"They meant Luna and Luan. You can't take them anywhere, but you could take us to the park," said Lola.

"Oh okay! Let's go, guys!" cheered Leni as she walked out of the house.

Leni, Lola, and Lana strolled to Ketcham Park and arrived at the at the tall gate the separated the street from the fresh green field that sported trees and benches. Leni looked around and gasped when she saw Lori, Bobby, and Carol. Lola and Lana hid in nearby bushes. Leni was ready to call out Lori when Lola grabbed her and hid her in the bush, covering her mouth. Lola hushed Leni and took out her binoculars.

"So is Becky, Whitney, and Dana coming soon?" asked Carol.

"Yeah, Becky just texted me. She said they're coming in about two minutes," replied Lori.

"Come on, do I really have to meet your friends now? It's kinda hot here," complained Bobby.

"Yes, I want to show off how lucky I am to have you," replied Lori. "Look, I have to powder my nose really quickly. They'll probably see you guys when they enter the park. Tell them I'll be back quickly."

"Okay, babe. Have fun!"

Lori dashed to a nearby port-a-potty. Bobby and Carol sat on the bench waiting for Lori and Carol's friends. Carol worked up the courage to do something she wanted to do for quite some time.

"Bobby, there's something I wanted to tell you for a long time. I li… I lo… I… you know what? It's better if I just show it," said Carol.

Carol leaned closer to Bobby, closed her eyes, and kissed him. Lola dropped her binoculars to which Lana picked up. She was bewildered by what she saw and handed Lola her binoculars back. Becky, Dana, and Whitney walked into the park and gasped. Bobby, astonished by Carol's sudden action, moved away from Carol and nervously stood up.

"What's wrong?" asked Carol.

"Why did you do that? Carol, you're nice and all, but you know I have a girlfriend!" scolded Bobby.

"Well…" stuttered Carol before she was interrupted.

"Damn right he does! I'm already liking Lori's boyfriend," interrupted Becky. "Carol, what the hell?"

"Ooh, it's getting juicy!" squealed Lola.

"Let me see, Lola!" begged Lana.

Carol was speechless and embarrassed. She saw Lori coming out of the port-a-potty. She broke in sweats as if she already knew what fate was in store for her.

-Present Day-

"David to all. Dinnertime."

All the vehicles stopped by the field. Lori partly filled the gas tank of Vanzilla, Chaz's car, and Chunk's car with a jerry can of gasoline. Chunk, Sergei, Richard, and Bobby took out the crates of food and water. The group chattered among each other.

"That was the last of it. We're going to have to siphon gasoline pretty soon," said Lori.

"Noted. Maybe we should stop by some cars tomorrow," said David.

With the exception of Francisco and Clyde, the group ate their dinner outside. It was silent as some of the group members tried to shake off the image of the borderline incident. It was Lori who felt the most guilty, although she did not show it. Too dangerous to drive when darkness arrives to replace the sun, the group stalled their trip to get a good rest with the exception of Missy, who watched over the group. She contemplated on everything that Carol told her. This kept her wide awake over the night, as time flew for her. Aware of the incoming herd, she kept her eyes focused on the far distance of the road, only unaware how long until the thunder of the herd can be caught in her ears.

It's been a day after the borderline incident, in which some of the group members sought comfort in David's speech which explained his reason for the incident. They pushed on to Houlton and tried to focus on reuniting with their friends and family. Vonda, D, Wavehead, David, Richard, and Missy were the only exceptions. However, the fall of Ann Arbor, Cleveland, New York City, and Flint led them on the road to a safe haven.

During lunch, Bobby went inside the RV to discuss with David about his family. He told him about how he found his deceased family outside of Detroit and how he kept it a secret from not only his younger sister but from the rest of the group as well. He felt the need to seek advice from David on how to tell his younger sister, now that they were approaching Albany, the city in which he lived at. After a couple minutes, David left the RV. Carol knew that Bobby was alone in the RV and she went inside with the intention to talk with him.

Carol closed the door slowly and saw Bobby rubbing his sideburns intensely at the booth table. She approached Bobby carefully and slowly sat down next to him.

"What's wrong, Bobby?"

"Nothing. You should go back to the group."

"Is it because you want to be alone or is it because you don't want me to upset Lori?"

"A little of both. Look, Carol. Whatever you wish to do with me, I'm sorry but I love Lori too much to hurt her. So, can you please leave?"

"No, I'm not going to do anything. I just needed advice. Advice from someone who knows me well."

"What is it?"

"I… have a drug problem."

"What… do you mean?"

Carol pulled out her packs of acid. Bobby was perplexed and looked closely at the "stickers".

"Carol, I didn't know you struggled with drugs. I thought you weren't that type of person."

"You thought wrong. I've been struggling with drugs for almost a year. I'm sorry. I just had to get it off my chest. I'm sorry if I disturbed you."

"No, no, it's okay. It was a good judgment that brought you here. I know you and my girlfriend do not have the best history, and I'm sorry about that, but I can help you."

"Thanks. You, Missy, and Sergei are the only people to know so far. I've been planning to tell the group about it so I don't have to fight my addiction alone. So, Bobby, what do you think I should do? Missy told me how to slowly recover from withdrawal, but I need some kind of motivation, something to keep me from abusing drugs."

"Okay, so this is what you are going to do…" said Bobby as he told started giving her advice.

-Approximately One Year Earlier-

"Bobby, why'd you let her kiss you!" yelled Lori.

"No, I can explain!" gulped Bobby.

"Calm down, Lori," whispered Dana.

"Why'd you do that, you fucking slut?" yelled Becky at Carol.

"I'm sorry!" apologized Carol.

"No, I want to know why when I'm gone for two minutes, you allow my fucking friend to suck your mouth!" yelled Lori at Bobby.

"Lori, it wasn't his fault! It was mine! Okay! Listen to your friends! Listen to me!" cried Carol.

Lola and Lana's eyes were stuck at the scene that Lori was causing. Leni was lost and would softly ask why Lori was yelling at her boyfriend. Lori stopped yelling at her poor boyfriend and stared at her friend, whom she now lost trust with.

"What did you say?" hissed Lori.

"I caught him off-guard! I kissed him when he didn't expect it because Lori, I like him! Okay! I couldn't resist it anymore!" explained Carol.

"Go! I don't ever want to talk to you again!" yelled Lori.

Carol walked away in shame. Lori apologized to Bobby, who was shaking from Lori's yelling. Lana and Lola looked at Carol as she left the park.

"I think it's our cue to leave, Lola," whispered Lana.

-Present Day-

Carol hugged Bobby as thanks for listening to her. She knew what she had to do, and felt no doubt about the decision she was going to make. She left the RV and headed back to Chaz's car. Bobby smiled when he realized that he gave something to someone that was very scarce in the new world. Hope. He went back to Vanzilla and kept quiet about what happened. The groups went back on the road.

"So, what were you and Carol talking about?" asked Lori.

The mood in Vanzilla became awkward as the group stared at Bobby.

"I was giving her hope and motivation to get past this hell of a world," replied Bobby.

"Did that involve hugging?" asked Lori, keeping her face straight, although anger could be sensed inside of her.

"We'll talk about it later," said Bobby.

Lori stayed quiet throughout the whole day until sunset which called for dinnertime. The group began to break free of the silence that overwhelmed them since the borderline incident. They sat around a campfire that Richard made and talked to each other. Bobby tugged Lori away from the group. She did not stop giving Bobby the cold shoulder, so Bobby was forced to spoil Carol's secret.

"Lori, Carol and I did nothing to each other. I was helping her overcome her drug addiction, alright? And before you say anything, yes, she has a drug problem. How'd that happen? I could come up with a few theories, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that I only gave Carol motivation to fight through her problem."

"Alright. I believe you. However, she should not have drugs. And hugging her? Bobby, it's like she's trying to make me paranoid."

Bobby stood in silence.

"Okay, now I just need to talk to her about this. You can go back and watch Darcy. Thank you for telling me. I'm sorry for giving you the cold shoulder," apologized Lori as she gave Bobby a quick kiss.

Bobby walked back to the group by the campfire. Lori walked to Chaz's car and knocked on the window. Carol, who sat by a tree near the car looked away from her novel and at Lori. She looked confused, but Lori kept her stare at Carol and knocked again. Carol stood up and walked to the car.

"What is it?" asked Carol nervously.

"I want you to bring your bag and come with me to the RV," replied Lori.

Carol grabbed her backpack and walked with Lori to the RV. Lori and Carol entered the RV. Lori grabbed Carol's bag and took out some pills.

"Lori! What…"

"Yeah, I just want to ask you, why do you have drugs with you?"

"How did you know?"

"Does it matter? You're not supposed to have goddamn drugs on the trip! What if I needed you to protect my sister when we have to fight off roamers? You'll be too fucking high to even give a damn!"

"Lori, I'm sorry, it just helps with my depression. I was going to tell the group."

"It's not just the drugs. It's the fact that you kept this a secret from the group that it makes me wonder. What else are you hiding?"

"Nothing!"

"It's kinda funny how you sought advice from Bobby and no one else."

"That's not true…"

"Tell me, what do you want from Bobby?!"

"Nothing!"

"Tell me, Carol!"

"Nothing!"

"TELL ME!"

"I JUST WANT TO BE WITH HIM! Okay! I'm jealous that you get to be with someone in this hell while I–"

Lori swung her fist at Carol's left cheek. Carol grabbed onto the wall. Lori grabbed her waist and shoved her to the floor. Lori punched her over and over, while Carol blocked her head with her arms.

"Lori! Stop!"

Carol kicked Lori in the stomach at full force and slowly stood up. Lori squeezed her stomach as she caught her breath. Carol swung her fist at Lori's jaw. Fortunately for Lori, she didn't hit too hard. Lori grabbed Carol's neck and slammed her against the wall. Carol coughed as Lori strangled her.

"You fucking junkie! I allow you in my group and this is what you fucking do? Take drugs and chase my boyfriend? Fuck you!" yelled Lori as she choked Carol harder.

Carol grabbed Lori's face and scratched it. She attempted to grab Lori's hair and pull it. This only caused Lori to get even more furious and slam her against the wall again. Carol then proceeded to push her thumb on Lori's left eye. Lori yelled in pain as she released her grip on Carol and covered her left eye. Carol grabbed Lynn's baseball bat and swung it at Lori's arm.

"Can't you leave a girl alone?! You're a monster! You tried to kill me!" shouted Carol as she dropped her baseball bat.

Lori lied on the floor, rubbing her arm. Carol walked to the exit of the RV, carrying her packets of drugs. Suddenly, Lori ran up to her and tackled her. The door swung open which caused Carol to fall to the rough pavement with Lori on top of her.

"Oh fuck, what is it now?" David asked loudly.

Carol pulled her face up from the pavement, revealing a face with a bleeding mouth and cheek. She watched David, Richard, and Missy run to the RV. Bobby and Sergei followed them as the rest of the group watched in shock. Lori grabbed Carol's drugs, which lied on the ground. Carol punched Lori and tried to take the drugs. However, Lori did not release her grip and the two girls were pulling on the packet and each other's hands.

"Let go, you bitch!" Lori yelled.

The packet ripped as soon as David held Lori and Richard held Carol back. Missy and Sergei went to check on Carol, whose face was partly covered in blood. Lori had a very large bruise on her left arm and was bleeding in her gums.

"Lori! What… what happened?" asked Bobby.

Lori's rage ended and she stared at Carol. Carol looked back, not with guilt and remorse, but with anger and resentment. She glanced at the group. Lana, Darcy, Leni, Tabby, Liam, Zach, and Rusty looked frightened. Luna, Chunk, Sam, Lynn, Luan, Benny, Francisco, and Clyde looked shocked. D, Wavehead, Lola, Ronnie Anne, and Vonda frowned at Lori and Carol. Lincoln and Lucy gave a questioning look at Lori.

"I'll tell you what happened! She came up to me and bugged me about my drug problem! She told me that I can't have them and things went very out of hand!" exclaimed Carol.

"You weren't going to stop!" argued Lori.

"Alright, ladies. Carol, go with Missy. She'll clean you up. Lori, you're staying here," ordered David.

Carol walked with Missy inside the RV. Bobby followed them and took a quick, disappointing glance at Lori. Lori looked down in shame as David handed her a bottle of water.

"You don't know how disappointed in you I am," said David. "We'll talk more about Carol's drug problem tomorrow. And then, we'll talk about your exilement from the trip."

"Wait, what?" gasped Lori as she spits out her reddish water on the ground.

"You heard me. Exilement. Go get some rest. You're going to need it."

Inside the RV, Missy and Bobby wiped Carol's face with a damp towel.

"Well, the secret is out in the open, guys," sighed Carol.

"That's the least of our worries," said Missy. "Carol, what happened?"

The group went back inside their respective vehicles. Richard kept watch over the group over the night as the gang went to sleep. Carol fell into a deep sleep as Lori stayed awake, worrying about what David meant by exilement.

"I fucked up," Lori thought to herself, now falling asleep.

-Approximately One Year Earlier-

Carol walked to her car. She sighed in shame as she opened the door. She entered the car and put her seatbelt on. She slid her keys into the starter and turned it. The engine made grinding noises, even when she turned it again.

"Oh, crap."

Lola, Lana, and Leni walked out of the park. Suddenly, Lana noticed that Carol's car was not working properly.

"Hey, do you need help?" asked Lana as she approached Carol by the hood of her car.

"Sure thing! My engine doesn't seem to work," replied Carol. "Hey, aren't you three girls, like Lori's sisters?"

"Yes… don't tell my oldest sister what I'm going to do now," said Lana.

"Sure…?"

"Alright, let me see the problem," said Lana as she hopped on the front bumper of the car and checked the engine.

 **II - Disunited**

-Day 20-

"We have gathered here to discuss the exilement of Lori Loud from our trip to Houlton," stated David. "Lori let her emotions get the best of her and attacked Carol before she was going to reveal her drug problems. Although, Lori had no prior knowledge about this, and in all honesty, neither did we, the fact remains: Lori is dangerous to the group, and we cannot afford to have her come with us to the safe refuge in Maine. Those who disagree with my decision, speak up."

"Hold up," blurted Lynn. "Who made you the leader of us? Last time I checked, we were all going to Houlton as a group."

"And what makes you think we're going to kick out our own sister from the group? You're outta your head!" argued Luna.

"Yeah!" agreed all the Louds.

"No matter "dangerous" you think Lori is, I won't let you kick her out of the group," said Bobby.

"There's gotta be a better way to solve this problem," added Benny.

"Fine! Fine," sighed David. "I'm not going to exile Lori from the group."

Lori sighed and smiled at her siblings, who smiled back.

"However! We do need to discuss the issue with the leadership in our group," ordered David.

"What is there to discuss? Lori is our older sister. She gets to lead us, while you can lead the others," said Lincoln.

"Someone needs to make the tough decisions, enforce the rules, guide the group for our trip to the safe town! And I am not trusting Lori to guide anyone other than her siblings!" exclaimed David.

"So you think you can lead all of us?" hissed Lori. "Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lincoln, Lucy, Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily are my family. Why should they follow some guy they met less than two weeks ago over someone who's been around since they were born? This might be your mission, but they are my family."

"Well, why don't we take a vote then?" asked David.

"All in favor of this hard-headed arrogant jackass?" asked Lori.

"I am sure as hell not in favor with an ill-tempered, naive, spoiled woman with no experience in survival. I'm with David," said Richard.

"So am I," said Missy, standing next to David.

"Me too," added Carol.

"Same here," said Sergei.

"Well, I'm for Lori," said Becky.

"Me too," said Dana.

"Me three. Drugs mess you up. You shouldn't have them anywhere close to children, Carol. Even though I don't agree with what Lori did, she had the right idea," said Tad.

"I agree with Tad," said Benny.

"She's my sister. I know her well enough to know that she can lead us," stated Luan.

"Some drugs do not mess you up. Lori seems like someone who acts before they think," said D.

"True. Beating someone up for that? Not getting my vote," said Wavehead.

"Hey, you haven't been around long enough to see how well Lori is at protecting the group. She's got my vote," said Francisco.

"I think David would be the better leader," said Bobby, shocking Lori. "I'm sorry, Lori. The stress of leadership is really getting to you."

No one else spoke up. Lori looked away from Bobby and stared at the other group members. Her own sisters stared at each other in guilt. David took off his shades and looked at the group.

"You guys can talk among yourselves. Vote in thirty minutes. Meanwhile, we eat lunch!" said David.

The roar of the herd grew closer to the group, although they were still miles behind the group. Lori, still bewildered by Bobby's decision, went to Lincoln for advice.

"Am I really that bad? My own boyfriend went to support… that cruel monster, Carol! What do I do?" asked Lori.

"No, you're not bad. I'm sure he has a reason to take David's side. Remember, he's not necessarily supporting Carol, he's supporting David," replied Lincoln.

"Why would he though? Why?"

"Same reason I will. To relieve you of the stress of being the leader."

Lori's heart went cold after hearing Lincoln's own words come out of his mouth. Lori looked at Lincoln, holding back her tears though she had no reason to. It seemed to her that Lincoln has forgotten about how well Lori performed as a woman in charge.

"Lincoln…" whispered Lori.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure you understand."

Lincoln went back to sitting around the campfire that Lisa made behind a tree. Lynn and Clyde walked away from the campfire. They approached Lori.

"Hey, guys," greeted Lori sorrowfully. "What is it?"

Lynn and Clyde looked at each other. Lynn nodded her head and spoke up.

"We want David to be the leader. I'm sorry, but I won't be on the same side as Francisco," said Lynn.

"We also don't want you to worry about making the hard choices when someone with military experience can do that for you," said Clyde.

"I hope you understand. You know Clyde and I do love you, and we are deeply sorry."

Lori became agitated.

"Why does everyone think I can't handle the stress of leadership? It just comes naturally, and I have no problem handling the duties of a leader! You know what? Nevermind. Go ahead. I still love you guys no matter what you do," said Lori, her voice breaking at the last part.

Lynn and Clyde were surprised that the conversation didn't end up with Lori screaming at them. It was worse. Lori was disappointed in them. Lynn and Clyde went back to sitting where they sat and looked at each other guiltily.

Lori wondered where it all went wrong. She knew she took it too far with fighting Carol, but otherwise, she has shown to be an effective leader, especially with leading the group out of Detroit. She has lost the support of most of the group, some who were her family. She continued to stare out into Lake Erie as she nervously waited for the half-hour wait to be finished.

"You guys better vote for Lori!" threatened Ronnie Anne with her fist.

"Okay, okay! We were going to support her anyway," said Liam.

"Yeah. Why are you supporting her? Why not support David with your brother?" asked Tabby.

"My dumb brother doesn't think his girlfriend can handle being a boss. I can tell she loves being in charge, and she is very good at it!" responded Ronnie Anne.

"I heard Lincoln is going to support David," said Zach.

"Grrr. I gotta talk with him," hissed Ronnie Anne.

Ronnie Anne walked towards Lincoln and grabbed his shirt.

"Why aren't you supporting your sister?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"I'm doing it for her!" replied Lincoln terrified. "I don't want her to handle the heavy responsibilities of being the–"

"Bullshit! She is damn well at being the leader. Think about it, Lincoln Loud!" said Ronnie Anne as she released her grip on Lincoln's shirt.

The group gathered once more around David and Lori. Lori stood by the campfire. David stood by the tree.

"Stand by the person that you want as the leader of the group!" announced David. "Remember, Lori lets her emotions get the best of her and it clouds her judgment!"

"And remember! I have led most of you out of Detroit while this man failed to save our family in time!"

Missy, Richard, Carol, Bobby, Sergei, D, and Wavehead stood by David. Becky, Dana, Tad, Luan, Benny, and Francisco stood by Lori. Lynn and Clyde guiltily walked by David's side, to his surprise. He did not expect to lure any of Lori's siblings.

"I will always stick with my sister. She can always make me feel better," said Leni as she walked and stood by Lori.

"The effects of Carol's drugs in not only a physical way but in a psychologically and emotionally way would've damaged our group in immeasurable ways," said Lisa. "Therefore, I support Lori, because she had the right intention."

"Yeah, I agree with Lisa," said Liam, following Lisa as she walked towards Lori.

"So do I," said Tabby, following Liam.

"Me too," agreed Zach, following Tabby.

"Well, I don't agree with Lisa. Drugs aren't even a big deal!" said Luna. "I think Lori overreacted. Sorry, sis, but I think David would make a better leader."

"I agree with Luna," said Sam.

"Ditto," said Chunk.

Luna, Sam, and Chunk all walked and stood by David, making him smile a little.

"I have twelve supporters. Lori has eleven," declared David.

"Make that twelve for Lori!" said Ronnie Anne.

Bobby was shocked. He could not believe that Ronnie Anne chose Lori instead of joining him in standing by David.

"Nuh uh! Make that thirteen for Lori," exclaimed Lola.

"I like Lori. She makes me feel better than that strong man," said Darcy.

"I guess that's fourteen for me," said Lori to David.

"Make that fifteen for you and twelve for David. It would've been sixteen if Lily could vote," said Lucy as she walked towards Lori while carrying Lily.

"Wrong. It's thirteen for David," said Lana. "Sorry. David has the experience with this kind of stuff. I mean, come on, he's ex-Marine!"

Lincoln, Rusty, and Vonda stood next to each other, trying to decide who to choose. Rusty walked by the tree and stood by David's side, without saying a word. Ronnie Anne grew angry, knowing that Lori needed one more person to support her in order for her to gain the leadership power.

"I'm just going to go with David because I don't want to be the icebreaker," said Vonda.

Lori gulped. She wasn't ready to allow the life of her family to go into the hands of David. Her heart felt cold as she knew Lincoln would choose David.

"I'm standing by…" uttered Lincoln, "Lori."

All of Lori's supporters smiled. Bobby and the rest of Lori's siblings hid their faces in shame. Lori looked shocked, but quickly smiled and hugged Lincoln. David frowned, but he knew he had to keep his word. He knew Lori would not be able to handle being the leader of the group, and she had to learn somehow. Now that she actually became the leader, David knew she had to learn the hard way, and it was only a matter of time before she would give up the power to him.

"You handled being the oldest sister 17 years in a row. For sure you're able to handle being the leader of 33 other people for about a month," said Lincoln.

"Alright, everyone! As your leader, I say we go on with our journey. Nothing changes except one thing. Carol has to toss her drugs away or give it up or else she's not coming with us."

Carol sighed and looked out into the lake. She grabbed her bag of drugs and handed it to Lori. Lori kept her face straight, even when she wanted to wince upon seeing Carol's bruised face. She grabbed her bag and walked into the RV. She placed the drugs in the cabinet above the couch.

The order of the vehicles did not change when the group left for the road again. David remained silent throughout the whole trip and only focused on arriving at Buffalo before sundown. Many hours passed by, and the closer the sun touched the ground, the less fuel the vehicles had. And when the sun touched the ground, Vanzilla drove no longer.

"That's it for the day. We have to wait until sunrise to find some gas to siphon," said Lori.

The vehicles stopped near a small town. As the group ate dinner around another campfire that Lisa made around a few vehicles, Lori and David walked near a building.

"It was very civilized of you to hand your leadership title like that. No hard feelings right?" asked Lori.

"Yeah. No hard feelings," said David, looking out at Lake Erie.

These words relieved Lori enough for her to get as close to a decent sleep as she could get since the bombing of Detroit. However, as always, the group slept uncomfortably in their vehicles. The thunder of the herd was miles away, but every roamer walked with ease along the road, coming closer to the group every hour.

 **III - Out of Time**

"Oh, crap! The radiator hose got smoked again!" exclaimed David as he looked at the engine compartment of his vehicle.

The engine of the RV was smoking. Lana rushed to David's aid and looked at the RV. She looked at the engine and noticed that the radiator hose has popped open. She knew that she could fix it, but only temporarily, and that a new radiator hose would survive much better in the long run.

"David, it looks like I can patch the radiator hose back in the engine and have it sealed tightly, but it would be a matter of time before the seal causes the hose to pop again. You're gonna need a new radiator hose for the RV," explained Lana.

"How do you know so much about fixing engines? Aren't you only six years old?" asked David.

"Almost seven."

"Trust me, she can fix the RV engine. Now, what is it that you need?" asked Lori.

"I need a sealant for the hose. I think you guys need to scavenge for a new radiator hose. Meanwhile, you should also get a plastic tube for siphoning fuel from any of the nearby vehicles," said Lana.

"You got it, Lana. Alright, everyone! David and Lana are going to work together on fixing the engine! I need some people to come with me to grabs supplies that we need! And Lisa, work on siphoning the gas because I know you have plastic tubes!" commanded Lori.

"I can come with you," said Lincoln.

"Sorry, but I'm looking for someone older. I don't want to risk your life," responded Lori.

"I can come with you!" exclaimed Wavehead.

"So can I," said D.

"I guess I'm coming as well," said Luna.

"So am I," said Bobby.

"No, Bobby," said Lori harshly, placing her hands on her hips. "You're staying here to watch Darcy and Clyde."

"I'm going with you too," said Becky.

"Alright, so Luna, Becky, Wavehead, and D! You guys are going to come with me to grab a radiator hose. Benny, Tad, Missy, Richard, and Sam are going to split up from us to search for a gas station or a repair shop. Alright, sit still and do not go anywhere until everyone is back," ordered Lori.

Lori, Luna, Becky, Wavehead, D, Benny, Tad, Missy, Richard, and Sam ran further in the town and disappeared from the group's sight. The thunder grew closer and closer with every passing minute. The two groups found nothing but roamers when they scavenged the tiny town. It was going to take a couple hours to cover the whole town. And it did take a couple hours.

Time was ticking as Bobby played with Darcy. As Dana talked with Leni, still depressed from what happened in Ann Arbor. As Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Tabby, Liam, and Zach tried to cheer up Rusty and Lucy. As Clyde was talking with Lynn and Luan, while Luan was holding Lily. As Chunk was strumming Luna's guitar slowly. As Sergei was cooking food for the group. As Francisco talked with Carol. As Lisa taught Vonda how to siphon fuel from vehicles. As Lola watched Lana and David fix other infractions in the engine mechanism. As the herd came closer and closer to the group, Lisa and Vonda were able to gather more fuel for Chaz's car, Vanzilla, and Chunk's car. And when they filled up the fuel in the cars, the thunder of the herd was sensed by the group.

"Oh shit…" whispered Lynn.

The herd ran as fast as they could, which was still a weak running speed compared to the group. However, in less than a minute, they would arrive at the vehicles.

"Everyone! Run to the town! Go! Go! Go!" yelled David as he ran to Chunk's car.

"What are you doing?" yelled Lynn.

"I'm going to lead the herd away! Go!"

"I'm going to lead them away too!" said Sergei as he went inside Chaz's car.

They drove slowly as the rest of the group ran by the RV. Everyone grabbed their weapons and many ran into the town. Lynn, Clyde, Lincoln, and Ronnie Anne stayed and fought off the roamers. Lynn shot three arrows, each hitting a roamer's head. Ronnie Anne swung her tiny pickaxe at the roamers while Lincoln swung his large sledgehammer at the smaller roamers. Clyde swung his hammer at the roamers. Chunk, Bobby, Darcy, Vonda, Lucy, Tabby, Liam, Zach, and Rusty ran into the town. Luan, holding Lily, Francisco, and Carol dashed out of the right side of the road, through some thick bushes, and into a different part of the town. As soon as the roamers started piling up, Lynn, Lincoln, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne ran away from the road, in a small declining hill that would lead to another road below the highway. They hid behind the bushes that hid the hill as well. Dana, Lisa, Lola, and Lana were left behind as they weren't able to run into the town. There were roamers that emerged from the surrounding areas that cut them off from the rest of the group.

"Oh crap! Fight your way into the RV!" yelled Dana as she took out her machete.

The roamers surrounded the RV. Dana turned back to run towards the town. She used her machete to kill the roamers in front of her.

"Okay, run for the town, but as soon as they start to form into groups that are too much to handle, run to the right, away from the road!" yelled Dana.

"It already is too many to handle!" yelled Lisa.

Dana swung her machete. Lana swung her heavy wrench. Lola swung her golf club. Meanwhile, Lynn, Lincoln, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne were sneaking by the herd. They were heading away from the town, in hopes that they could go behind the herd. Lynn grabbed her baseball bat, which Clyde was carrying in his back.

"This is not good. Not good at all!" whispered Lynn.

"Alright, keep calm, everyone!" whispered Ronnie Anne, who was having trouble staying calm herself.

Lincoln turned on his walkie-talkie. However, Lynn quickly smacked it out of Lincoln's hands.

"Lynn, what the heck?" angrily whispered Lincoln.

"No! You're going to alert the roamers! We need to stay quiet," whispered Lynn.

"Lori? Are you there?" asked David through the walkie-talkie. "Stay away from the highway! A herd arrived and we are currently split up!"

A few roamers heard the walkie-talkie go off. Lynn smacked her forehead, picked up the walkie-talkie, and led her small group through the bushes. They held tight to their weapons and attacked the roamers that came close to them. Lynn peeked through the bushes and noticed that the herd was still moving along the highway, following David and Sergei. She turned off the walkie-talkie.

"Yes, David, I'm here! I was just heading back to the vehicles!" exclaimed Lori through the walkie-talkie. "Who is with you? Where are you?"

"I'm with Sergei. I'm inside of Chunk's car, leading the herd away. I'm going to pass through the town and then lead them to the road that leads to Lake Erie. I'm going to make a quick U-turn after that."

"Where are the rest of the group?"

"I told them to run into town. They should be away from the road as well."

"Yup," replied Bobby. "Not all of us ran towards the town though! My sister, Lynn, Clyde, Lincoln, Dana, Lola, Lana, Lisa, Luan, Lily, and Carol were separated from us!"

"What! Well, what happened to them?" asked Lori.

"I don't know! We have to go back!" yelled Bobby.

"Don't worry! Stay where you are!" whispered Carol into her walkie-talkie.

"Francisco, Carol, Lily, and I are safe. Well, safe enough. We ran away from the road!" said Luan into the walkie-talkie.

"Alright, and… oh… my… god," gasped Lori as she looked off into the distance.

Behind David and Sergei were hundreds of roamers, all chasing the two cars. She quickly led the group away from the road. However, her group now had to face small groups of roamers themselves as they were lurking in the town. Lori held her golf club and struck a roamer in the head once. However, it only managed to crack parts of the skull. Luna smashed the roamer's skull by swinging her crowbar repeatedly.

"It hasn't been dead for a long time. This skull is still thick," informed Luna.

Becky walked up to a roamer, grabbed it's throat and, using one of the Bowie knives that she found in the crate, stabbed the roamer through its left eye. She stumbled to the ground and removed the knife from the eye.

"We could do that," panted Becky.

"I can't risk that!" yelled D.

"Alright, stay back then," said Richard as he moved closer to a roamer wearing a blue dress.

Richard quickly grabbed its throat and stabbed its eye as fast as he could before the roamer grabbed his arm. The knife was a little difficult to pull out, which would cause him to stumble to the ground as the roamer dropped to the sidewalk.

"Good thing I don't have to worry about that," said Benny, drawing his katana.

He sliced off the head of a roamer, sending it flying through the air. The head managed to survive the impact of hitting the ground, so Sam knelt down to the ground and crushed the head with her ice pick. Tad swung his machete through the side of their heads, making a large cut and causing their brains to spill out through the cut, killing them. Missy mimicked Becky and Richard's methods of dispatching a roamer. After stabbing it through the eye, she turned the knife quickly and successfully pulled it out before she stumbled to the ground along with the roamer.

"This way!" yelled Lori, running to a different street to the right side of the town.

"Oh no! What do we do? What do we do?" shouted Lola, panicked from the surrounding roamers.

"There! Run through the bushes! I'll cover you guys! Go!" yelled Dana.

Lisa, Lola, and Lana ran through the bushes on the right side of the road and ran halfway down the hill. Dana chopped more skulls and followed the girls. She ran too fast, as the roamers were close to her tail, and fell down the hill to the road. She released her machete as she fell and crashed into a half-crushed car.

"OW!" yelled Dana in agony.

"Oh no," whispered Lynn, as she watched Dana fall from a hundred yards away.

Lola and Lana ran down the hill towards Dana. Lisa picked up Dana's machete and lightly jogged down the hill. Dana whimpered as she moved away from the car. The dent that she created had spots of blood on it. Not only was there a dent, but there was also a bloody piece of the door that stuck out like a spike. She looked down at the left side of her abdomen. Upon noticing that her shirt was bleeding, she took off her striped shirt and tore her black dress enough to see her cut. The cut was about half of the size of her hand. She tried standing up but she moaned in agony when she did. She stayed down on the ground, with blood leaking onto her hands. Lisa arrived next to Dana and took out a bottle of aerosol wound spray. She sprayed it on Dana's cut. She took out handkerchiefs and covered the wound. She looked back at the bushes and noticed that the roamers followed them. The roamers stumbled and fell down the hill.

"Lynn! We gotta help them!" whispered Lincoln.

Lynn let out a yell of frustration.

"Alright! Let's go!" yelled Lynn.

She took out her bow and shot an arrow at the roamers that stood up from their fall. She missed her first shot and noticed the incoming roamers near her. Ronnie Anne, Lincoln, and Clyde were already halfway between Lynn and Dana. Lynn ran with her bow and followed Lincoln. One hundred yards was not too hard for her, so she actually managed to reach Dana first. Lynn dropped her bow and beat the roamers with her baseball bat. Ronnie Anne and Lincoln lifted Dana up. She moaned in pain and struggled to walk.

"Oh my gosh! Look over there!" yelled Carol.

Luan looked behind at the bushes a couple hundred feet away. She saw Lynn grabbing Dana while Lincoln fought off the stray roamers that were too close to them. Clyde was holding Lynn's bow and baseball bat. Lisa was carrying Dana's machete and looked at her bloody shirt with worry. Dana was sweating intensely as she bit her teeth, holding back her pained moans.

"We gotta help them!" exclaimed Francisco.

"Yes, we gotta! Let's go, guys!" ordered Luan.

Carol and Francisco ran ahead of Luan. They wanted Luan to stay behind since she was carrying Lily. Lily started crying, which a roamer near Luan heard.

"Oh no! Please, shut up, Lily. Please, please, please!" whispered Luan as a few roamers popped out of a few houses.

Ronnie Anne saw Carol and Francisco running to them. She also saw Luan about to be surrounded by roamers. She ran to her aid. Francisco helped lift Dana.

"Oh my god! OWW!" yelled Dana. "Just let me go! I'm holding you guys back!"

"We're not doing that!" yelled Lynn.

The roamers were getting closer and closer. Dozens of roamers were following Lynn's group. However, many roamers separated from the herd that was following David and Sergei in order to follow the ones that chased Lynn's group. The dozens of roamers were starting to combine as hundreds of roamers.

"Over there!" yelled Carol as she pointed at a mini-market named Washington Mini-Market.

Meanwhile, Ronnie Anne swung her pickaxe at the roamers that were close to Luan. Luan was running to the mini-market while carrying a sobbing Lily. Ronnie Anne followed her and entered the mini-market.

"Oh no! What happened to the herd?" asked David.

"It looks like half of the herd is going off the road and into that direction," said Sergei.

"Isn't that where Carol and Luan said they were at?" asked David.

"Guys! The herd is heading in their direction! I can see it from where I'm at!" yelled Bobby.

"Well, what are you guys going to do?" asked Lori.

"We gotta lead the herd that we already have, away from the road and into the lake. That might take a couple hours," said David.

"Alright! We gotta sit still, and wait for you guys to come back! I can't drive the RV yet. We can't risk attracting the herd away from you guys right now!" declared Lori.

Lynn and Francisco ran as fast they could to get Dana inside the market. The roamers were catching up and starting to surround the group. Lisa handed Dana's machete to Carol. She quickly dispatched the roamers around her. She entered the mini-market quickly. Lincoln helped Lisa escape the roamers. Lola and Lana fought off the roamers together. The roamers overcrowded the streets. Ronnie Anne spotted two roamers behind the counter. She quickly rushed over the counter to kill them, alerting the group to be cautious. Clyde, Lana, and Lola were separated from the group by a few yards since there was a wall of roamers surrounding them. Clyde, Lana, and Lola fought to make an opening.

"Over here! Crouch and quickly move through there!" yelled Clyde as he pointed at an opening that led to the market.

Clyde pushed a roamer away and quickly rolled to the opening. Lana quickly ran and didn't have to crouch due to her small size. Lola ran through the opening, only to have a roamer step on her pink dress. Lola stumbled to the ground and a roamer lunged at her.

"No!" yelled Lola as she closed her eyes.

 **IV - Fight or Flight**

"Hell no! I'm not just going to stick around and wait for the roamers to kill my little sister!" yelled Bobby.

"Wait! No, Bobby!" exclaimed Lori in worry.

She grasped her walkie-talkie with vast concern and waited for a response.

"He's running towards the herd. We're going to follow him," said Vonda.

"It's too dangerous!" responded Lori.

"Which is why we're going to make sure he doesn't fight off the roamers alone. I'm sure you wouldn't just sit still worrying whether your sister was dead or not as well."

"Well, I have no choice right now. Alright! Please don't do anything rash! We'll find you guys! Where are you?"

"We're about a mile to the right of the highway. We're heading closer to the highway in a southwest direction."

Lori and her group scrambled to Bobby and the other's location. Meanwhile, an arrow flew and hit the roamer on top of Lola, splattering blood over her face. She froze in fear as Lynn kept shooting her arrows at the roamers close to Lola. After shooting her six arrows, Lynn panicked and noticed that Lola had not budged at all.

"Lola!" screamed Lynn. "Come! Lola!"

Lola quickly snapped out of her trance of fear and stood up. She ran towards Lynn, only to be stopped by a roamer who grabbed onto her hair. As Clyde and Lana entered the market, they looked back at Lola and watched in fear of what would come next. Lincoln rushed out of the market and headed towards the roamer. The roamer sunk its teeth into Lola's right shoulder. Lola yelled in confusion and pain.

"NO!" yelled Lana.

Lincoln swung his sledgehammer with all his might at the roamer, crushing its skull to its jaw. Lincoln grabbed Lola and quickly rushed her inside the market. Carol and Francisco closed the doors and tied a steel chain around the door handles. The roamers crashed and banged on the door. Lana sobbed and hugged Lola, whose hair was partly ripped by the roamer who sealed her fate.

"What happened?" asked Luan, who was preoccupied with keeping Lily safe from the roamers.

She went closer to the group huddled around Lola. She noticed blood leaking from her shoulder and pieces of her skin hanging from it. Luan broke down in tears as soon as she saw a bite mark on the gash on her shoulder.

"Stay back, everyone!" ordered Lisa.

Without hesitation, Lisa sprayed her wound spray on Lola's shoulder which caused her to yelp. She grabbed paper towels from a shelf and wrapped it around Lola's shoulder. Lola was hyperventilating and shaking during this invasive yet life-saving procedure.

Lola grabbed a bottle of antibiotics and handed it all to Lola.

"My sincere apologies, Dana. Her condition is more life-threatening," said Lisa.

Dana looked hazed and was sweating intensely. She turned a little green and the afternoon heat only made her condition worse.

"It's fine, Lisa. Tis' but a scratch," forcefully giggled Dana.

Lola hissed and cried softly. Lana didn't want her sister to die, so she cried along with her. Lincoln could not cry since he was convinced that Lisa would save Lola, but that did not stop him from worrying. If Lincoln didn't already have white hair, he would have sure grown more than a few from these last few minutes alone. Lynn felt the same and watched with concern.

"Did it work?" asked Francisco.

"We'll have to wait and find out," replied Lisa as she stared at Lola.

"It hurts. It hurts a lot," whimpered Lola. "My shoulder and my head hurt."

"Should I give her some oxycodone? To use as painkillers?" suggested Carol, before realizing what had happened to her drugs.

"Ms. Pringrey…" Lisa attempted to explain.

"Yeah… I forgot Lori took them away."

Lynn grabbed a water bottle from a non-functioning freezer for Dana to drink. Dana gulped the water bottle and asked for more. The roamers kept smashing on the door, weakening it every minute that passed by. Lynn tried to look for exits and found stairs to the second floor. Suddenly, Clyde popped the question.

"Should we tell the other groups?"

"No! We need to stay as quiet as possible so the roamers can go somewhere else!" whispered back Lincoln.

"He's correct," said Lisa.

"We could at least wait on the second floor," said Lynn.

"Yes! Higher ground equals higher chance of survival!" said Lisa.

Meanwhile, Bobby spotted the herd from a distance. They noticed an opening in the bushes that the roamers had created.

"Guys! The herd has surrounded that tiny building there!" said Bobby.

"So what do we do?" asked Chunk.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I could shoot my gun and distract them to lead them away from the store."

"That's stupid!" yelled Tabby. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

Bobby and his group rushed in closer to herd. Bobby aimed his Luger at the roamers and shot them in the head, the best he could. The herd diverted its attention on Bobby's group and chased them.

"See! What the fuck, Bobby!" yelled Tabby.

The group ran into the building next to the mini-market. Chunk and Bobby quickly barricaded the door with cabinets. The herd was now attempting to attack not only Lynn's group but Bobby's group as well. Tabby shook her head and punched Bobby in the shoulder.

"Lori! Where are you?" asked Bobby. "We need help!"

"I'm heading back to the highway! What happened?"

"My group and I are trapped in a store! I tried to divert the roamers away from a market that they were flocking around, but things didn't go as planned!"

"Carol! Turn off your walkie-talkie!" Lynn whispered loudly.

Carol turned it off quickly and looked at the group.

"Did you hear that? That's where those gunshots came from! From Bobby!" Carol whispered worriedly. "Now they are stuck as well as us!"

"Perfect. Just perfect. Let's move upstairs," muttered Lynn.

Francisco and Lynn helped Dana climb the stairs. The roamers kept smashing on the doors. Luan and Lana helped Lola climb the stairs as well. The roamers continued to smash on the door and windows. Suddenly, the door collapsed after taking so many hits from the roamers.

"David! How far are you in leading the herd away?" asked Lori through the walkie-talkie.

David moved along slowly on an empty road. Sergei looked around and only saw miles of emptiness with a few vehicles here and there.

"I'm pretty far. However, it could take a couple hours until I actually lead the herd into the lake. Sorry, Lori."

Lori couldn't admit it. She couldn't admit that she had no idea what to do. She couldn't drive the RV down a hill or else she would damage the vehicle and injure the passengers. She also couldn't repeat Bobby's mistakes to lead the herd away. She truly did have to wait for the herd to leave the buildings that they were trying to break into. Lori was unaware that her friend was seriously injured. Lori was unaware that her sister was on the verge of death. Lori was unaware that the roamers had already broken inside the mini-market that Lynn, Luan, Lincoln, Lola, Lana, Lisa, Lily, Carol, Francisco, Ronnie Anne, Dana, and Clyde were held up in.

"Alright, everyone. Just sit still. Wait for the herd to go away," said Lori, choking on the fact that she couldn't do anything.

Luan, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Lisa, and Clyde quickly ran to the stairs. The roamers chased after them. Luan made her way to the top while holding Lily. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne rushed to the top while helping Lisa push the roamers away from her. Clyde struggled to run up the stairs as the roamers were grabbing his shoes.

"Lincoln!" yelled Clyde.

Lincoln rushed back to the stairs to help Clyde. The roamer held on to Clyde's left foot and moved their way up to his ankles. Lincoln tried to push them away, but the roamers grabbed his sledgehammer. Lincoln was left unarmed by the roamers as he now struggled to free Clyde from the hungry roamer that held on to his best friend's leg.

"AHH!" yelled Clyde, as the roamer scratched his ankle.

The roamer pulled Clyde closer to the herd. The herd of roamers squeezed each other in the narrow stairwell, but the roamer in the front didn't give up Clyde's leg. It pulled Clyde's leg closer and closer to its mouth. Lynn ran to the stairwells and grabbed her baseball bat.

"I can't reach the roamer…" whispered Lynn.

With one swift moment, the roamer bit Clyde's calf. The pang of the bite caused Clyde to yell at the top of his lungs. Attracting the herd, the stairwell became more packed with roamers. Lincoln pulled Clyde up the stairs, causing the roamer to rip his calf apart.

"Oh god!" exclaimed Carol, watching blood from Clyde's leg spill all over the stairwell.

Francisco grabbed a shelf case and dropped it down the stairwell. The shelf case toppled down the stairs and crushed the roamer's bloody head. The shelf case also served as a barricade to prevent any roamer from crawling their way up the stairs.

"NO! NO! CLYDE!" cried Lynn. "LISA DO SOMETHING!"

"We're out of antibiotics!" Lisa said regretfully.

"Can't we do anything?" cried Lincoln.

Clyde shuddered at the sight of his leg. He looked at Lincoln. Grabbing his arms, he whispered, "It's been nice knowing you, buddy."

"No! Don't say that!" cried Lincoln hopelessly. "Lisa! Please, what do we do?"

Lisa took out her wound spray but did not use it on Clyde's left leg. Lisa sprayed it on the machete and grabbed more paper towels. She wiped the machete clean. Lincoln's hair raised up and he knew what was going to happen next. Lynn grabbed Clyde's hand and couldn't hold back her tears. She released her tears on Clyde's chest. Lola and Lana held tight to Luan, as she wiped her tears. Dana closed her eyes, knowing that she did not need to grasp the vision of suffering. Lisa held Dana's machete up.

"Now would be the time for anyone to volunteer in the amputation of Clyde's lower left limb. Every second matters. We need to prevent the infection from reaching his cerebrum."

Lynn grabbed the machete from Lisa and released her grip on Clyde's hand. Lincoln grabbed a pillow nearby as they were in a room and handed it to Clyde.

"Alright, keep the machete steady. Lincoln! Grab your belt and tie it around Clyde's left thigh. Aim for the knee," instructed Lisa.

Francisco looked at Clyde with remorse. He was unable to muster the strength to apologize to Clyde.

"I love you guys. If I don't make it… carry on and don't let my death hold you back," gasped Clyde.

"Don't say that, Clyde! You're not dying. Not on my watch!" whimpered Lynn.

"Hopefully not," whispered Clyde.

"Clyde, I'm so sorry…" sobbed Lynn, holding the machete higher and higher.

"It's alright."

Lynn yelled as she gathered all her strength to swing the machete downwards. Clyde's knee was sliced only halfway through, making Clyde gasp before he fell unconscious. Lynn swung the machete downwards again and again. Each swing terrified the group. The blood splattered on Lynn's face, on her cheeks, nose, forehead, hair, and chin. Lincoln cried on Clyde's arm. Lynn dropped the blood-filled machete and hugged Clyde.

"Sorry, big brother and big sister, but I need you guys to give me some space! I need to prevent him from bleeding out!" said Lisa.

Lynn and Lincoln hugged each other. Tears running down their faces, they focused on Lisa wrapping up Clyde's leg. Using the sheets from the bed in the room they were in, she was able to tie it around Clyde's thigh. Using the strings from her sweater, she was able to sew Clyde's leg quickly, before wrapping the leg with the mattress.

"That should do it. It's done," sighed Lisa.

"That was quick," commented Francisco.

"Time is relative, Francisco. It seemed as if I was performing the procedure for half a century."

"When will Clyde wake up?" asked Carol.

"Honestly, I don't even know if he will," replied Lisa.

The thunder of the herd continuously rumbled behind David and Sergei for hours. David and Sergei made a turn towards Lake Erie. As soon as almost all the roamers in the herd were accounted for, the drivers sped away from the herd.

"Looks like the herd is gone," said Sergei in his walkie-talkie.

"Time to head back to the group," said David.

"Why don't we contact them first?"

"We are dozens of miles away. The walkie-talkies can't reach that far. Besides, I'm sure nothing too urgent occurred in the town. Let's ride back now."

The trip back to the town took hours just as the ride to Lake Erie. Most of the time was consumed by the roamer's slow pace. The trip back to the tiny town was not as long. The moon rose, and David and Sergei were still miles away from Lori's group.

Carol scavenged the room above the mini-market for food, but couldn't find any. Bobby and his group couldn't find any food or water as well. Lori couldn't contact the groups since she knew they were trying to stay as quiet as possible. Lisa made a fire by burning wood from a mattress. This provided light for the group. In the adjacent building, the moonlight shone through the window, on the group.

"I'm so hungry, Bobby," sighed Darcy.

"When the sun comes out, we will get food. For now, we have to sit still and wait for the monsters to go away, okay?" Bobby whispered.

Darcy slowly nodded her head, understanding more of the world she was living in. She closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

"It appears that Clyde is in a comatose condition," stated Lisa. "Dana is unconscious, as indicated by her pulse. However, if we don't get these two people proper treatment soon, then they are going to have bigger problems."

Lisa walked close to Lana and Lola. She placed her index and middle finger on Lola's neck. Quickly panicking, Lisa placed her ear close to Lola's mouth and failed to hear or feel any breathing.

"Oh no!" whispered Lisa.

She went on top of Lola and started performing chest compressions. Lana stared at Lola's closed eyes and wondered how she didn't notice that Lola wasn't sleeping. Luan and Lincoln held each other's hands tightly as they walked closer to Lola. Lynn's tears were running faster, each drop falling on Clyde's chest. After three minutes, Lisa got off of Lola's chest and mumbled something that tore the Louds' hearts.

"The antibiotics didn't work. She's gone."

Lincoln sobbed softly on Luan's chest. Luan held Lincoln tightly, weeping on Lincoln's white hair. Lana did not believe it in her heart that Lola was gone. She thought that Lola was pulling a mean prank on all of them, even though it would fit more with Luan's style.

"I don't believe you. Check again, Lisa! You could be wrong!" angrily whispered Lana.

"I… do not make errors, Lana."

Suddenly, just as Lana was ready to raise her voice, she spotted movement in Lola's arm. The slight movement was enough to excite Lana.

"See! I told you! You were wrong!"

Opening its eye, the soul of a roamer possessed what was once, Lola's body. The golden pale eyes moved around, watching all the survivors in the room. Slowly rising up, it growled and lunged towards Lana, grabbing her overalls. Gasping, Lana tried pushing the zombified Lola's face away.

"Help!" yelled Lana.

Ronnie Anne quickly ran to aid Lana and swung her pickaxe on the zombified Lola's chest. This provided enough force to push the turned-Lola away from Lana. She kept the pickaxe in the turned-Lola's chest and looked back at Lana to see if she was hurt.

"Lana! Are you okay?" asked Luan.

"Yes! Ronnie Anne! Please don't kill her! We got to keep her alive! What if Lisa finds a cure? What if Lola is still in there?" asked Lana.

"Lana, she's gone. She already died. No cure can resurrect a deceased person," uttered Lisa. "Ronnie Anne. As much as it hurts me to say this, put the troubled soul that corrupted Lola out of its misery."

Ronnie Anne nodded her head and removed the pickaxe from the turned-Lola's chest. She held it high and drove it down with a powerful force, going through the skull and destroying the brain. Blood splattered on Ronnie Anne's hands as the Louds were left speechless and helpless.

-Approximately One Year Earlier-

"Why'd you do that?" asked Lola.

"I don't know. I feel pretty bad for Lori for what Carol did to her boyfriend. But I guess I have a need to help people in need… You wouldn't understand, Lola," replied Lana.

"I wouldn't understand? Of course, I would. I'm not completely heartless you know."

"Of course. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I know you understand."

"It's alright, Lana. I know you never mean to insult me. I think what we should do now is comfort Lori."

"I still don't understand what happened!" exclaimed Leni.

"Of course you don't, my naive sister. It doesn't matter now. We have a new mission," said Lola, as the three Loud sisters dashed off to their homes.

-Day 21-

"Alright, remember, Sergei. On three. Two. One. Honk!"

David and Sergei honked on their horns, attracting the herd. Their low beams shone on the road away from Washington Mini-Market and the building next to it. The herd followed the slow-moving vehicles.

"Feeling tired, Sergei?" asked David.

"Not at all, David," replied Sergei.

"Everyone! Look! David and Sergei are leading the herd away!" whispered Carol.

Ronnie Anne snapped out of her gaze at Lola's rotting corpse. Lana continued weeping. Lincoln wiped his tears and tapped on Lynn's shoulder. Lynn wiped her tears and handed her baseball bat to Lincoln, who reluctantly grabbed it. Lincoln walked over to Carol and handed her the baseball bat to carry. Lincoln, then picked up the deceased Lola and held back his dried tears. Francisco, who was still shocked by the suffering that Clyde and Lynn faced, shamefully looked at the boy he once beat senseless. Francisco walked over to Dana and lifted her up. Lynn picked up Clyde and waited for the barricade to be removed. Lily was crying loudly for she needed food, and Luan was only able to feed her despair and depression. Luan lifted Lily up and grabbed Lana's hand. Carol and Ronnie Anne pushed the barricade further down the stairs and opened up the stairwells.

"Hang back, guys! Carol and I got this," said Ronnie Anne.

Ronnie Anne and Carol killed the few roamers inside the mini-market. Carol swung the baseball bat with her right hand and Dana's machete with her left hand. After clearing a path for the group, they walked out into the unlit town and killed the two roamers that lurked outside of the adjacent building. Carol knocked on the cabinet.

"You can leave now. The roamers left. Well, David and Sergei drove them away. Come out," informed Carol.

The cabinet moved and revealed Bobby and Chunk. Bobby looked at Ronnie Anne and hugged her. He looked at her face and noticed the trauma in her eyes.

"What happened?" asked Bobby.

The group stepped forward. Bobby's eyes widened as he saw Dana with a red handkerchief around her abdomen. He stepped up and helped Francisco lift her up. Next, he looked at Clyde and gasped upon seeing his left leg, or the lack thereof. The moonlight revealed the horrifying image of one of the twin girls. The hole in the head of the pale Lola was going to keep Bobby up at night. However, what shocked Bobby the most was what his sister uttered.

"Lola turned. I had to stop her before she hurt anyone else…" whispered Ronnie Anne, carrying her bloody pickaxe.

Lucy let a tear fall from her eye.

"Bobby, are you guys safe?" asked Lori in the walkie-talkie. "I heard David and Sergei drove the herd away."

"Yes, my group and I are safe now," responded Bobby.

"Alright, I'm going to lead the others back to the highway. Do you guys need help with returning to the highway?"

"No. Lori, I need to talk to you about something."

"Can it wait? I don't want to stay out in the open any longer than I have to. Especially at night."

"Okay… I'm leading the rest of the group back to the highway."

Bobby handed Chunk's walkie-talkie back to him and continued carrying the unconscious Dana. With the moonlight as the only source of light, Bobby and the others walked carefully to the highway.

"What happened to Dana?" Bobby asked.

"She was lacerated by a crushed door of a vehicle," replied Lisa.

"And Clyde?"

"Bit by a roamer."

Bobby started tearing up.

"Where's Leni?" asked Bobby.

"I thought she was with you!" exclaimed Carol.

"Oh no…" gasped Bobby.

Lori, Luna, Benny, Missy, Richard, Sam, D, Wavehead, Becky, and Tad arrived back at the highway. They spotted a couple roamers lurking around the RV and Vanzilla. Lori swung her golf club at the roamers lurking outside of Vanzilla. Luna struck the roamers outside of the RV with her crowbar. Benny stabbed a roamer that was wandering on the road.

"Why were the roamers lurking outside of the RV?" wondered Luna.

She went inside and gasped in shock. The group ran inside the RV to see what has frightened Luna.

"What is it, Luna?" worriedly asked Lori, coming inside the RV. "Dear God! Leni!"

Leni was lying on the floor, wheezing. A pile of vomit lurked near her along with white pills and colorful stickers.

"Leni? Can you hear me?" cried Lori.

"Lori? Thank goodness you're here. Can you… bring me some water and food? I'm dying of thirst and hunger. Literally, I think."

"Yes! Richard, bring a bottle of water and a granola bar! Oh, Leni, did you swallow those drugs?"

"They were drugs? No wonder I feel so… terrible."

Richard arrived back at the RV, with a bottle of water and a granola bar. He handed it to Lori. Lori helped lift up Leni. She took the water bottle and took many tiny sips.

"Guys. Look outside! I think it's the group coming back!" exclaimed Sam.

Missy stayed with Leni while the rest of the group left the RV to reunite with the others. Chunk and Vonda poked their heads through the bushes first. Luna and Sam waved at Chunk, but he did not wave back. Next, Tabby, Liam, Zach, and Rusty walked through the bushes and onto the highway. Carol held Darcy's hands as they revealed themselves as well. Lori looked agitated, but then saw Bobby and Francisco carrying Dana. Tad and Becky gasped and looked at Dana's wound. Next, Lynn walked with Ronnie Anne while carrying Clyde.

"Oh god! What happened to him?" asked Lori, tears starting to form in her eyes.

Lynn and Ronnie Anne did not respond. They knew what Lori was going to see next was going to tear her heart. Luan walked through the bushes, crying softly while holding a weeping Lily. Lincoln walked through the bushes, carrying Lola's deceased body. Lori walked closer in disbelief and looked at the hole in Lola's skull. She noticed that her body was gray, and the color of her hair faded away. Lana and Lisa were the last ones to appear. Their faces of sorrow added to Lori's sorrow. Lori broke down in tears and carried Lola's body.

"Our little princess…" sniffled Lori.

She couldn't finish her sentence. As soon as Bobby laid Dana on the couch inside the RV, he walked towards Lori and hugged her solemnly. Lincoln covered his eyes, letting all his tears out once again. Luna's tears ran down her face, leaking her purple mascara on her cheeks. Chunk, Sam, and Tabby all rubbed Luna's back. Lisa, holding back her tears ordered Lynn to carry Clyde inside the RV.

"What happened while I was gone?" asked Lori, still weeping.

"We were running away… from the herd. Dana fell down the hill and punctured her abdomen with a car door…" explained Carol.

Lisa grabbed a fresh towel and wrapped it around Dana's left abdomen. Leni and Missy watched in shock. Lisa walked over to Clyde who lied on the carpeted floor and put on a pair of nonlatex gloves.

"...Lynn ran out of arrows, and Lincoln couldn't grab Lola in time…"

Lynn stared at her bloody arrows as Lisa grabbed a suture and threads. She began stitching Clyde's leg.

"...Clyde was bitten in the leg…"

Lisa continued stitching Clyde's leg and grabbed another towel to clean the leg.

"...Lynn amputated Clyde to save his life…"

Lisa grabbed another pair of nonlatex gloves and wrapped a large bandage around Clyde's leg.

"...Dana went unconscious…"

Lisa sewed Dana's cut together, while Lynn took off Clyde's glasses and looked at his eyelids. Leni let a tear fall from her eye.

"...Lola turned into one of them…"

Lori sat on the hard pavement. She stroked Lola's hair and took off her tiara.

"...and Ronnie Anne saved Lana by ending her life."

Lori motioned Ronnie Anne to come closer. Ronnie Anne sat next to Lori, unreasonably afraid of what Lori might do to her. Lori pulled her closer and cried softly while wrapping her right arm around her back. Ronnie Anne knew what she was doing. She was looking for comfort.

Lana walked away from everyone else and went on to fix the RV. She remained silent as the group looked at her. Yet no one in the group said anything, but instead, they went to protect her from the roamers.

In the morning, David and Sergei returned to the highway. They were informed of what happened during the herd attack. David expressed his condolences and allowed Lisa to treat Dana, Clyde, and Leni on the RV. Lori walked over to David who was making a campfire with Richard on the left side of the road.

"David, I need to talk to you. After realizing what I could've done in order to prevent the horrors from occurring to the group, I decided that I can't be the leader. I was responsible for being unable to prepare the group for a possible herd attack. I sat still and did nothing while my group was being attacked and surrounded by roamers. I sat still and did nothing while my group was starving, dying, bleeding out, inside a building."

Lori looked at the group sorrowfully eating their breakfast.

"I was too stubborn to realize that I couldn't handle the rules of this world. Too stubborn to realize that you can… and that is why I'm making you the leader of the group. It can't be me. I have too much to lose."

Lori left David alone while she walked over to Bobby. David took off his shades and looked on the horizon of the road ahead of them. The herd that attacked the group hit hard and result in a loss, and possibly more. He was not happy that Lori had to learn the hard way, but it was a relief that she did. He knew that there were further threats of roamers in the journey ahead.

David looked at one of the roamers in the road and noticed that it wore a booth worker uniform. He walked closer to the dead roamer and couldn't recognize the face since it was crushed. He tilted the roamer over and saw the Piranha tattoo. He thought of how dangerous a small gang could be as Carlos demonstrated. He then thought as they ventured further into New York, closer to Albany, how dangerous a large criminal syndicate would be. David was reminded of one thing: Roamers weren't the only threat in this dangerous new world.

* * *

 _ **...And that wraps up the first arc, volume, saga, whatever sweetens your tea. Yes, the end of the beginning of the journey. What comes next, won't be so good for our fellow characters. Also, always remember that my notes in the end of the story will CONTAIN SPOILERS IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE CHAPTER! Like a Loud sister dying. Yeah, finally killed off a Loud sister. But more pressing matters... do you think Clyde and Dana will survive their ordeal? Find out in 1-3 weeks! Don't forget to follow, favorite, and leave a review!**_


	6. Hunted

_**The sixth chapter of the story has now joined the other five chapters of this story. A more action-filled chapter than the other chapters if I may say so myself. Now, I gotta make some apologies about the delayed posting. I was originally going to post this a week ago, but I was very busy the past few weeks with the holidays and other stuff. However, I was able to make important changes to the first chapter, and so as of January 18, 2018, there is an updated version of Chapter 1. Anyways, enough of that, it's time for you guys to read the sixth chapter of Infection of the Dead. As always, reviews are always appreciated. Enjoy!**_

* * *

"Everything is changing…" stated David, "...the world is changing..."

The gray clouds blocked most of the sunlight that shone on the group. David tapped on Lori's shoulders and pointed at Vanzilla. Lori shook her head and returned to her gaze on Lake Erie. While the group wrapped Lola in a white blanket, David walked towards Richard. David asked Richard if he could drive Vanzilla, pointing out Lori's growing depression.

"...times are changing…"

The vehicles drove at a coyote's pace, while the raindrops fell to the roofs. Lori sat by Bobby while looking out the windows. She looked at every falling raindrop. Darcy held on to Bobby, confused about what was occurring.

"...our situation changes… and as we lose more people…"

The group passed by a sign that displayed the words, "NOW ENTERING BUFFALO". Lana looked at pictures of Lola from the photo album that Leni reorganized. Lincoln stared at the clouds, pondering about his best friend's situation.

"...we change."

Ronnie Anne refused to sit close to Lana. She sat next to Bobby, staring out of the window in the right car door. The blood in her pickaxe dried up, although she believed that the stain of the sin of killing someone she knew would stay. And no matter how much Bobby convinced her that it was justified, she couldn't help but think about how Lana broke down in tears after she killed Lana's sister and best friend.

"I know it's hard to accept change… but we do have to accept it in order to move on…"

Carol rolled down the window on her side of the car and vomited at the moving pavement. She climbed back into her seat and wiped her mouth. Closing her eye, she groaned as she pressed on her stomach and forehead with her hands. The vehicles stopped by an abandoned warehouse before the sun disappeared.

"...and we will move on… recover any piece of humanity that we lose…"

Lynn slept next to Clyde on the floor of the RV with a damp pillow. Lisa hooked a needle in Clyde's arm and connected it with an IV fluid bag. The next morning, Lynn woke up with reddish and wet eyes, filled with nothing but sorrow.

"...to push on! To reach our destination!"

Dana's eyelids opened up and saw Lisa making tea. Becky and Tad gasped excitedly and hugged her. Even Vonda stopped frowning and hugged Dana. Lisa smiled and handed her the tea, catching her up with their current situation as the group touched the land of another country.

"Lana told me something about a place that Lola always wanted to be at… and as your leader… I say we are going to Niagara Falls to lay her to the rest she truly deserves."

The RV, Vanzilla, Chaz's car, and Chunk's car stopped at a park. The group watched the waterfall come crashing down on the rocks as it was not caring about the tragedies that people faced in the world. Nature truly didn't care. The dew in the grass magnificently set the beautiful scene of Niagara Falls. David looked at the waterfall and took off his shades.

"It's time."

 **Chapter 6: Hunted**

 **I - Forgive Me**

David stepped out of the small grave that he shoveled up using Lucy's shovel. He took off his shirt and splashed himself with the water in the Niagara River. Lucy finished carving a gravestone and handed it to Lori. Richard and Missy carried a sheet wrapped around Lola's corpse and carefully walked to the grave. Lori walked over to David and showed him the gravestone. David dried himself with a towel and put on a grayish blue shirt. He grabbed the gravestone and laid it away from the grave. Richard carefully placed the little girl's body inside the hole and washed his hands in the river. Bobby took the shovel and buried the dirt back into the grave. After he finished, David placed the gravestone on the ground with the words facing away from the waterfall.

"Life won't be the same without Lola…" said Lucy.

"...she was so beautiful and young…" commented Lincoln.

"...no matter what she did…" sighed Lynn.

"...she didn't deserve this…" added Luna.

"...even though giving laughter wasn't her trait…" stated Luan.

"...she still made our hearts warm up," said Leni.

"She was a very valuable member of the Loud family," said Lisa.

"...and no one else can replace her," added Lori.

Lana couldn't say anything. She just stared at Lola's tiara that she was holding in her hands. Missy noticed this and decided to give a couple words.

"Even though we all didn't know her too well, we could tell that she was a very special person and obviously impacted your lives positively. I give my condolences."

The group left and went towards their vehicles. The Louds all gave each other a comforting hug, except Lana. She picked a nearby dandelion and planted it on the grave. She looked at the gravestone.

LOLA LOUD

2010-2016

Loving daughter and loving sister

"My soul will always live beyond me."

Lana placed Lola's tiara on the gravestone and wiped her tears. She then looked up at the cloudy sky.

"I hope you're watching over us, Lola," she whispered.

Lana walked over to Carol and tapped on her legs.

"What's up?" asked Carol.

"Can I borrow your fancy camera? I want to take a picture of the grave and the falls."

"Sure thing. Try to take one picture. I don't have too much film left."

"One picture is all I need."

Lana pointed the camera at the waterfall, making sure that Lola's gravestone lied in the middle of the shot. She snapped a picture and grabbed the photo that came out. She handed the camera back to Carol and headed inside Vanzilla. Carol walked to Chaz's car, trying not to throw up on the way.

"Are you alright, Carol?" asked Sergei.

"No, not really. I need to go to the RV. Maybe Lisa can help me out," replied Carol, still pressing her stomach.

Becky, Dana, and Tad left the RV and went inside Chaz's car. Dana felt tense and being around Carol would not make her feel any more relaxed. She needed to be as rested as she could to let her abdomen heal.

"Lori? Where are you going?" asked Lincoln.

Lori looked back at Lincoln and pointed at the RV.

"Babe, don't you want me to come with you?" asked Bobby.

"No. Stay here with Darcy," replied Lori with a broken voice.

Lori closed the passenger door and walked to the RV with only her backpack and a bottle of water. Carol walked to the RV as well and stared at Lori awkwardly when they arrived at the driver's side door. Carol slowly opened the door, allowing Lori to enter the vehicle. Lori went inside and sat in the seat behind David. Carol sat next to D, Wavehead, and Vonda in the booth table. Missy walked over to Carol.

"You seem to be in pain," noted Missy.

"Yeah, going cold turkey is not so fun," said Carol, shivering, despite it being hot as a June day would be.

"Don't you want some medicine or something? That would help a lot," asked Missy.

"I agree. Reduction in oxycodone use seems to be a more fitting choice than abruptly stopping drug use. Besides, it's safer," suggested Lisa.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I deserve this. After everything I did to Lori in the past year, I think I had this coming."

"That seems rather illogical, but fine. Then at least consume some soup to replenish your health," said Lisa.

Lisa grabbed a boiling flask and some water. After boiling the water, she poured it into a can of soup.

"Wait until it reaches desirable temperatures, and then consume it."

"Okay," whispered back Carol.

Meanwhile, David attempted to converse with Lori.

"You know what happened wasn't your fault, right? I understand your grief, but you can't beat yourself up."

"Yes, it was. I was the one who didn't prepare the group for the herd."

"Anyone could've made that mistake, even me."

"When the herd did come, I made the terrible choice to do nothing at all."

"You couldn't do anything. You couldn't risk breaking the herd that was following me."

"Even after that, I still did nothing! I didn't want to take the risk! Now, one of my sisters is dead and Clyde is probably going to bite the dust soon!" cried Lori, breaking into tears.

Lynn looked at Lori and walked over to her, releasing her hands from Clyde's.

"You might've been the one to do nothing, but I was the one who failed to save Lola and Clyde. I could've ran to Lola and carried her inside the market. I could've led the group upstairs sooner and Clyde wouldn't have gotten bit!"

"You two were not responsible for what happened. If anything, I was. I could've done something with the herd, rather than try to outrun it back in Pennsylvania. We all make mistakes and we have to learn from it. Lori, you could've made far worse decisions, but you didn't."

"If Lori was such a good leader, then why isn't she the leader anymore? Why are you the leader?" asked Zach, moving his glasses and squinting at David.

"Because he is more stable than I am. Emotionally stable," answered Lori. "Of course. He can handle grief the best out of all of us because he doesn't know us too well. Yet he still cares about us."

"Oh. That makes sense," said Zach, looking down.

Lynn walked back to the couch and sat next to Clyde, holding his right hand and watching him once again, feeling his heartbeat with her other hand. Carol sipped on her soup and got off the booth table. She walked over to Lori and sat in the seat where Missy usually sits. Missy walked to the passenger's seat and sat next to David. Lori glared at Carol while she ate her soup. Lori's expression softened while watching her rival eat peacefully and gracefully. David looked at Missy nervously.

"I should just get you your drugs. Take Lisa's advice. Reduce until you don't have to depend on them," suggested Lori.

"Thanks…" said Carol, slurping on her can of soup, "...but no thanks. I don't deserve it."

Oh, how Lori wished she would've said those words sooner. She would've loved to see her rival suffer, but that was then. This is now, and she felt guilty instead.

"You do… deserve it," stuttered Lori.

"Me? The girl who tried to steal your boyfriend a year ago? Lied to you countless times? Humiliated you and your friends with my fake friends? Tried everything to beat you, no matter what it was? The girl who still wants to be with the kind and gentle man that you're with?"

Those words would've set off the fuse of Lori's short temper. However, she felt nothing but guilt.

"Better than the girl who showed off her boyfriend to a friend who she knew she liked. Who held a grudge against you. Who led you to the path of drugs. Who didn't care if you died alone or not. Who wanted to beat you until you bled. Who didn't care that you suffered from withdrawal," sighed Lori. "I don't blame you for liking Bobby. He's always willing to help others and he is so gentle with everyone."

"You did those things because of me. You do know that I was going to try to impress Bobby in prom night this year by copying your hairstyle, right? I heard a rumor that he was going to come to Royal Woods."

Lori chuckled softly to herself. Carol lifted her eyebrows confusedly.

"I would've guessed so. I did those things because I was angry and I didn't want to talk to you like friends would've had. If I had, you wouldn't have gone down the path you went."

"I wish things could've been different."

"Me too. You reminded me of the prom night and graduation day that we never had. You were always going to outshine me somehow, in both events."

"I'm sorry," apologized Carol, closing her eyes.

Lori grabbed her shoulder and moved closer to her.

"Don't be. In a way, I was always jealous of you when we were close," reassured Lori. "It just literally sucks that we were so close to having those two special days…"

"...and to have it ruined by a zombie apocalypse," sighed Carol. "Nothing but death all around us."

Lori thought about Lola again. Her tears were shed from grief, but something else was on her mind.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Lori! I didn't mean to remind you of your sister again!"

Lori thought about how Carol, her rival, her sworn enemy, kept her mind off of the death of a loved one.

"It's okay. You know what? Let this apocalypse be a new beginning for us. I'm so sorry for everything. I really am."

"A second chance?" asked Carol.

"Yes. Do you forgive me, Carol?"

Carol teared up. She sniffled and hugged Lori.

"Of course, I forgive you!"

Missy, having heard all of this since she was sitting right next to them, looked ahead in the road and smiled. The RV drove slowly through Buffalo. The mood was quiet in the vehicles.

-One Week Later-

The vehicles have broken down a couple times or ran out of gas. Every time it did, Lana had a solution, or Vonda and Lisa would siphon fuel from other vehicles. However, every time Lana would fix a vehicle, she was painfully reminded of her sister, Lola. If she only sealed the radiator hose instead of seeking a new one, maybe, just maybe she would've lived.

Ronnie Anne became distant from everyone but her brother. It hurt her to sit next to Lincoln whenever he would grieve for Lola. Her brother would always tell her that she saved the lives of those inside the mini-market. She knew, but did she have to traumatize them? She couldn't tell whether they were indeed traumatized or just suffering from grief. She wondered what her family would think of her.

Syracuse and Rochester were blocked off by herds of roamers, so the group had to re-navigate their way to Albany.. The fact that they couldn't reach Albany yet concerned David. After countless of restless nights, Missy stopped taking watch over the group. Bobby and Luna took her position, both being excellent night owls. Carol was in much better health and returned with Sergei. Lori went along with her, and the three would converse with each other about their lives. Whenever Bobby and Lori snuggled against each other, Lori felt guilty about Carol.

The group fought off roamers on the road as always. Missy taught them the risky technique that involved killing the newly-turned roamers. Lisa informed the group that the roamers' bite couldn't be cured with any antibiotics. Benny taught Luan how to move the katana around as if they were fencing. He thought that one day, he could finally convince Tad to give him the ninjato sword so Luan can use his katana to slice the roamers easier than a pry bar. Bobby worked up the courage to tell Ronnie Anne about their family. She fell into a depression, but Lincoln and Bobby helped her get through it. However, she still wanted to see her home, and David accepted her request.

On the last day of June, Francisco walked into the RV and saw Lynn listening to Clyde's heartbeat. He saw how low Clyde's IV bag was and walked further towards the back. The group headed back into Syracuse from another road in hopes of avoiding the herd through another road and heading back to Albany. With the vehicle moving, Francisco stood still and inched his way closer to Lynn. Finally, after a couple minutes he sat down on the couch next to Lynn and Clyde.

"Hey, Lynn."

"What are you doing here, Francisco?"

Francisco slowly removed his cap and fixed his messy hair.

"I'm here to apologize. Apologize to you for what I did to Clyde," said Francisco.

"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to him when he wakes up," harshly replied Lynn.

"Yes, I will, but I do need to apologize to you as well. I know how close you two were and I'm sorry about beating him. I truly am. Lynn, the guilt is eating me alive. All I ask is for us to start talking again like best friends."

"I can't guarantee that we will even become friends again. I trusted you!"

"I know, I know! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I wasn't thinking straight. Come on, Lynn, you have to know how it feels like to let your emotions take over!"

Lynn looked at Francisco quietly. She then closed her eyes and faced the ground.

"I do know how it feels. But before I forgive you, Clyde must forgive you first."

"Okay. Thanks, Lynn."

"Don't thank me just yet. Can you tell me what you two fought about?"

"I was jealous of the fact that he was always spending time with you, especially after your little argument with him. I thought that you and he were going to become closer than you and me. I got mad and I confronted him about it. He didn't want to stay away from you. Now, I don't blame him because you're such an awesome person, Lynn. But I didn't care. I was too mad to care. Now, I don't even know if I'm ever going to be close to you again."

"That's why you beat him? Clyde and I were already close, sort of. You know, I could've spent time with both of you."

"No, you don't understand. I like you, Lynn. That's why I was so jealous," admitted Francisco.

Tabby, Liam, Zach, and Rusty looked at both of them. Vonda raised her eyes. Lynn blushed a little and hid her face close to Clyde's chest.

"Did you have to say that so loud?" whispered Lynn.

"Sorry, Lynn."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner? Francisco, I liked you too. But you lost my trust. You have to earn that back."

"I know, I should've told you when I got that letter. You see, I was too nervous. I never had the balls to do it."

"Oh yeah, where did that letter go?" asked Lynn.

"It's stashed in my bloody and roamer-infested locker."

Lynn looked surprised. She always wondered what happened to her school as none of the Loud sisters were around to witness the destruction of her school.

"What happened to the school?" asked Lynn.

"You weren't there?" asked Francisco.

"No. I caught an illness. Lisa says I probably caught the infection of the dead. Lucky for me, it didn't kill me."

"Unluckily, others in our school caught it, and they were killed. Margo caught the… what was it that you called it? Infection of the dead? It wasn't just her. A couple of other kids as well."

"What happened to her?"

"She turned into one of them. A roamer. It was… shocking. She had no traces of her former-self left inside of her. She attacked people by biting and tearing their bodies apart. Everyone in the school panicked. There was a lockdown. That was probably the school's worst mistake. In almost every class, someone was bitten and they turned. I ran around the school and I took matters into my own hands. I pulled down one of the fire alarms so my classmates didn't have to stay in that dumbass school. However, they completely ignored evacuation rules and started piling up around the entrance. I tried calling my parents, but the phone lines were down. I ran to the equipment room and grabbed a bat. I smashed a window in one of the classrooms and ran out of the school."

"Damn. That sounds… horrible! And Margo… are you sure it was her?"

"Yeah. Whenever I think about the school, all I think about is her cry and the blood squirting from her mouth. How pale and sweaty she looked. Then, I am reminded of the victims with blood all over their bodies, some with torn necks and stomachs and limbs. It was just like in Detroit. I killed my first roamer in the school. It was Margo."

Lynn wiped a tear from her left eye. She held Francisco's right hand.

"What happened to your bat?" asked Lynn.

"Probably bombed into pieces in Detroit. But you would've seen it. You would've seen Margo's blood dry on the bat."

Lynn knew how guilty Francisco felt in killing one of Lynn's closest friends. Francisco broke his silence.

"I hope Clyde wakes up soon. And we three can start anew," said Francisco. "The craziest part is, I don't want to go back to Royal Woods after this is all over. If this is ever all over."

The group stayed in silence. Even Lynn couldn't say anything. The silence didn't bother Francisco as he allowed the group to process the thought of the middle school being conquered by the dead. What bothered him was that he didn't know was what Lynn was thinking. She was thinking if she really did want to go back to Royal Woods after a cure is created. More importantly: Will she ever make it back to Royal Woods?

"...people are often ignorant about the strength, the power of disease and infection…" stated Tim Crowley in one of his tapes. "Many people think that something like AIDS could end the world as we know it… and give no thought to what would happen if diseases like Ebola or Spanish Flu were to break out. These diseases are unknown to the general public, much like one particular infection. All of you read zombie novels or watched movies with zombies on it right? What if I told you… that there was an infection that would cause a person to act like the zombies that you see in the movies? I know it sounds completely insane and it probably is, but my sources tell me that there is such a disease…"

Lori paused the cassette player and rummaged through Tim's backpack. Vonda looked visibly confused and wondered what Lori was up to. She was about to tap Lori's shoulder when she took out a half-ripped label.

"I wonder when this was made. There was already an Ebola outbreak just months ago!" exclaimed Lori, while holding the label up.

She placed it on the label that was already on the tape to connect both labels together. Her hands still placed on the labels, she read out loud.

"ILLNESS. August 8, 1992. Is this information about the infection of the dead?"

Lisa walked away from the campfire that she sparked up and walked over to Lori. She insisted that Lori continue playing the tape.

"...a combination of a virus and a parasite, which I believe is airborne. If this infection were to ever break out… it could possibly end life as we know it. So, more information about the virus-slash-parasite… let's see… oh, yeah, it has a 5% mortality rate. However, the strain of the infection grows stronger after the death of its host. Yes, the host will come back to life after death… and the infection grows stronger along with it. The infection can be transmitted through bodily fluids such as saliva and blood… and this is the one you have to watch out for… as it has a 99% mortality rate. Symptoms include: heavy sweating, dehydration, pale skin, bloodshot eyes, bags around the eyes, and coughing blood. How would I know any of this? There are scientists testing it out on animals and humans! There are tests being done right now in the CDC!"

"Oh yeah, we believe you. If only people actually believed you sooner, we wouldn't be in this mess!" yelled Lori.

"Nevertheless, this proved to be essential information for my research," said Lisa. "How did this tape not reach the masses?"

"Because he never released that tape," sighed Vonda.

Lori looked at her and paused the tape.

"What do you mean he never released the tape? Wasn't this a radio show? He didn't inform people there?" asked Lori.

"I went through all his radio episodes, and he did not mention the infection until 2015. It should be in one of the cassettes tapes in the backpack," answered Vonda.

"May I get a hold of this?" asked Lisa. "For research purposes."

Luan and Benny giggled softly upon hearing her. They quickly stopped giggling after Lincoln looked at them glumly.

"Sure. I mean we are going to be sitting next to each other in the RV anyways," replied Vonda.

Vonda handed Lisa the tape cassette and Lori handed her the cassette player. Lisa walked into the RV and turned on the lights. The group threw their empty cans away from the road. David ordered the groups to go back into their respective vehicles. For the first time in a week, Lori felt comfortable returning to Vanzilla, but not yet comfortable enough to drive.

"Are you feeling alright, babe?" asked Bobby while Lori placed her backpack down on the floor.

Darcy was already sleeping on Bobby's lap and Ronnie Anne moved away from her seat to allow Bobby and Lori to sit together. Lori snuggled on Bobby's shoulder. She looked at Ronnie Anne and motioned her to come closer to her. Ronnie Anne huffed and closed her eye. She slowly opened her eyes and saw a dejected Lori. Sighing, she realized that Lori was still thinking about Lola and that she needed the comfort from her. Ronnie Anne lied on Lori's chest and closed her eyes. Bobby kissed Lori's head and rested on the window.

* * *

 **II - Cover**

"Today marks the first day of July of 2016 or Day 31 of the Global Infection Event. And I am one step closer to finding a cure for the infection, which has been unnamed but revealed to be a combination of virus and parasitic pathogens. The status of the infection as airborne remains unconfirmed as that would mean we are all infected now. The 99% mortality rate of the infection is a peculiar yet interesting representation of what we have witnessed in this new world."

Lisa continued to speak into her tape recorder when suddenly, she hears a car accelerating from the distance.

"Did you guys hear that?" asked David through the walkie-talkie.

"Sure do," replied Chunk. "It's a car coming from the opposite lane in the same direction as us. Like me old country. It looks like a Hond- BOLLOCKS!"

Gunshots were heard through the walkie-talkie which caused David to quickly look out of his window. He saw a figure inside the car, firing his gun at Chunk's car. He looked at David and fired at him.

"Fuck!" yelled David as he crouched down, still holding the wheel.

The car accelerated and went ahead of everyone. It drove off to a merge in the highway and disappeared from sight. The vehicles came to a complete stop. Everyone got off their vehicles.

"What a bloody arsehole!" yelled Chunk.

"Is everyone alright?" asked David.

"Yes! No one in Vanzilla got hurt!" answered Lori.

"No one got hurt in the RV either," said Missy, looking indifferent to what just happened.

"We're alright," exclaimed Carol.

"What the hell was that?" exclaimed Richard.

"I have no fucking clue. I'm just glad no one got hurt. Let's move quickly before he comes back and attacks us again," ordered David.

"Wait, so that's it? Someone just shoots at us like that, and none of you are shaking up?" asked Sam to the three veterans.

"I feel shook. Am I not showing it?" replied David, standing as still as an oak tree in a drought.

"No," said Sam.

"So I look confident? Good. Now let's go," said David.

During a couple of hours that the vehicles were moving, the group were very paranoid. They feared that the shooter would return and attack them again. What fueled their paranoia was the fact that there appeared to be a lack of motive for the driver attacking them. Or perhaps there was a motive to which would definitely put the group's lives at risk. They were justified in being paranoid because only after those hours passed, the driver returned.

"It's that bloke! Same car! That same white Honda!" cried Chunk.

"Fuck! What do we do now?" asked Sergei through his walkie-talkie. "He's following Carol and me!"

"Drive ahead of me! Now!" yelled David.

Sergei drove his car ahead of the RV, leaving Chunk, Luna, and Sam to the shark.

"You too, Chunk! Even you, Richard! The RV can take a couple bullets! Go! Now!"

Chunk drove his van ahead of the RV, followed by Richard and Vanzilla. David noticed in his mirrors that the car was in his lane now. He blocked the car from driving any further than where he was.

"How long is he going to keep this up?" asked Becky.

"I don't know. Grab your guns! He might fire at us for no reason again!" yelled David.

But he didn't. With his M9 at his side, David anticipated gunshots from the man driving the white car. The driver tried driving ahead of the RV, but David continued to block him.

"Oh shit, he took out his gun!" yelled D.

The driver took out a Glock 19 and aimed upwards. He shot three bullets into the sky and accelerated. David crouched close to the steering wheel, while everyone else ducked. This distraction allowed the driver to move ahead of the RV and pass by the other vehicles.

"Shit, how did he do that?" yelled Richard.

"I don't know! Just follow him! Try to shoot the wheels in his car!" ordered David.

The car passed Chaz's car and accelerated much faster. He quickly maneuvered his way around wrecked cars and debris in the highway. Richard drove the van ahead of the group and pulled out his Python. With his right hand on the wheel and his left hand out of the window, holding a Python, he aimed at the driver's wheels.

"Fuck, he's too far!" yelled Richard, as he started speeding up Vanzilla.

"Careful, Richard!" exclaimed Lori, holding on to Darcy and Ronnie Anne.

Lily was giggling while the van was moving left and right at quick speeds. Luan held Lily tight in her lap, making sure she didn't fall off. Richard shot one bullet from his Python and missed the car completely. He shot again and hit the left car mirror. The mirror shattered and frightened the driver. The road became less congested with wrecked vehicles, thus making the driver drive faster.

"Oh, no you don't!" exclaimed Richard, firing his third shot, missing again.

The driver pulled out his gun and shot once more in the air. He quickly pulled his gun back inside and drove slower, yet still at a fast speed.

Shooting again, the bullet from Richard's Python hit the pavement. He fired again and hit the rear trunk of the attacker's car. He fired once more and hit the left rear wheel of the vehicle.

"Got it! I blew one of his wheels! Everyone slow down!" exclaimed Richard.

The white Honda slowed with every passing second. Richard slowed down the van along with the attacker's pace. Then, the attacker's car came to a complete stop in the fast lane. Richard drove Vanzilla ahead of his car and braked it. Sergei and Chunk remained behind the attacker. David drove the RV next to the car, blocking the attacker. David, Missy, and Richard exited their vehicles. All three aimed their weapons at the driver.

"That's what they did to us back in Royal Woods!" said Zach.

"What? Did they confront you like that? What a first impression!" exclaimed Wavehead.

"Well, they did do that to us as well," said Becky.

The attacker came out of his vehicle with his arms raised up.

"Hey! Don't shoot! I can explain everything!" shouted the man.

The man was wearing black shades that resembled the color of his high and tight cut hair. He was not a young man, yet his face did not wrinkle yet. He was a bit taller than Lynn Sr.'s height and stood with perfect posture. He wore a partially unbuttoned white shirt with small blue vertical stripes. His sleeves were folded back to his elbow and the area around his armpit was covered in sweat stains. Underneath his buttoned shirt was a tank top that was only visible in his chest area. He had a belt and a black gun holster kept around the waist of his navy blue tactical pants. His Glock 19 was visible in his holster, but his arms were raised too high for him to react faster than the group.

"Turn around! Keep your hands up!" shouted David, still pointing his handgun at the man.

"Want to use my handcuffs? They're in the glove department in my car. The keys should be there too," suggested the man.

"Turn around!" yelled David.

Missy walked closer to the car. She spotted a bulletproof vest in the passenger seat with three big letters imprinted on it.

"You're FBI?" asked Missy. "Or did you steal that vest from an actual FBI agent?"

"Yeah, I'm an agent. Are you going to keep aiming that shit at me?"

"Yes. Why the fuck did you shoot at us?" asked David.

"That's a long story. But I didn't mean it. I might've shot at you guys in our first encounter, but the other shots were warning shots," explained the man. "Now, just get my fucking handcuffs cause I'm tired of keeping my hands up like this!"

Missy tried opening the door, but it was locked. She grabbed her rifle and smashed the window. She then unlocked the door and opened it.

"Oh, did you have to do that?" whined the man.

Opening the glove department, she found a pair of handcuffs and another gun. She took the bulletproof vest that lied on the passenger seat and the handcuffs from the glove department. She handed the handcuffs to David.

"Look, guys, I'm sorry about shooting at you. Whatever questions you have, ask them, but please hurry it up. I have somewhere to be," complained the man.

David grabbed the man's wrists and handcuffed them behind his back. He pulled out the handgun out of the man's holster and handed it to Richard. David placed the man on the ground next to the RV.

"I bet you guys have a shit-ton of questions. Like what's my-"

"What's your name?" asked David.

"It's in my wallet. My wallet is in my jacket in the backseat."

Missy walked to the car and smashed the rear window and unlocked the back car door. She grabbed the jacket and placed her hands in the pockets. She grabbed the wallet and saw the man's badge and credentials. She handed the wallet to David.

"Special Agent George Cane? Why the hell was an FBI agent shooting at us?" asked David.

"It's a long story."

"Well, I have the time."

George looked around as if he was about to spill a secret about a friend.

"I got in trouble with some very bad people in these areas."

"What, the Syracuse area?"

"Yes. Armed people who have no mercy when they find anyone that opposes them. Being an FBI agent, I automatically oppose them without knowing shit about them. Now unless we get the hell out, this small gang is going to find us and cause some trouble for us."

"You didn't explain why you shot us," said Richard.

"Well, I shot you guys because I thought you were Syracuse gang members. I'm sorry. I really am."

"That wasn't such a long story," said Missy.

"Well, I did cut some of the details about my team getting killed by the gang."

"How do we know you're not lying?" asked Lori, who came out of Vanzilla.

Lori walked closer to George and took off his shades. George's hazel eyes were wide and revealed his fright. David crouched down and looked at George straight in the eye.

"Are you lying about anything that you just said?" asked David.

"No. Of course not."

Despite his fear showing, George did not slip up or stutter in his explanation, and he did not nervously sweat. He kept his cool the best he could.

"Hi. I'm David Jones. This is my buddy, Richard Bolts, and his wife, Missy Bolts. That girl is Lori Loud. That man in the car behind you is Chunk. The driver behind him is Sergei. Those are the only names you need to know. Now, what you did to us earlier is not going to go unpunished," said David.

Richard handed George's gun to David. Missy grabbed the keys to the handcuffs from the glove department and walked over to George. She unlocked the handcuffs and helped George up from the ground. David handed the Glock 19 to George.

"You're going to help us find a shortcut to Albany without alerting a herd of roamers."

"Roamers?" said George perplexed.

"That's what we're calling the wandering dead. Roamers."

"Albany? There's nothing to see there. Infested by the roamers."

"We still gotta go there. Just to see something. Can you help us or not?" asked David.

"Sure… although, it's not a good idea to go there."

"Doesn't matter asshat. You shot at us, and now you're taking us there," said Richard.

"We're going to fix your wheel. Lori, can you get Lana?" ordered David.

Lori walked back to Vanzilla. Lana went to fix George's wheel much to his surprise. George nervously tapped his foot. As a couple minutes went by, he continued to walk in circles, staring at the ground.

"Thinking about something?" asked Lori.

"No. Just anxious about the car," answered George.

"Is it just me or does this guy make you feel uncomfortable?" Lori whispered to David.

"Not just you. It seemed like he wasn't lying about his story but… he is an FBI agent. He could've trained himself to lie without getting caught. It seems like there is more to him than he says."

"Done," sighed Lana.

George was still wondering about how a six-year-old girl could fix a flat tire, but he was more worried about other matters.

"Great! Now, you want me guys to lead you to Alb-?" asked George before being interrupted by the sound of motorcycles in the distance.

David looked ahead to see two men wearing blue tank tops in a motorcycle for each man. George's eyes widened.

"TAKE COVER!" yelled George at the top of his lungs.

David, Richard, and Missy jumped behind the RV. George hid behind the driver's side of the car. Lori appeared confused as she looked around for cover. The motorcycle drivers took out their handguns and slowed down. One of the men, wearing an indigo bandana, shot his pistol at Lori. David ran and tackled Lori out of the way. George grabbed Lana and quickly covered her with his car. The bullet ricocheted off Vanzilla.

"Thanks, David."

"No problem, Lori. That was way too close."

"Come out, Cane! You little pussy!" yelled the gang member.

The group ducked to the floor of the vehicles. They appeared invisible to the gang members, but their presence was sensed. Lynn looked out the RV and grabbed her bow and arrow.

"Lynn, what are you doing?" asked Francisco.

"I gotta protect the group."

"No! Stay still!"

Lynn hushed Francisco as she got closer to the door. Meanwhile, the bald gang member accompanying the other criminal took out his handgun and started shooting at the white car. David took out his M9 and shot wildly in the air. Lori covered her ears and stayed low to the ground. The two gangsters dashed behind Chunk's van and aimed their guns at Vanzilla.

"Shit, he brought friends!" yelled the bald gangster.

George aimed his Glock 19 at the gangsters and pulled the trigger. He missed two shots, each hitting the windshield of the van. The entire windshield held on, but the glass that was shot shattered on the passengers inside the van. Sam yelped as the gunshots hit the windshield.

"Shit, Russ, there are people here!" yelled the guy in the bandana.

"Shoot them then!" suggested Russ.

"They look like teenage girls, dude!"

A bullet ricocheted off the headlights. The two gangsters ducked. Russ shot his gun over and over at the white car. Lana hid behind the front wheels of the white car. Most of the bullets bounced off the car, yet some stuck themselves in the vehicle like glue. George moved closer and went in front of Sergei's car.

"Fuck off!" yelled George.

"Not until you come with us!" yelled Russ's friend.

Lynn quickly came out of the RV with her bow and arrow. She aimed her bow at Russ and pulled back the string.

"Who is this?" yelled Russ's friend.

"Who cares? I didn't really want to kill a small girl, but she's an exception."

Russ stood up and aimed his handgun at Lynn. Suddenly, a bullet hit his chest and another bullet hit his neck. Lynn released the string and shot the arrow a tad too late. The arrow flew past his body and hit the pavement. David pulled Lynn behind him and kept aiming at the van.

"Fuck!" yelled Russ's friend.

George snuck closer to Chunk's van and aimed his pistol at the gangster. He unloaded his pistol at him, missing his first and last shot, although his second and third bullet hit his arm and head. The man collapsed and dropped his pistol as he bled all over his face.

"Is it over?" whispered Leni.

Benny stood up enough to see through the window and saw David walking towards Chunk's van. There was a body on the floor and an arrow a few feet away from the body. He also saw Lori hugging Lynn tightly.

"Yeah, I think so," whispered back Benny.

"Lynn! Don't fucking do that again! If it wasn't for David's quick reaction, you… you would've been dead!" yelled Lori, her voice breaking.

"Sorry, Lori. I just wanted to do something."

David walked closely at the two bodies. He then knocked on Chunk's van.

"You can come up. It's over," said David.

Sam, Chunk, and Luna lifted their heads. Luna saw the face of the man with the indigo bandana and was triggered by flashbacks. Flashbacks of the bus driver's chomped face. Luna closed her eyes and leaned on Sam for reassurance. David took a closer look at Russ's body and saw something in the back of his neck. He turned the body sideways and saw something that caught his eyes and sent goosebumps all over his body.

"Oh no," whispered David to himself.

 **III - The Piranhas**

He stood up quickly. Everyone inside their vehicles quickly lifted themselves from the floor and watched as David walked to George. David called Richard over and both men grabbed one of George's arms.

"George, you have some fucking explaining to do," hissed David.

Richard and David shoved George inside the RV and handcuffed him to the door handle. His shades fell on Vonda's boots. The door remained open for the other group members to witness David yelling at George.

"Wait, what? What did I fucking do?"

"These people aren't normal Syracuse gangsters! They are fucking Piranhas!" yelled David.

George shivered in fear. He struggled to say something, not that it mattered since David would keep yelling at him.

"You didn't tell us that they were nearby! We could've gotten prepared! We are so fucking lucky that no one got killed. What else were you lying about?!"

"I'm sorry, David. I should've told you about the Piranhas. B-B-But I wasn't lying about anything else! I really did get in trouble with this group. I really did think you guys were Piranhas! And technically they are Syracuse gangsters! They do hang around that city!"

"Jesus, David, I think you need to cool it on the guy," Richard insisted.

"No! He lead the Piranhas here. He knew that they were chasing him and he said nothing!"

"Wait? How did you know that they were Piranhas? Are you law enforcement as well?" asked George.

David looked angrily at George.

"Hey, I'm sorry alright? I didn't mean them to come here!"

"I'm from New York. Of course, I would know about them."

"New York? The license plate on this RV is from Michigan. Unless… you took it."

"It belonged to my father who lived in Flint. Never had the time to bring the RV back in Manhattan."

"You're from Manhattan?" asked Lori, outside of the RV.

"Yeah. I never told you guys?" replied David confusedly.

Everyone inside the RV except Richard nodded their heads.

"Alright, look. George, you seem very sketchy to me, so I would like you to fuck off and never see us again. But before that, tell us everything you know about the Piranhas and why the fuck they're going after you like a cheetah chasing a gazelle."

George sighed.

"You might want to gather your group, so I don't have to explain myself twice," said George.

David ordered the group to gather around the RV. George sighed once more and started telling his story.

"As you know, I'm an FBI agent. I have cases to work on, and one of my first cases involved the Piranhas in New York. I was 25 when I started investigating the criminal activities of the criminal syndicate. This was nine years ago. From time to time I worked on different cases, but this was my main one. It was a case I worked on for nine years! I went from going undercover to facing them head-on. However, I was never able to catch the leader. The only one without the piranha tattoo on the back of the neck. However, that did not mean I didn't know the leader's identity. I just couldn't prove it to my coworkers."

"Who was he?" asked Richard.

"More like who was she. Sherry Crowley. The leader of the infamous Piranhas. She was respon–" explained George before being interrupted.

"Wait!" blurted Vonda. "Did you say, Sherry Crowley?"

"Yeah…" answered George.

"That's my mother's name!"

He smiled and took a close look at the redheaded girl.

"Is your name… by any chance… Vonda?"

"Y-Y-Yeah. How'd you know?" asked Vonda. "FBI database?"

"Kind of. I met your father. He's a very interesting man. My god, you have grown."

"Wait, I'm literally confused. What's going on here?" asked Lori.

"I too would like to know what's going on…" said David.

"As I continued my investigation on Sherry, I visited her estranged husband, Tim Crowley, and her sister, Meredith Hilda. I got more information on her and continued my investigation. When I went undercover with the Piranhas, I tried arresting Sherry, which led them to painting me as a target," continued George. "Some things happened and I tried to kill Sherry myself. I almost caught her two years ago. It took seven years for the agency to make capturing Sherry one of the top priorities. Yet we still couldn't catch her. When the infection hit New York, I was in the middle of busting a major human trafficking ring run by the syndicate when the whole warehouse was infested by roamers. It was chaos!"

David took out the keys to the handcuffs. He unlocked the handcuffs and helped George up.

"Sherry is looking for me. I shouldn't be anywhere near you guys."

"Where are the Piranhas residing at?" asked David.

"They're residing in Hudson and Albany, although they are controlling areas around the Erie Canal. My advice: don't go to Albany!"

"That is only one of our stops. We are going to another place afterward," said Missy.

"Where are you guys heading afterward?" asked George.

"Should we tell him?" asked Lori.

"Maybe. Where were you heading?" replied David.

"I was going to head to Buffalo. Then, maybe, I would've headed to Quantico or D.C. One of those places. Wherever I feel the safest."

"You have any family members that you would like to retrieve in Buffalo?" asked David.

"No. They were killed. By the Piranhas. Honestly, I don't even know why I want to go to Buffalo," sighed George.

David looked at Lori and took off his shades. He looked back at George.

"We are traveling to Maine. In the eastern border of Maine, there is a town called Houlton. It is controlled by an army of rogue soldiers. Our family are in there, held hostage by the rogue soldiers. The very same rogue soldiers that led many people to a supposed "safe haven" and killed those people. We want to rescue our friends and families and capture the one man responsible for their suffering. General Quentin Black. Would you like to join us?"

"That sounds dangerous, but I can't stand to see other families suffering under the hand of a single person. I'm joining you guys," said George with determination.

"Alright, time to introduce you to everyone," said Lori, now pointing at each of her siblings. "These are my sisters Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lucy, Lana…, Lisa, and Lily. That is my brother Lincoln."

Lori pulled Bobby closer to her and held Darcy's hand.

"This is my boyfriend, Bobby, and this is Darcy, a little girl we're looking after. Standing behind me is Bobby's little sister, Ronnie Anne. Next to Luna are her friends, Chunk, and Sam. The people behind your car is Sergei and Carol."

Lori walked into the RV.

"These are my friends, Dana, Becky, and Tad. These are my brother's friends, Tabby, Liam, Zach, and Rusty."

She pointed at the booth table.

"I forgot his full name, but we all call him D. And the boy next to him is Wesley, but we call him Wavehead."

She approached an unconscious Clyde lying on the sofa in the RV.

"This is someone we all love. His name is Clyde McBride."

Lori tapped on Francisco and Benny's shoulder.

"These are my sisters' friend, Francisco, and Benny. Two badass people."

Lori leaned closer to George and handed his shades back.

"And they are my future brothers-in-law!" whispered Lori.

George smiled and shook Lori's hands.

"I'll lead you guys to Albany and try my hardest to evade the Piranhas," said George.

"Your mirrors and windows are broken, George," warned Missy. "Do you want Lana to fix them?"

"No, it's alright," replied George, putting his shades on. "Ah, shit."

"What is it?" asked Lori.

The body of one of the Piranhas rose from the ground. It was the man who was called Russ, taken over by the infection that turned him into a living roamer. George pulled his gun out and pointed at the turned-Russ.

"Wait! You don't want to waste the bullet and attract other roamers," warned David.

"Attract them? No, this kills them," replied George.

David took out his combat knife and jogged to the roamer. He grabbed its neck and stabbed it in its right eye. He quickly twisted the knife and pulled it out of the roamer's eye. More roamers popped out of faraway trees and walked slowly to where they were.

"It's time to leave," mouthed David.

The group dashed to their respective vehicles. However, Vonda snuck inside of George's car. George was given a walkie-talkie to use to communicate with the group. He went inside the car and drove behind the RV.

"Wait, where did Vonda go?" asked Dana.

"Just keep going ahead. You won't have to make a right turn for about the next ten miles," said George through the walkie-talkie.

"Boo!" exclaimed Vonda, jumping out from the backseat.

"What the…? Vonda? What are you doing here?" gasped George, unaware that his walkie-talkie is still activated.

"Sorry about surprising you. I just wanted to talk to you. What do you know about my mother?" asked Vonda.

"Is that Vonda? Is she in your car?" asked David.

"Yeah!" replied George.

"Vonda, I don't know if–"

"No, it's okay. I'm fine here, David."

"Yeah, it's fine. She won't cause too much trouble," said George.

"I'm not a little girl, George. I can take care of myself."

"I can see that," said George as he turned off the walkie-talkie. "Last time I saw you, you were this little girl with red-orange pigtails, hiding behind your father."

"You know that's not what I'm here for. I want to know what you know about my mother."

"Look, Vonda, I don't want to tell you something that will destroy the way you think about her."

"I already do not feel sympathetic towards her. She left me and my father! He struggled all these years raising me alone! And whenever he couldn't take care of me, my alcoholic aunt would! You can't destroy the way I think about her!"

"Okay. Remember, you asked for this. Sherry Crowley, or her maiden name, Hilda, joined the criminal syndicate known as the Piranhas in 2006. Her job was to distribute drugs from certain areas in New York to New York City. After forming a small union with her fellow members, they killed the previous leaders and overtook the organization. Sherry took the leadership mantle by killing two people from this small union, and thus, asserting her dominance. She moved the base of the Piranhas from Hudson to Albany. She created a second headquarters in Manhattan and established a human trafficking trade system. It was a lot of money she was making. After being in the FBI's Most Wanted list, she waged a war against the FBI. She was able to drive most of the agents away by threatening to eliminate some soft targets."

"Soft targets?"

"Random citizens in the city, family members, et cetera. Most agents backed away, but I didn't. I kept on going which I now regret. She ordered to have my family killed and keep me alive. For a while, I haven't heard of her, until the infection plagued New York on May 30. I heard that she was hiding in her old headquarters in Hudson, but I was never able to confirm it."

"My mother did… all that?"

"Yeah. That's what I was talking about. I didn't want to–"

"I hate her even more. How does she get to live and my father doesn't?"

"Your father is… deceased?"

"Yeah. He was killed by the rogue soldiers in Detroit. It's a long story."

"I have the time. I don't know when we might reach the highway to Albany."

"Alright. So it all started before I was born…"

Nighttime fell upon the group. The iconic campfire that Lisa and Richard made together would signify the time to eat and rest. Rarely has it signified danger, and only did it show a bad omen when a cemetery was nearby. Much like a cat who feels at peace when licking milk off a bowl. Then, headlights appeared.

"Look!" pointed out Luan.

"Could that be a traveler?" asked Lincoln.

"David went inside his RV. The Louds hid behind the campfire. The others nervously waited for the car to get closer. When it did, it came to a complete stop. Two men and a woman came out wearing blue-dominated clothing.

"May I help you people?" asked Richard.

"Yeah," responded one man. "Wouldn't it be nice to see a couple survivors in this hellish world? I can see you got a large group. I don't want to introduce myself just yet. I want to know if you have seen a tall fellow with black shades and probably a bulletproof vest with the FBI logo on?"

"It's a very big world. I don't even think I saw any survivors in this state besides you guys."

"With all these dead people, the world is a lot smaller than you think," said the man before speaking to his walkie-talkie. "Yeah, we got a large group here about two or three dozen people."

"Who are you talking to?" asked Richard.

"None of your business," replied the man.

The man pulled his pistol out and shot Richard in the chest. Richard collapsed to the ground. Missy gasped and held her chest.

"Don't you think I would've recognized that car, George?!" yelled the man.

"There he is!" yelled the woman, aiming her UZI at a tree.

She fired the petite yet powerful gun at the bark of the tree. The other man walked with his MP5 and walked closer to the tree.

"Alright, move! Kill anyone that gets in your way!" yelled the man in control.

Richard opened his eyes widely and took out his combat knife. He rolled over sideways and stabbed the man's left ankle. The man yelled in pain and fell to his knees. The other man looked in his direction and aimed his gun at Richard. George came out from the tree and fired his pistol at the man, hitting him two times in the back. The woman ducked behind the car and reloaded her UZI with another magazine.

"FUCK!" yelled the man with the bleeding ankle.

Richard pulled the knife out and stabbed him in his left hip, causing him to yell in pain again. George pulled the trigger of his gun, aiming at the man, but only heard clicks.

"Shit!" exclaimed George.

The woman came out from her cover and unleashed the bullets from her gun at George. George quickly ducked. David came out of the RV with his Remington and pointed it at the woman. She stopped firing at George and lifted her gun to shoot David. David pulled the trigger of his shotgun. Many pellets came out and hit the woman in her face, chest, arm, neck, and shoulder.

"Help!" yelled the man to his walkie-talkie.

Richard pulled the man to the ground and stabbed him in the chest. The man immediately coughed out blood. Richard looked up into the distance. There was another pair of headlights. One man popped out from the car window and fired his gun at the group.

"Guys! Hide behind the bushes!" ordered Missy.

Lori and the others ran into the thick bushes. The car drove by the group and did not stop. The man kept firing at the group. As the car went away, the man went back inside the car and reloaded his gun. Becky and Carol hid behind a tree. Becky pulled the safety switch off on her pistol and urged Carol to stay behind the tree.

The car turned around and passed by the group again. Becky and Missy shot their guns at the man. Becky missed, but Missy managed to hit the driver, instead of the attacker. The car collided with George's car, causing the man inside the car to fly towards the windshield. Lori flinched as she watched the man bleed from his forehead. The group covered their ears as the car honked continuously.

After a few seconds, David and George stood up. They walked towards George's car and the attacker's car. Missy and Becky dashed to Richard's aid and helped him up.

"Ah, damn. My vest caught his bullet," groaned Richard as he took out the bulletproof vest that Lori's group found in Detroit.

David aimed his shotgun at the man. The man was still alive and was groaning heavily. George opened the demolished driver's door. He and David pulled the driver's body out of the car, stopping the horn honk. His body fell to the ground as his face bled from Missy's bullet. Then, both men pulled the attacker out from the car.

"Hey! I give up! I surrender!" mumbled the man.

His face was lacerated with at least ten small shards of glass. His left shoulder was dislocated and his lips were cut.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't put a bullet in your face right now!" yelled David.

"I don't have a reason. I have a message. From Sherry, herself," mumbled the man.

"Lower your gun, David," whispered George.

David pointed the shotgun away from the Piranha. George crouched and leaned closer to the gangster.

"What message?" asked George.

"She spoke to me through the walkie-talkie. She told me that if we found you with a large group, we should take you to the town of Rome, near Utica. She just wants to talk, but you… you already know what's going to happen to you."

"What if we refuse to come?"

"Then, Sherry is going to send us all to slaughter your group. Trust me, you should just go to spare your group. We want nothing to do with them. We just want you."

"So I'm just supposed to give myself up?"

"Yeah. Play the hero. Save your group."

George stood up. He rubbed his chin.

"I don't believe you. What happens after she finds out we just killed some of your friends? What will she do to the group then?"

"Lie. Say it was you all along."

George looked at David. Lori and the others came out of the bushes.

"Put him… out of his misery already," said Richard, breathing heavily. "This fucker is obviously bullshitting."

"That's what I'm thinking," said David.

"No! Don't do that!" gasped Lincoln.

"Why not?" asked George. "They're right. We can't trust him! He tried killing us!"

"I got an idea," said Lincoln. "Why don't we just bring him with us? We can keep him handcuffed in and have someone watch him. We patch him up and give him back to the Piranhas. In return for keeping him alive, he will tell Sherry what she wants to hear!"

"That sounds smart. And it'll probably work. What's your name again?" asked George.

"Lincoln."

"So, David. Will Lincoln's plan work?" asked George.

"I don't think it will," grumbled the attacker.

David pointed his shotgun back at the Piranha. He flinched and covered his face.

"Alright, I'm just kidding! Of course, I want to live! Jesus!"

David smiled and pointed the shotgun away from the attacker. He pulled the trigger and all that was heard was a click. George pulled the Piranha upwards. He handcuffed him and pushed him away. Missy walked towards the Piranha and grabbed his arms. They both walked inside the RV, while everyone else finished their food.

"Looks like we got a long day ahead of us," declared David.

"George," called Luna. "You're welcome to crash with us since your car is... you know, crashed."

"Thank you."

"Carol. Will you help me patch up…" asked Missy before stuttering.

"Gus."

"Gus?" continued Missy.

"Yeah, sure," answered Carol.

Every driver drove their car ahead for a mile where they were, for they knew that the horn would attract a group of roamers that heard it.

Even though the night started with chaos and destruction, it ended with the group eating happily together, raising the spirit and morale of every single group member.

* * *

 **IV - Blood in the Water**

The sunlight shone through the RV. David was driving on the highway, hoping to make it to the town of Rome before evening. Lori sat next to him, reading the map and telling him directions. Lynn appeared blurry, while she and Francisco talked with each other about what she did last night. Lisa was refilling the IV bag. There was a new stranger, with a beard and a Yankees cap. Moving his eyes around and blinking them, Clyde wondered who he was, or perhaps it was a fellow group member who has grown a beard in the past days he was out. He groaned.

"Lisa! I think Clyde is awake!" gasped Lynn.

The entire group heard this and they centered around Clyde. Clyde's and Lynn's heartbeat went faster as if they were in sync. He was still visibly confused as he everything around him was blurry. Lisa shone a flashlight on his eyes, to which he flinched at.

"Indeed he is awake. Clyde? Are your auditory senses working?" asked Lisa.

"My what?" groaned Clyde.

"Oh, Clyde! I thought you were never going to wake up!" gasped Lynn excitedly, as she hugged him tightly.

"We thought we were going to lose you!" cried Liam.

"Lynn! Liam! I'm happy to see you guys too! Are we in the RV?"

"Yeah. You were resting happily by me," answered Lynn.

"How long was I out? Where are my glasses?" asked Clyde.

"You were in a comatose condition for eleven days. And here there are," replied Lisa as she put his glasses on his face.

Clyde smiled as she saw Lynn. He then saw Francisco, yet his mood did not change. However, he tried moving around when he noticed something was missing.

"My leg! Where's my left leg?" asked Clyde in a panic.

He lifted his blanket and only found a towel wrapped around his waist, and covering his hips. His right leg was there, but his left leg was gone. All that was left of it was a stump in his knee wrapped by a bandage.

"Clyde? Don't you remember what happened?" Lynn asked.

"Yeah, now I do," sighed Clyde.

The RV stopped. The group surrounded Clyde.

"Clyde! Buddy!" gasped Lincoln as they both hugged.

Lori silently walked to Clyde's bed and hugged him as well. She let out a tear or two and rubbed Clyde's hair. Ronnie Anne smiled at him and gave a thumbs up.

"My man, Clydesdale! How are you feeling?" cheered Bobby.

"I feel awesome. Thanks, Bobby."

"I'm so happy that you're back with us, Clyde," sniffled Lori.

"I feel happy to be back with you guys. Who's the new guy? My bad. Who are the new guys?"

"I'm George Cane. Former FBI agent. I'm coming with your group to Houlton to seek a better life and to rescue your families, I believe?"

"And this douchebag is Gus. He's a hoodlum that decided to shoot at us with his friends and we are going to give him back to his leader," answered Missy.

"Who happens to be my mom," said Vonda.

"Who I tried to kill and is trying to kill me," added George.

"I have so much to catch up on, don't I?" awkwardly chuckled Clyde.

"Here are some crutches that I crafted for you. These should support you and compensate for your missing lower left calf."

"Thanks, Lisa," said Clyde as he grabbed his crutches.

Lynn helped him stand up and guided him with the crutches.

The group all went back in their vehicles. They wanted to stay and celebrate Clyde's recovery, but they knew that they had some business to attend to. Vonda's anxiety returned as she was closer and closer to meeting her mother.

After a couple hours, Clyde was able to move around now with ease on his crutches. However, he kept tripping on his own pants, and Lynn helped him up every time. The group ate lunch together happily, except Missy and Gus.

"Eat the damn thing," hissed Missy, handing the canned soup to an uncuffed Gus.

"Fine."

Gus took the soup and started eating rapidly. Francisco walked towards Clyde.

"Hey, Lynn. Can I borrow him for a minute?" asked Francisco.

"Sure, Francisco. I'm going to talk to Lincoln."

Lynn grabbed her canned spinach and stood up from the tree that she was lying down at. Francisco sat down next to Clyde who was drinking a bottle of water.

"Hey, dude. How are you feeling?" asked Francisco.

"I'm feeling alright. What about you?"

"Good. I feel good. Clyde… I just wanted to apologize about what I did to you two weeks ago."

"No need to. I forgive you."

"What? You do? Why?"

"I see how you're in good terms with Lynn. She hated your guts after we… fought. Now, it looks like you and she made up somewhat."

"I told her why we fought. I admitted to her that I like her. She quickly shut me down."

Clyde raised his eyebrows.

"Ah, you thought I was going to say that I told her you liked her as well? No, that's your job. As far as she knows, I was a lovesick aggressor. Which I really was."

"You weren't the only one, Francisco. I'll tell Lynn soon. I hope it doesn't create some sort of love triangle between us though."

"Don't worry. All I wish is to be Lynn's friend again. And your friend as well."

"You already are, Francisco. No hard feelings about anything we did in the past."

Clyde and Francisco shook hands. Francisco helped Clyde up, while he held his crutches. The group returned to their vehicles. Vonda was not ready to meet her mother. She was in no mood to. The roamers slowly walked towards the vehicles. The vehicles drove off and left the roamers behind. The hours went by and David knew he would get there before sundown.

The medium-sized arch bridge went over the manmade river. On one side of the bridge, the road was empty with only litter lurking around. It seems that no one has chosen to stay around the Erie Canal when the Global Infection Event occurred. On the sidewalks, there were overgrown oak trees that stood tall, yet did not get in the way of any driver. On the other side of the bridge, there were many small buildings and many cars. The roads were blocked off by roadblocks, which surprisingly kept the roamers away, almost as if they understood what the orange and white wooden boards meant. There were about six small or medium-sized cars, a blue pickup truck, and seven motorcycles. Majority of the vehicles were some shade of blue, although some sported red or black colors. There were many men and women with piranha tattoos in the back of their necks. They stood beside their vehicles with submachine guns and pistols in their hands.

On the pickup truck stood a tall red-headed woman, with long and curly hair, sporting a blue leather vest. Underneath the blue vest was a white t-shirt that barely reached her waist. She wore tight blue jeans with black boots. She had gold round earrings and a purple choker on her neck. She wore black leather gloves and held a UMP45 in her hands. She looked into the distance with her binoculars and smiled.

The RV drove through the streets, and the group was closer to the Piranhas. Vonda looked out the RV and spotted the tall lady. She gasped and kept her gaze on her. The captured Piranha had bandages on his face. He chewed his gum while he waited to be transported outside of the RV.

David reloaded his pistol and his shotgun. Richard grabbed a couple bullets from a cartridge box in the closet and inserted them on the Python. Missy switched the safety off in her AR-15. George made sure his Glock 19 was not in safety mode. Lori reloaded her AK47 and sighed once deeply. Vonda equipped her quiver and grabbed her bow. Becky and D reloaded their pistols. Bobby couldn't find a box to reload his Luger with. Benny took two white bulletproof vests that they had and used them to protect the weak interior parts of Vanzilla. D wore the last white bulletproof vest. George wore his FBI bulletproof vest. Lynn and Francisco grabbed their melee weapons to protect the negotiators from the roamers.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" whispered David.

"Yeah. I know a way to escape. I'll meet you guys in Houlton," whispered back George.

"Okay, it's time. Missy, bring the rascal outside when we step outside."

David, Richard, and George stepped outside of the RV.

"Well, well, well. Isn't it the man of the hour? George Cane!" Sherry said gleefully. "You guys actually came! You could've used the one day that you had, to drive away in the opposite direction! I would've found George anyways… but now you guys made my job easier! I respect that!"

Missy, Gus, Vonda, Francisco, Lynn, D, and Becky came out of the RV. Lori came out of Vanzilla.

"Oh my god, that's a lot of guns…" whispered Lori as she nervously walked side by side with the others.

"What's this? Isn't that Gus? Gus, what the hell, you're still alive?" exclaimed Sherry.

"Sure am! It's a miracle, ain't it?" shouted Gus.

"So, who's the leader here?" asked Sherry. "I'm going to need a good explanation for the fuck-ups that just happened with my soldiers."

"That would be me. I'm David."

Sherry hopped down from the pickup truck. She whistled as she walked closer to David with swagger.

"Pleasure to meet you, David. I'm Sherry. I am the leader of the Piranhas. In case you don't know…"

"I know who you are. Why did you want my group to meet here?"

"To talk. I wanted to talk to you."

"About what? You don't know anything about me."

"David! Don't be so rude! I just wanted to talk about how you killed some of my people. That's all!"

"I didn't kill any of your people. George did. We merely stumbled upon him when he did."

"It's true. I got Gus here, handcuffed and brought them into their RV," said George.

"Gus, is that true?" asked Sherry.

"Yeah. This man fucking scratched my face over and over. It was madness! Their group took me in and patched up my face. This pretty lady here took care of me," said Gus, winking at the last sentence.

"Oh is that so? John! Andrew! Check David and his friends' guns! I need to see if they fired a bullet from it!" ordered Sherry.

John and Andrew both wore leather gloves and an indigo bandana. They took the guns away from Richard and Missy and checked their magazines. They proceeded to check the other guns.

"They're all full except George's!" yelled John.

"Alright! Uncuff Gus! Cuff George! Now one more thing. Give me that car and everything inside of it!"

Sherry pointed at Sergei's car. David looked and shook his head.

"No! That wasn't part of the deal! You're supposed to leave us alone!" yelled David.

"What deal? I get to choose what I want from this meeting. Or do all my friends not make that clear with our guns?" asked Sherry.

"Whatever! We're going!"

"No! Don't let them go! They killed our friends!" yelled Gus.

"Oh, they did? I knew that. I just needed some confirmation," stated Sherry menacingly. "Stay, David!"

"What do you want?"

"I want to know why you killed my soldiers. Why? Did they harm you? Look, I don't want to hurt that hot, muscular body of yours."

David kept silent. He shook his hands very much as if he was going to cut his own blood circulation.

"You don't know how lucky you are. Fate! That's your best friend! That's also your worst enemy! As fate would have it, you will stay a night in hell! I'm trying to postpone that night, David!"

"Oh, and that night will be postponed. I could make it hell for you, though."

Sherry cackled, which unnerved the group members. While the Piranhas were distracted by Sherry's sudden laughter, George was uncuffing himself silently, using the key that he hid in his back pocket.

"Don't banter with me, David! Don't you see how many guns my soldiers have? I could make tonight, the darkest night of your life!"

"Why is David doing this? Can't he just give up the car?" whispered Lynn.

"No. All of our weapons are in that car!" whispered back Francisco.

"You know what? Forget it," sighed Sherry, when she saw Lynn and Vonda chasing a roamer. "Hey! You two girls! What are you doing?"

"They are keeping the roamers away from us," said David.

"Roamers?"

"Dead ones."

"Huh. That sounds like something my ex-husband would've called them. Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, Piranhas, go kill everyone except the two girls."

Sherry hopped behind the pickup truck. The gangsters raised their guns at the group and started shooting. David and the others ducked for cover. Lynn and Vonda looked at each other visibly confused as to why they were excluded as targets. Nevertheless, they ducked behind the stone railing of the road. George quickly ducked behind the vehicles for cover as every Piranha did. Lori ducked next to Lynn and shot her AK-47 at the Piranhas.

"Sergei! Drive now!" yelled Carol as the bullets hit the windows of the car.

Sergei pressed his foot on the accelerator and drove away from the gunfight. Sherry hissed at the escaping car.

"Don't let them get away!" hissed Sherry.

David pulled the trigger on his M9 and shot a couple bullets. Each of the bullets did not land on their intended target. Instead, they would hit the car or the buildings behind the Piranhas. David quickly ducked behind the stone railing, sighing as he reloaded his empty pistol.

Missy shot her AR-15 a couple times. She only managed to graze one of the Piranhas in the ear. Three Piranhas hopped on their motorcycles and proceeded to chase Sergei's car. Becky, hidden behind Chunk's car, aimed her Glock 17 carefully at one of the riders and pulled the trigger multiple times. The bullets hit the rider in her arm and her stomach. The rider fell to the ground, with her motorcycle falling into the canal. The Piranhas focused their shots on Chunk's car, destroying it even more than before.

"Chunk, drive, my love! Drive!" yelled Luna.

Chunk drove away from the gunfire the same way Sergei did. This left Becky and D exposed to the Piranhas. Becky and D ran as fast they could go behind the RV, dodging the small amounts of gunfire sent their way. However, D was shot in the leg and the chest, causing him to stumble to the hard pavement. Becky quickly grabbed his arms and pulled him behind the RV. D groaned in pain as he pressed his bleeding right leg.

"Oh my god, Derrick! Just stay put!" gasped Becky.

"You remembered my name…" wheezed D as he scrunched his face in anguish.

Sherry raised her submachine gun and fired at the group. None of her shots hit anybody, but they were damaging the vehicles. A bullet flew close to Sherry when she heard a splatter. Her henchman standing next to her was shot in the eye by David. Two other Piranhas hopped on their motorcycles to chase Chunk's vehicle. George grabbed the pistol that the recently-shot henchman had while no one looked. He raised his pistol at Sherry, but then saw the two Piranhas escaping from the firefight. He shot two bullets from the pistol at one of the riders and two more at the other rider. He dropped the gun and ran as fast as he could towards the canal. The Piranhas aimed their guns at George and fired them. George jumped into the canal, all while taking off his shades and holding tightly onto it. A large splash came out of the canal, while the train of bullets smacked the still water.

"Richard!" whispered David. "Run inside Vanzilla, and drive it away from here!"

Richard nodded and tapped Missy on the back. They both stood up and wildly shot their guns at the Piranhas, with Richard shooting his Python and Missy shooting her AR-15. The Piranhas reverted their attention from the canal to the group and started shooting them. Richard quickly went inside the van through the driver's door which faced away from the gangsters. Missy hid behind the van, unable to access the passenger door. A few bullets went through Vanzilla, which were caught by the bulletproof vests that Benny set up.

"Shit! Sergei, what do we do? We have no weapons!" cried Carol.

"Yes, we do. Hand me any weapon from one of the crates!"

"Which one?"

"Any! It doesn't matter!"

Carol grabbed an M4 carbine rifle and tapped Sergei on the shoulder. Sergei pushed on the brakes of the car.

"Duck! And don't get back up until I tell you to!" demanded Sergei.

Carol nodded and ducked below the car window and on the car floor. Sergei exited the vehicle with the weapon and aimed at the approaching motorcycles. He shot the rifle in burst-fire shots at the riders, hitting one of the riders. The rider fell to the ground and pressed on his arm. Sergei aimed at the other rider and shot his motorcycle, causing him to fall off. He aimed at the uninjured rider and shot his rifle, hitting him in the chest. As the rider bled, the injured rider ran away, just as Sergei noticed that his rifle was out of bullets.

"You can come up, Carol!"

Carol slowly looked through the window and saw one person in the ground, still as water. Sergei went inside the car and sighed. He looked in his rearview mirror and noticed a car coming from the distance. Sergei pressed on the gas pedal and drove even further away from the firefight, with Chunk following him.

"Lori! Go inside the RV! I'll cover you!" whispered David. "Lori! Can you hear me?"

Lori was frozen in place. Lynn and Vonda stayed low to the ground while the bullets flew in all places. The RV was barely scratched as it was bulletproof itself, keeping everyone inside it safe and sound, although it did not prevent their hearts from racing in fear. While Becky and D stayed behind the RV, Francisco stood behind a thick oak tree, wondering if he should run away from the firefight or run behind the RV. Either of those choices could risk him getting shot though.

"Francisco! Run behind the RV!" shouted Lynn.

"Okay! Lori, cover me!"

Lori shook and flinched with each passing shot that the Piranhas launched on the group. She grabbed her assault rifle and laid it on the ground. She placed her hands on the ground and rapidly moved her eyes, capturing her surroundings, while being ignorant of it at the same time.

"Lori? Lori! You need to cover Francisco!" whispered Lynn.

Lori looked at Lynn and continued to sweat nervously. She closed her eyes and started breathing heavily. Francisco looked at the RV and quickly ran to it. He was stopped by a wandering roamer next to a tree, to which he used Lynn's baseball bat to beat it to the ground. Once the roamer was in the ground, Francisco beat its head over and over until he crushed the skull of the roamer. The head was so horribly bludgeoned that the face looked even worse than before. Suddenly, two bullets hit him in the leg and waist. He fell next to the killed roamer and yelled over the sound of the gunfire.

"Francisco! Vonda, help me get him to safety!" yelled Lynn.

George gasped as he resurfaced from the canal and many meters away from the firefight. He could see the Piranhas from the distance, sighing in relief knowing that they wouldn't waste their ammo on the guns that cannot reach him anyways. He swam towards a small platform on the group's side of the road and climbed up the ladder. Taking cover behind a car, he looked at the groups before noticing groups of roamers walking towards the firefight.

Missy opened the door to the backseat, but she saw the kids lying on the floor, covering their heads.

"I'm afraid there's no space here, Missy!" said Luan.

"It's alright. I'll just quickly run to the passenger seat."

Missy handed her AR-15 to Richard and prepared to expose herself for a few seconds. David saw her preparing to make a huge risk to get inside the van, so he quickly shot at the Piranhas and grabbed their attention. Missy ran in front of Vanzilla and opened the passenger door as fast as she could. Sherry saw Missy's attempt at getting inside the van and pulled her gun out. She shot at the van, hitting and shattering the windows. Richard drove the van ahead on the road, dodging the bullets that hit the van.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Richard.

He then looked at Missy, who was bleeding from her right shoulder. The bullets shattered pieces of her collarbone as well, and she coughed before going unconscious.

"Oh god! Missy!" exclaimed Richard.

Vonda shot one of her arrows at a Piranha, hitting him in the shoulder. She quickly dashed to Francisco's aid, along with Lynn, as he lied on the pavement, bleeding all over his legs.

"Shoot him!" ordered Sherry.

"He's just a kid," stated John.

"Be grateful that I'm not asking you to shoot the other two kids. Now, put him out of his misery."

John took out his pistol and shot near Francisco. The bullets led Lynn and Vonda to a halt as they quickly ducked. Lori remained where she was, frightened and alone. John carefully aimed his pistol at Francisco's head and shot his gun. As Francisco pressed his bleeding leg, the bullet hit his scalp, launching pieces of his brain out the back of his head. Lynn's heart sank as she watched one of her closest friends taken away from her in the blink of an eye. In the blink of an eye, Lori snapped back into reality and gasped as blood poured out of Francisco's head.

"Kinda silly, right?" shouted Sherry, as one of the Piranhas pulled out the arrow out of his shoulder. "Who brings arrows and a bow to a gunfight?"

"Piss off! Or we will end you and your remorseless gang! I'm not playing, you cold-hearted bitch!" yelled Vonda as she dragged a weeping Lynn behind the RV and her baseball bat.

"Sherry, the riders who were chasing that car are dead. We're running out of ammo. We need to head back to base!" whispered Andrew, her right-hand man.

"Got it. Everyone! Pull back! Retreat! Head for the base!"

David peeped through a crack in the stone railing, watching the car doors close and the vehicles moving away from the bridge. After a minute, Lori stood up to see if the Piranhas were gone. And indeed they were. She saw the large amounts of shells and bullets that were lying on the street. She then saw George running to them, shouting something that was indistinct until he got closer.

"The roamers are coming! They must have heard all the shots that went off, so we need to move!"

"Alright, let me contact Richard, Sergei, and Chunk first," said David, taking deep breaths. "Richard! Sergei! Chunk! Where are you guys?"

"We're about a mile south of the road! Hurry, David! My wife was shot!" exclaimed Richard through the walkie-talkie.

"D needs some help as well!" shouted Becky.

"Alright. We gotta go! Lori! Lynn! Vonda! Becky! Go inside the RV! George, help me carry D into the RV!"

"What about Francisco?" cried Lynn. "We can't just leave him there!"

"We have to! The roamers are coming and we have no time to properly wrap him!"

"Lynn," murmured Vonda, "we gotta go."

Lynn, Vonda, Becky, and Lori went inside the RV. David and George carried D inside the RV. Wavehead quickly ran to his friend and called Lisa to remove the bullet from D's leg. Clyde sat at the booth table, not occupying the sofa which was to now be occupied by D and Wavehead. Lynn quickly ran to the booth table and opened the curtains to see the roamers. As David drove the RV, the roamers approached Francisco's body and knelt down to eat his flesh. Lynn wanted to look away, but she couldn't stop herself from watching Francisco's body being torn into many pieces. Clyde gazed at the consumed corpse, only able to focus on Francisco's cap. He closed the curtains and looked at Lynn.

"Lynn?" whispered Clyde, noticing that Lynn's eyes were glued to the curtains.

"Clyde… I want to be alone. I'm very sorry. I know you mean well, but… after we reunite with the others, I want you to leave the RV. Hang out with Lincoln… instead of me."

"Lynn…"

"No. Don't say anything," sobbed Lynn. "Every time I look into your eyes, I see Francisco. I see a friendship that would've prospered and… it's better to just leave me alone."

The group of roamers that were huddled together in one spot stood up and started following the group. A few roamers had small pieces of intestines hanging out from their jaws. Others had skin stuck to their teeth. All their mouths were red and thirsty for more of what they just devoured. They followed the rest of the roamers, leaving just Francisco's clothes behind.

* * *

"So what's the plan now?" asked Andrew, driving the blue pickup truck.

"The plan is that the group is now on our long list of enemies. Might be short now because of the apocalypse given that our other enemies might've just died. Anyways, we want to hunt these people down, kill them one by one, or better yet, all at once, with the exception of one person. My daughter."

"Your daughter?" asked John, the younger brother of Sherry's right-hand man.

"Vonda. The young archer with the hem top shirt. That girl with the ponytail might be her stepsister or something, so try to keep her alive as well."

"Do we search for the group?" asked Andrew.

"No. I have a better idea," snickered Sherry, taking out a map of the New York Canal System. "I really did try to warn them..."

* * *

 _ **So the Piranhas made their entrance! They are run by the big bad Sherry Crowley, who, in case you didn't notice, will be the second major antagonist that the group will face. On their struggle to escape to New York, they have to face many more obstacles! What are these obstacles, and what the butternut is Sherry talking about? What plan? Find out in the next chapter in 2-3 weeks! Don't forget to follow this story if you enjoyed! Until the next time!**_


	7. Yet Another Obstacle

_**Hey, it's Mr. Potassium here! Sorry for the delay, once again! I was very busy the past weeks and was not able to get around the story as often as I wanted to. However, I was relieved whenever I did have time to write the story, since it meant that I would be a couple words closer to bringing this chapter to you guys. So if you're reading this by the time it updates (sorry, East Coast), then Happy Valentine's Day! This is the gift for everyone, single or not! Without further ado, here is the seventh chapter of the story! Enjoy!**_

* * *

-Seven Years Ago-

"Thomas! What is this I hear about Salah al-Din Mossad being unable to supply the package tonight?"

"Mossad says that his government locked his docks. Sorry, Sherry. Looks like we're going to have to take Quirino's lawyer's offer–"

"No, it's okay. Really. We can get by without that asshole and his monkey. We got a surplus of heroin hidden in the building that used to be my old headquarters."

"Old headquarters? I thought this was the only one you owned."

"Don't be silly, Thomas. I do own one headquarters. That building is just an outpost. It was my headquarters before, but…"

"...but?"

"...but not anymore! It's my OLD headquarters! I don't think I told you about it. Well, let's go outside."

Sherry grabbed the young man's left hand and pushed a door to exit the dock warehouse. She led the man towards a dock on the Hudson River, appearing as she has an intent to show something to the young man. The humid yet cool weather encouraged the people of Albany to walk through the park that was adjacent to the dock. After a ferry boat carrying many passengers left the docks, a small boat arrived, carrying only a woman and a large box. The woman had a piranha tattoo on the back of her neck and a pair of blue sweatpants to go along with her blue vest.

"The old headquarters is located in Hudson. The town of Hudson. I want you to come with me to help me carry the load to the Bronx. It's not an order. I'm just asking."

"Sure thing. When do we go?"

"We're going in an hour. Gina! You can unload the box inside my office!"

Suddenly, four Chevrolet pickup trucks arrive near the docks, facing towards the warehouse. A few FBI agents came out of each vehicle, and some jogged to the warehouse while others jogged to the docks. All the agents were wearing bulletproof vests and were holding small firearms, not necessarily pointing them at anyone. Sherry pulled out her pistol and aimed at the agents running at her. The agents quickly took cover behind a metal shipping container.

"Drop your weapon! Put your hands up in the air!" shouted an agent.

Sherry quickly whistled at Gina and at the man. Gina got out of the boat and allowed Sherry in. The boat was the size of a small room, so there was hardly any room left after Sherry entered it.

"Thomas! Get in!" yelled Sherry.

"Lady! Do not move or we will shoot!" shouted another agent.

Gina shot her UZI at the agents, hitting the metal containers, causing the bullets to ricochet. Sherry started the engine in the motorboat and slowly moved away from the shootout while trying to get the man to enter the boat.

"Thomas! Get in now!" shouted Sherry.

One of the agents, a fair-haired man with a scruffy beard, aimed at the boat and started shooting it. The boat was getting damaged, but most of the bullets hit the water in the river. Sherry took out her pistol and shot at the agent, hitting him in the chest.

"Shit! Henry! Get up!" whispered the man.

Gina turned around and glanced a very scornful look at the man.

"You know these guys?" asked Gina while she pointed her pistol at the man. "Tell me the truth!"

Suddenly, one of the agents shot Gina in the back, causing her to fall, but not before she pulled the trigger with her automatic flinching. The bullet missed the man and hit the water.

Gina gasped as she struggled to get up. The man grabbed her gun and ran towards the boat. He ran as fast as he could, despite the bullets that were flying at the boat. Sherry accelerated the boat, but not too fast that the man couldn't get in.

"Guys! Ceasefire! George! What the hell are you doing?" yelled the injured Henry.

"Move, Agent Cane!" yelled another agent.

Sherry rode the boat away from the scene and left George behind. George sighed in frustration and removed his cyan bandana, tossing it to the ground. Henry stood up and took out his vest.

"Why'd you yell my real name out?" shouted George.

"You were running to where we shooting, George!" yelled Henry.

"I was going to stop her!" yelled George. "Now she knows who I am, and… fuck, whatever! Just arrest this woman and get her some medical attention!"

Two agents ran towards Gina and picked her up, carrying her inside their car. One of the agents contacted an ambulance for Gina, now a former ally of George.

"Are you alright, Agent Burke?" asked one of the agents.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Look, George, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled out your name."

"It's alright, Henry. Let's just go help out the others in the headquarters."

"No need to. We were here only to retrieve Sherry. We don't the authorization to storm into her headquarters."

"What authorization? It's her fucking headquarters!"

"Deputy Assistant Director. You don't want to piss off May, do you? Besides, there's too many of them inside their headquarters."

"Fine. Let's roll out, then."

A Piranha shot at an agent much like the other Piranhas. However, he was not able to hit the agent, since he was hiding behind cover. The agents shot at one of the Piranhas but missed purposely. The Piranhas ducked below the window for cover, but when they came up to shoot at the agents, they saw that the agents had already retreated to their vehicles.

"The ambulance is going to meet us outside the park," informed one of the agents.

The pickup trucks were driven towards the park where many people quickly dashed from the shootout. An ambulance was heard from the distance.

"So, do you have an idea of where Sherry's current whereabouts might be?" asked Henry.

"Yeah. Hudson."

"Well, no shit."

"Not the river. The town. She was going to head there in an hour to retrieve a large surplus of opioids and heroin but plans changed and she should be heading there now."

"Alright. Good job, partner."

The vehicles arrived next to an ambulance, where Gina was transported inside. George heard the sirens blare once again as he looked at the lights flashing red and white. He sighed as he knew that capturing Sherry was going to get harder.

 **Chapter 7: Yet Another Obstacle**

 **I - Time is Ticking**

-Present Day-

The ambulance appeared idle in the middle of the dim road. No sirens were heard and no flashing lights were seen. However, that did not make the current situation any less of an emergency. It provided all the aid that a person needed in a time of dire need for medical supplies.

"Carol, grab the towels in the rack over there!" demanded Lisa.

"Oh god, David, I don't know what I will do without her!" gasped Richard while trying to choke back his tears.

"You won't find out because we are going to make sure she survives this ordeal, alright? Understand? Come on, stay strong for her."

"Alright, I'm strong. I'm strong."

"Okay, D. You're going to be alright. Lisa and Carol are getting everything they need to treat you," said David.

"Alright. Please hurry. I'm feeling… very lightheaded," gasped D.

"Carol, I'm going to need your help over here! Becky! Close D's wound with the towels! I need to extract the projectile from Missy's collarbone at this moment!"

"Okay!" exclaimed Becky as Carol handed her the towels. "Alright, Derrick, just stay still."

Dana cringed upon seeing D's wound since the bullet was still lodged in his leg. Becky wiped the blood from D's leg and closed the wound with the towels. Wavehead wiped D's forehead with one of the towels.

"Okay, Carol, just point the flashlight at the wound and pay careful attention to what I will do," ordered Lisa.

"Okay, Lisa," replied Carol.

Lisa put on a pair of nonlatex gloves, a towel around her mouth, and grabbed a pair of extraction forceps. Missy was lying down on the grass adjacent to the sidewalk, unconscious. A part of the bullet was visible as it was outside of the skin and stuck in the collarbone. Lisa grabbed the bullet and pulled it out slowly and steadily. The bullet appeared to have broken into two parts. The tip was lodged deeper into the collarbone. Lisa knew the risks in extracting a bullet that deep into the collarbone, but she had to take the risk anyway if Missy wanted to move her neck and shoulder.

"Are you alright, Lisa?" asked Carol after noticing that Lisa did not move for a few seconds.

"Yes. I was just thinking. Let's proceed."

Lisa dug into the small wound with her forceps and took a hold of the dented bullet tip. She carefully pulled it closer out of the bone. The summer heat only added to the immense pressure that Lisa was experiencing at that moment. Lisa inched the bullet tip closer and closer out of the bone. Moments later, she sighed as she pulled the bullet out of the bone and quickly patched up the bullet wound. Carol turned off the flashlight and let out a deep sigh of relief. She smiled at Richard and nodded her head. Richard wiped a tear that fell from his eyes and took a deep breath. Now, Lisa had to deal with D's wound and Missy's fractured collarbone.

"Carol, follow me. Richard, stay by Missy and alert me if anything unusual occurs," said Lisa.

Lisa and Carol walked next to the RV where D was lying down. Becky released D's hand and Wavehead stood up with his sweaty towel. Lisa and Carol crouched down and rolled up D's pants to see the wound in D's right calf.

"So, how bad is it?" asked D.

"Bad. Very bad. It is necessary to remove this bullet out of you right now," replied Lisa.

"How bad is it going to hurt?"

"Very bad," replied Carol. "Becky? Can you come over here? I need you to keep him calm while we remove the bullet."

Becky nodded. She held D's hand and rubbed her hand on D's head. Carol turned on the flashlight and shone it on D's wound. Lisa grabbed another pair of forceps and looked at D.

"How nervous are you feeling, D?" asked Wavehead.

"Nervous? I feel scared. Very, very scared," replied D before looking at Becky. "At least someone is comforting me."

"Maybe this will help you feel better," whispered Becky.

She leaned in close to D's face and quickly kissed him. Her worried face turned happier as D slightly smiled.

"That did help me. Thanks, Becky."

"Are you ready, Derrick?" asked Lisa.

D nodded his head. Lisa inserted her forceps inside of D's wound and began to remove the bullet. D gasped and clenched his teeth as Lisa started pulling the bullet out. Becky flinched as D squeezed her hand tightly. Dana couldn't bear to watch the bullet being removed and she put her hands over her eyes. D let out a painful yell before gasping heavily and then softly. Becky turned to look at Lisa and saw the bullet being held by Lisa. Carol turned off the flashlight and took out a long, white cotton object with a string attached to it.

"Oh, hahaha. Are you serious? A tampon?" softly chuckled D.

Carol smiled. Dana squinted her eyes and was left speechless. Becky stifled her laugh with her hand.

"Yeah."

Carol inserted the tampon into D's bleeding wound and cleaned up the blood in D's leg with a damp towel.

"I have successfully removed the bullet from your leg without any complications. You should be stabilized in the next few minutes after I stitch you up. For now, leave the tampon to soak up the blood in your wound," said Lisa. "Now, let's go repair Missy's fractured clavicle, Carol."

Carol stood up and followed Lisa to the sidewalk. Richard backed away as Lisa removed the towel on Missy's collarbone. Carol frowned as she knew that Lisa had a lot of work to do to repair Missy's fractured collarbone. Plus, she also had to clean and stitch the wound after fixing the shattered bone to prevent any infections on the wound. Lisa put on a new pair of nonlatex gloves as she prepared to work on the wound.

"Hey, Clyde, what's wrong?" asked Lincoln as Clyde exited the RV.

Clyde sniffled as he took off his glasses and wiped the tear that stained one of his lens. Lincoln helped Clyde walk to Vanzilla by making sure he didn't fall with the crutches.

"Francisco… he… didn't make it."

"What? Oh my god. Lynn must be devastated. Did you talk to her?"

"Actually… Lynn didn't want to talk to me at all. It hurts her to see me. Lincoln, it hurts her! Me!"

Clyde started tearing up, as he walked towards Vanzilla. Benny and Luan were cleaning up the blood in the passenger seat, and they found a small bullet piece. Lincoln shook his head and grabbed Clyde's shoulder.

"No. Don't take it so personally. Lynn just handles grief differently than the rest of us. She just needs some time alone to process her grief. Now, let me help you get inside."

"Thanks, Lincoln. You really are the best buddy in the world."

Lincoln smiled.

"Don't mention it, buddy."

Bobby held Darcy's hand as they quickly entered the RV. Ronnie Anne ran closely behind him, looking around her nervously before entering the RV.

"Lori!" called out Bobby.

Tabby, Rusty, Zach, and Liam turned their heads at Bobby. Lori was standing close to the booth table, staring at her despaired sister. Lynn was looking out the back window and let her tears run down her cheeks. Lori took her eyes off of Lynn and looked at Bobby. She gasped as she walked outside with Bobby, Darcy, and Ronnie Anne. She cupped her mouth with her hands and started sniveling.

"What's wrong, babe?"

"I… I… I'm responsible…" whimpered Lori.

"Responsible for what?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Francisco. Francisco is dead because of me… I couldn't even save my sister's friend!"

"Lori… I'm sure it's not your fault…" reassured Bobby.

"YES, IT IS!"

Ronnie Anne walked back inside the RV. She quickly made her way to the booth table and went to tap Lynn's shoulder. However, she hesitated at the last moment and stood frozen with her hands in the air, a few inches away from Lynn's shoulder. She slid her hands back into her pockets and turned to leave the RV.

"What is it, Santiago?" whispered Lynn in a very broken voice.

Ronnie Anne was caught by surprise and was unable to respond. Lynn turned around to look at Ronnie Anne, after a few seconds of awkward silence.

"I… uh… heard that Lori… was responsible… for what happened to Francisco… is that true?"

Ronnie Anne stared at Lynn's reddish eyes and saw how broken she was. She thought to herself how she could ask such a stupid question. What would Lynn even say? Could she even muster the strength to go into detail about Francisco's death? Ronnie Anne sighed and prepared to apologize for not letting Lynn grieve, but Lynn responded.

"She… was supposed to protect Francisco. She could've distracted the Piranhas, but… she froze like the fucking idiot she is. And because she froze… Francisco was exposed to the Piranhas… and it's all her fault. No wonder she's not the leader anymore…"

"You know Lori feels very terrible about what happened?"

"Good. Now, fuck off and leave me alone."

Ronnie Anne was speechless. Lynn turned to look out the window again, looking at the far distance. Lincoln's friends stared at Ronnie Anne with their mouths wide open. Ronnie Anne stormed out of the RV, which left a tense atmosphere in the RV.

"Lori… you acted like any normal person would. You're not a trained fighter or a soldier," reassured Lincoln.

"Exactly. I would've done the same thing, babe," added Bobby before looking at his younger sister. "Hey, did you go inside the RV? What did you do?"

"I… talked to Lynn. She told me what happened. After that, she basically told me to screw off and leave her alone."

"I think someone needs to be there for Lynn," stated Lincoln.

"Look, Lincoln. Your sister made it very clear that she didn't want to talk with me. She doesn't want to talk to Lori. It also looks like she doesn't want to talk to Clyde. Maybe she really wants to be left alone."

"Just let me try to talk to her. I'll see what she really wants."

Ronnie Anne sighed and walked next to her brother. Darcy offered her stuffed giraffe to Lori, telling her that he will make her feel better. Lori wiped her tear and grabbed the stuffed giraffe, still frowning. Lincoln slowly opened the door and walked to Lynn.

"Hey, Lynn."

"What do you want, bro?"

"I heard you were feeling down, so I brought you something."

Lynn turned around to see Lincoln standing with a baseball in his right hand. Lynn frowned and looked at Lincoln with growing anger.

"Are you trying to torment me or something?"

"I know that this reminds you of Francisco…"

"No shit, Lincoln! I never thought you would disrespect me like that!"

Lynn started shaking her fists and moved closer to Lincoln. Lincoln walked back a few inches and put his guard up.

"Oh no. I have never seen Lincoln make any of her sisters angry besides Lori," whispered Zach.

"Wait, Lynn," said Lincoln. "This baseball IS supposed to remind of Francisco. Clyde told me about how there might be nothing to remember him by, but then I remembered he showed me this a week ago. This baseball is his. Lynn, never forget Francisco, okay? With this baseball, please let it preserve the good memories you had with him."

"Oh, Lincoln… I'm not going to forget him. But…" sniffled Lynn while she hugged Lincoln, "...thank you. You're the best brother in the world anyone can ask for."

Lynn took the baseball from Lincoln and gazed at the ball, turning it slowly and studying every speck on the ball. Before her tear fell on the ball, she wiped it off her eye and looked at Lincoln. Suddenly, the door to the RV opened and Wavehead came inside.

"Guys, it looks like D is going to be alright. However, David wants to talk with all of y'all. Except you… Lynn. That's your name, right?"

Lynn nodded her head. Tabby, Rusty, Zach, Liam, and Vonda headed out of the RV. Lincoln prepared to leave the RV, but Lynn held his hand and kept a tight grip on it.

"Hey, Linc? Can you stay here with me? I need to be with somebody I love and trust."

"Sure thing, Lynn."

Wavehead closed the RV door as soon as all the kids were outside. They say D resting near them with a large bandage wrapped around his leg and watched over by Becky, Dana, and Tad. They turned their heads to Missy, who was still lying unconscious in the grass but with a white makeshift collar and cuff sling made by Lisa. Richard was crouching next to her, watching her eyes and her stomach, praying that her breathing would not stop at any second. David looked at the roads and looked over the canal. He then turned and faced his group.

"I have an important message to declare. Due to the injuries and tragedy that our group members faced, we are forced to halt our journey to Houlton. From what I just heard, Derrick and Missy will make a recovery, according to Lisa and Carol, but they are unable to travel at the moment. They say it might take a week until we can travel again. However, we have an apocalypse on our hands, so we have to pay mind to the current situation we are facing. Every roamer for miles heard us shooting shots back at the bridge, and they might wander here sooner or later. The further we are from the bridge, the better our chances of survival will be. However, since Missy and Derrick are unable to travel, how can we move them away safely? Lisa proposes that we use the ambulance stretchers to move them."

"But where would we go?" asked Benny.

"We will continue going east until we reach the highway. From there, we could set up a shelter until they can travel again."

"Why can't we just keep moving them with the stretchers?" asked Tabby.

"Transporting them with the stretcher will pose a great risk on Missy and Derrick as they don't have the proper treatment and will not receive any form of therapy," replied Lisa. "However, the roamers pose an even greater risk, so transporting them for a short distance is our best option."

"We better get there before it gets completely dark though," demanded Richard.

"Becky and Dana. You girls are going to transport D to the highway. Richard and Carol are going to transport Missy to the highway," ordered David. "Richard! You are going to lead them to the highway!"

"Alright!" replied Richard.

"Be careful. Refrain from moving the stretchers too quickly and too recklessly," warned Lisa.

"Benny! Go with them and protect them from the roamers!" ordered David.

"Okay," replied Benny, unsheathing his katana.

"The rest of us are going to drive ahead of them to the highway! Lori! Do you feel like driving Vanzilla?"

"Yeah, sure…" replied Lori with hesitation.

The group dashed to their respective vehicles as the dusk started to settle in the sky. Benny quickly ran to Luan before she entered the van. He held her hands and quickly kissed her.

"I'll see you soon," whispered Benny.

Benny released Luan's hands and ran to the stretchers to help Becky and Dana lift D. Luan smiled softly and went inside Vanzilla. Richard set a stretcher down and carefully lifted Missy onto it. The stretchers were now set higher for easier maneuvering and transportation. Benny jogged to a roamer closing in on the small group and sliced its head in half. Another roamer crawled towards Richard to which Benny responded by thrusting his katana through its skull.

Lori felt uneasy being back on the wheel again. However, she knew what she had to do, so she started the engine and followed David's RV. Meanwhile, in the RV, David told Lincoln and Lynn what they were going to do. They nodded their heads in agreement, though Lynn did so weakly.

"Derrick, you will be safe…" whispered Becky.

"Don't worry, my love, I will keep you safe," whispered Richard. "Just keep fighting for now."

The group moved the stretchers through cars and hills and corpses in the ground, slowly overcoming each obstacle. While the small group made their laborious trek through the roads infested by the dead, the large group found a small grocery store near the highway. While they awaited the return of the small group, they cleared out any roamer that wandered the looted store and its inanimate building neighbors.

"This way…" grunted Richard.

Benny moved quickly to dispatch the nearby roamers. He found a roamer wearing a shirt exactly like the one that his late father wore on the night of the Detroit Massacre. He turned around to see Becky, Dana, Richard, and Carol focused on moving the stretchers as cautiously as they could. Benny held back his tears and jogged towards the roamer to slay it.

 **II - Executed Plan**

-Six Days Later-

The morning dew gave the woodlands a moist yet fresh smell. Birds were heard chirping and crickets made their usual noise. It was as if an apocalypse never happened. But this dream, or rather a blissful train of thought, was interrupted by the groan of a roamer that lurked out from the woods. A katana was swung through its neck, causing the roamer to immediately fall to the floor.

"Got it!" exclaimed Benny.

Another roamer wandered from the woods. It must have heard Benny's sudden exclaim since it was headed towards him, keeping its rotten eyes locked on his body. Benny prepared to move closer to the half-rotten monster, but an arrow suddenly flew to its head, sending it to the dirt ground. Benny sighed and looked at Vonda. She smiled smugly and walked towards the killed roamer, picking up the arrow.

"Are you guys done playing over there?" asked Tad before pointing at a building. "Found a grocery store. Hopefully, there are cans of food that had not been looted yet."

"Well, I doubt that we will find anything," said Lucy as she frowned.

"I don't know. Maybe we will be lucky this time," stated Benny.

"Last time, it was Luna who actually found a good amount of supplies. And that was because someone thought it was a good idea to stay in a guitar store in the apocalypse," Lucy said dispiritedly.

A roamer crawled out of the store, missing the lower half of its body. Tad took out his ninjato sword and impaled the sword through the roamer's brain, causing Benny to cringe slightly.

"Are you sure, I can't have that sword?" asked Benny.

"Pretty sure," replied Tad.

Benny sighed. He went inside the store and checked for any lurking roamers. He smiled upon seeing canned food, but he kept his watch for any potential roamer. He approached the wine section of the store and was caught by surprise. He found a large pile of corpses that were decapitated and lined up in an orderly fashion. Some of the bodies were of small children and the skin did not match the rotting of the roamers. Benny continued observing the bodies and knew that they have certainly been executed in a cruel yet organized way. He had a discomforting feeling that a group as organized as Black's rogue soldiers could've done this.

"Yo, Benny! Are you good in there?" yelled Tad in the far distance.

Tad was standing with his back against the store windows. Lucy sat on the curb, facing the empty parking lot. Vonda was wiping an arrowhead with her green handkerchief. The door to the grocery store opened with Benny coming out slowly, appearing disoriented.

"What's wrong, Benny?" asked Lucy.

"Did you get bit?" asked Tad.

"No, no, it's just… you really don't want to see what's in there."

Tad looked back at Lucy and Vonda who were looking at each other, puzzled by what Benny meant. They entered the store and saw a shelf that had cans of beans and bottled water. Tad walked close to the foodstuffs but noticed a pair of legs in the aisle adjacent to the shelves. Upon seeing the legs, Tad shivered and looked back at the small group. He took out his ninjato sword, the one that Benny adored, and snuck close to the legs. Benny followed him and looked around the store. Tad peeked at the aisle, gasping as he realized what Benny was talking about. Lucy walked to the aisle curiously to see what spooked Benny and Tad.

"Hmm. Maybe you should impale the heads. They're moving, you know," informed Lucy.

"What?" asked Benny before he yelped upon seeing one of the heads wriggle violently.

Vonda quickly dashed to Benny's aid and yelped when she saw the corpses lying on the ground.

"Oh my god! What the hell is this?" shrieked Vonda. "Were they already infected?"

"I think so. There doesn't seem to be any bite marks on these guys," replied Benny.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Put them out of their misery," demanded Lucy.

"Aren't you a little unnerved by this?" asked Tad.

"No. But I do feel bad for what happened to these people."

Benny grabbed his katana and pointed the blade downwards. He walked close to the roamers' head and thrust the blade down into its skull. As he approached the small roamer, he closed and turned his head away, as if he was looking away in shame, and he impaled its brain.

"You know, it would be easier to eliminate these roamers with your ninjato sword," Benny told Tad. "My katana is curved and your sword is not."

Tad walked close to the roamers and started killing them off.

"I don't know why you are so fascinated with my sword. You have your katana!"

"Ninjatos are cooler. Where did you even get that?"

"I got it from Vonda."

"Vonda? Where did you get that sword?"

"It's my father's," replied Vonda. "At first, I thought he was just a sword collector. I mean, he probably was, since he never used that sword. But then a few days before the Global Infection Event, he told me that the sword was handcrafted by his friend. He modified a Hanwei ninjato sword to be one of the best melee weapon against a roamer. Unfortunately, he never got to use it. So, I just gave it to Tad before we left my hometown."

"No wonder! Killing roamers with this sword is so easy!" exclaimed Tad. "Are you sure you don't want it back?"

"No. I'm no good at sword fighting."

"B-b-but I am," said Benny.

"Just grab the cans and the bottles. I want to leave this depressing store," sighed Lucy.

"Alright," said Benny.

Outside the grocery store by the highway, the empty and unzipped stretchers were lying on the damp ground. The windows in the vehicles had raindrops on them, and the road that the vehicles were parked on was slippery. A bench sat near the entrance of the store and was covered by a low concrete canopy. On the bench, Lori sat with her AK-47 on her lap. Luan sat next to her with binoculars on her lap and a knife in her left hand.

Inside the store, boredness infested the whole place. Luna and Sam were listening to Chunk talk about his life while a barely-bearded Richard placed pecans in Missy's mouth. Becky, Dana, D, Wavehead, Bobby, and Darcy were all together, discussing how they imagined their high school graduation would have been. Ronnie Anne, Tabby, Zach, Liam, Rusty, Lincoln, and Clyde were all talking together, talking about how much they miss school. Lisa was testing Carol's knowledge on how to properly perform a foot amputation. Sergei was looking inside an MRE to find out what food it contained while George curiously looked at the package. Lynn lied on Leni's lap while Leni twirled her hair. Lana was playing with Lily, in an attempt to fill in the missing hole in her life. David watched over everyone in the group while eating canned peaches.

"They're back," stated Lori in David's walkie-talkie.

Lori, Luan, Benny, Tad, Vonda, and Lucy walked inside the store. Benny and Luan were holding hands while Lucy and Lori smiled at each other.

"It's not a lot, but it's about a day's worth of food for all of us," stated Vonda.

"That's alright. Now, it's time to go," said David.

"Go where?" asked Benny.

"To our vehicles. We're going to continue our journey to Houlton."

"Missy and D are able to travel now," explained Lisa. "Much sooner than I previously estimated. However, Missy has to wear a sling on her right arm tied to her collarbone and Derrick has to use a cane for a while."

The group all stood up from their spots with the exception of D, who needed a little help getting up. Becky and Wavehead lifted him up and kept him standing as they walked to the RV. Every group member returned to their respective vehicles.

-Seven Years Ago-

"Are you ready?" asked Henry. "I know what you're capable of, but this is your first-time going head to head with the Piranhas. So, I ask you, are you ready?"

"Yeah, I've seen what these sons of bitches do for money. It's disgusting," responded George, while putting on his shades.

Henry and George exited their vehicle, along with four other agents. The sunlight was gleaming against the Hudson River, and kites were flown near a park. The agents walked away from where everyone else was and headed near a warehouse. They saw no one outside the warehouse, although they always kept their guard up. George looked in the river and saw nothing.

"Let's go inside!" ordered George.

The agents burst inside the warehouse only to see empty cages and metal shipping containers. Nets were hanging from the roof and buckets were lying on the floor.

"Looks like no one touched this shithole for years," commented Henry.

"Let's check upstairs," ordered George.

The agents quietly climbed the stairs and slowly opened the door to the second floor of the warehouse. However, they were met with more empty cages and clothes on the floor.

"Looks like Sherry ain't here, dude," said one of the agents.

Suddenly, a gang of Piranhas appeared in front of the door and shot their submachine guns at the agent. His chest and face were ripped apart by the bullets as he stumbled back onto the staircase. The agents took cover behind the walls while they watched their colleague fall down the stairs with blood all over his vest. George's face broke into sweats as the bullets roared by him.

-Day 39-

"Shit," muttered David.

"What happened?" asked Becky.

"There's a suspension bridge ahead of us completely blocked by vehicles. There's no other way to cross into the highway unless we go through the city roads. And we are NOT going to the city."

David parked the RV where it stood in the road. Lori, Richard, Missy, Sergei, and Chunk left their vehicles. They looked ahead and felt stumped about their problem. David looked around the bridge to see if there were any additional bridges that he could take. But there were none.

"Why don't we circle back near Utica and take a different road?" asked Lori.

"Well, that would take maybe a day's trip and then probably much more time to get to Albany."

"Maybe we can drive these cars out of the way?" asked Sergei.

"But most of these cars are abandoned. Unlikely that we are going to find a key lying around for every car," responded Missy. "Strange. A herd must have scared the drivers away."

Lisa exited Vanzilla with the rest of the passengers. Almost every single group member exited their vehicle.

"I could perhaps construct an explosive to push these cars away, though I don't think I can acquire sulfur in a place like this," stated Lisa.

"No, we're not going to do that because we would just attract every roamer in the world to our location," replied Lori.

"Can't we just move these cars away?" suggested Leni.

"We're trying to figure that out, Leni!" exclaimed Lori.

"I have a plan," declared Lincoln. "Most of these cars are abandoned because a herd, like Missy, said, probably scared the drivers away. However, most drivers would not take their keys with them when they're in flight mode. They would just leave the keys in the car. However, they leave their keys in the ignition instead of a random place. While the herd chases the drivers and their passengers, the car remains on the bridge with the engine on. The idle car would run out of gasoline eventually, which it certainly has after a month, so no gasoline! What we can do is set the car to drive, and we can push the cars out of the roads by ourselves."

"That's genius!" exclaimed Lori.

"Wait, wait, hold on. Out of the road?" asked David.

"Well, just out of the middle road. Just so we can have enough room to cross the entire bridge. This very… long bridge."

"That's smart indeed. Did you think about this all by yourself?"

"Yeah. I mean, that's why they call me the man with the plan at home."

David chuckled. Ronnie Anne smiled at Lincoln.

"Alright, let's get to work. Now, who do you think are our powerhouses?"

Lincoln looked around the group. He placed his finger under his chin and thought about who could push small cars by themselves.

"I would say, you, of course, Richard, George, Chunk, Sergei, Bobby, Lori, Lynn, Luna, Benny, Tad, Becky, and Vonda."

"Vonda?" repeated David confusedly.

"If she can draw a 55-lbs bow, she can push a car by herself."

David looked at Vonda. Vonda nodded her head with a smug smile. She walked back inside the RV to place her bow in the cabinet above the sofa.

"Alright!" The following people are going to get inside a car, turn the car into drive mode, exit the car, and push it towards the edge of the bridge!"

The group began to enact Lincoln's plan. Almost everyone was pushing a car by themselves or as a small group. If the group were small, it would've taken days to push all the cars in the bridge to the edge. However, even with a large group, it took many long hours.

At the end of the bridge, they encountered a school bus with an opened emergency door. David climbed inside the bus and closed the emergency door. He exited the bus through the entrance and rallied all the group members together.

"Alright, guys. Looks like pushing this monstrosity is going to take a lot of teamwork. Most of us are going to go in the back of the bus and push it towards the road, not at the edge of the bridge. Got it?" asked David.

The group agreed and began to get into position. They grabbed onto the back of the bus and started pushing the bus. While pushing the bus with the rest of the group, Luna thought about the last time she was on a school bus. When the image of a bloody face popped up in her mind, she got away from the school bus and threw up on the hood of one of the cars.

"Are you alright, Luna?" asked Lincoln.

Luna gave a thumbs up. She grabbed a napkin from her skirt and wiped her mouth.

"Sorry, dudes. I was just thinking about something disgusting. Keep pushing the bus. I'm just going to go back to the vehicles and wash my mouth."

"Poor Luna. I wonder what she was thinking about," said Sam.

"Push! Push! Keep pushing, guys!" exclaimed David.

In a few minutes, the bus was out of the bridge and into the road. The group sighed in relief and began their walk back to the vehicles. Lincoln groaned as his arms felt weak. Lana panted while she walked back to the vehicles.

"So what now?" asked Bobby.

"We continue our journey ahead," replied David.

-Seven Years Ago-

"Fuck…" whispered George.

"Come out, you pussies!" yelled Henry.

"Same could be said about you, assholes!" yelled back a Piranha.

An agent held his gun tightly and peeked at the door. A few bullets flew at him, to which he quickly dodged. He then immediately pointed his gun at the room and fired two rounds before being shot at. The agent groaned as he pressed on his bleeding chest. Henry looked at George and motioned his hands as if he was asking for directions. George shrugged shamefully. Suddenly, a grenade was thrown near the staircase. George and Henry quickly jumped down the staircase. As both men landed on the bottom of the stairs, a snap was heard from Henry's ankle. An explosion followed immediately after the snap and George saw fragments of the stairwell fly down the stairs. The body of an agent tumbled down the stairwell with fragments all over his body. A sharp fragment was stuck between his eyes and his nose was missing.

"Oh my god! Henry, can you walk?" whispered George loudly.

Henry shook his head while clenching his teeth. He quickly gasped as George lifted his shoulder up over his back. Henry limped as he and George made their way out of the warehouse.

"Is he alright?" asked one of two agents who stayed downstairs.

"Broken ankle," replied George. "I'm getting him out of here! Watch out for the Piranhas upstairs!"

One of the agents waited for the Piranhas to come downstairs. One slowly walked with each step with his pistol aimed at where the explosion came from. The other agent stayed away from the steps while keeping his pistol aimed upstairs. He watched as his partner nervously moved closer and closer to the second floor. In a few minutes, the agent peeked into the room and found no one inside.

"Agent Emery, there's no one here!" exclaimed the agent.

Suddenly, a man popped out from behind a stash of mysterious pills and unleashed the bullets from his submachine gun at the agent. The agent below the second floor heard gunshots go off above him and he prepared to run up the stairs. However, he heard a footstep and turned his head around. He saw the barrel of an AK-47 pointed at his eyes and prepared to shoot the Piranha. Before he could react, his fate was sealed as the Piranha pulled the trigger to his automatic rifle and ripped his face apart.

George heard gunshots go off from the warehouse and took one last look before he would lose sight of it. He saw that nothing particular about the warehouse changed, except George now realized that there was a small boat near the warehouse. The motorboat was the size of a small room and it was tied by a rope to a pole while it was floating in the river. George and Henry continued to make their way back to their vehicles. The sight of the boat was the flicker of George's later violent rivalry with Sherry.

 **III - The Message**

-Day 42-

"Well, I'll be damned. Another obstacle!" exclaimed Richard.

"We could just use the kid's strategy again," stated David.

"You mean, Lincoln's Traffic Removal Method?" announced Lincoln with pride.

"Right," replied David.

"This is literally worse than the bridge," sighed Lori.

Lori looked into the distance. The highway was cluttered with wrecked and broken cars. Many trucks also stood in the way, even a semi-pickup truck with a mysterious container which alone gave Lori a headache. However, the cluttered cars did not extend as long as the ones in the bridge did. Lori continued to look further into the distance when she saw something move. She grabbed a pair of binoculars and saw a moving object. She looked at her binoculars to figure out how to zoom it, but when she returned to see the moving object, it was gone.

"Dude!" exclaimed Luna. "These cars are not empty!"

David and Lori walked close to a car. Luna pointed at the window with her crowbar and showed the roamer that was inside. David opened the door and aimed his gun at the roamer. The roamer, who used to be a beautiful young woman, was now an ugly and rotting monster who slowly turned its head to David. The roamer slowly lifted its arm to grab David, but he was too far from its reach. David aimed at the roamer's head and shot his M9.

"David! What happened to not attracting nearby roamers?" gasped Lori.

"Well look around you. Would you want the roamers to stay hidden around the cars? It's better to get them out of their hiding spots rather than waiting for them to lunge at us in surprise," explained David.

"Well, that's a good point."

A few roamers stood up from where they were hiding and started walking slowly to where the group is at. Lori pointed her automatic rifle at the roamers, but David lowered the rifle slowly for her while shaking his head.

"What?" whispered Lori.

"One shot is enough. If we need another, we should use a suppressor. That way, the sound doesn't attract TOO many roamers," whispered David

Lori turned her rifle around and struck a roamer's head with the butt of her gun. Luna swung her crowbar at a roamer next to the one that Lori attacked, and Vonda shot an arrow at the one next to that roamer. Lori kneeled down to the road pavement and took out a knife. She stabbed the roamer in the head with full force and killed it.

"Look, see, one shot was enough. More roamers are heading in our direction," said David.

"Where did all these roamers come from, anyway?" asked Lincoln.

"That's not so important," responded Lori. "What's more important is that we kill the roamers. Look! The roamers are starting to come together as a group. They're… merging into a small herd."

David backed away and allowed the group to come in front of him. Benny walked ahead of the group and took out the roamers that were straggling ahead of the group. Sam grabbed her ice pick and drove it on one of the roamer's skull. Bobby used Clyde's hammer to bash a roamer's skull and destroy its brain. He then opened a car door and blocked a roamer from getting too close to him. Vonda shot her arrows and almost hit every nearby roamer in the head. She jogged close to a killed roamer to pick up her arrows while Wavehead dashed to kill a nearby roamer. However, Lynn flew past Wavehead and Vonda, carrying her wooden baseball bat.

"Lynn! What…" exclaimed Lori.

Lynn stopped close to a roamer and swung her baseball bat with might. The roamer's neck dislocated while its skull was destroyed upon impact. The roamer dropped to the ground, now twice as dead. Another roamer approached Lynn only to be killed off by Lynn's powerful swing. Lynn placed a lethal blow to another roamer in the head, destroying its brain. Benny observed as Lynn continued to slaughter the roamers and kept his distance, killing the roamers outside of Lynn's reach. However, most of the roamers were within Lynn's reach, and even if they weren't, she would try as hard as she could to make sure they were very well within her grasp.

"Lynn… calm down. You don't want to exhaust yourself," said Lori worriedly.

The group pushed on in the clogged road. While some of the group members were killing the small herd, the rest were inspecting the cars for any stragglers. Ronnie Anne gasped in fright as a roamer popped up behind a car window and growled inside the car. She slowly opened the car handle and looked at Lori.

"Careful, Ronnie Anne."

Ronnie Anne opened the door slowly and allowed the roamer to tumble down to the pavement. Using her small pickaxe, she was able to put the roamer out of its misery. As Lana walked by, focused on Lynn's roamer slaughter, Ronnie Anne couldn't help but think about Lola again.

"You were only saving Lana and the group. Nothing to feel guilty about! You put Lola out of her misery!" Ronnie Anne whispered to herself.

Lynn found a roamer with blood around its mouth. It wasn't blood that belonged to the roamer as it seemed fresh and wet. Lynn kicked the roamer to the trunk of a small car and swung her baseball at its head. In a fit of rage, she swung the bat over and over and over. With each strike, the roamer's head became more deformed and messier with its brain spilling on the trunk. Lynn yelled with each swing, enjoying seeing the roamer destroyed.

"Lynn," called David.

Lynn stopped smashing the roamer's head and looked at her leader. She panted with both exhaustion and relief.

"Was that really necessary?"

Lynn looked at the group, who were all stunned, except Sam and Benny who were focused on blocking the roamers inside the cars with the car doors. She then looked at her bat, which had blood pouring from the end of it. She gasped softly in shock before looking at the roamer she killed. Witnessing the roamer's body without the head, she smiled.

"Yes. Yes, it was. For me, at least," replied Lynn before heading to the RV for a drink of water.

Blood dripped down the pavement, leaving a trail, as Lynn headed away from the group. Lincoln followed her back to the RV. The group continued their push on the road, killing the roamers.

After half an hour, the group returned to their vehicles to discuss a plan on how to remove the vehicles in the most efficient way possible. Lori talked about the possibility of moving all the cars to the side, but David dismissed that possibility since there would be too many vehicles cluttered against one another. Richard suggested that the vehicles be moved off the road, but then quickly shut down his idea when he saw guardrails on the side of the road. Lincoln came up with a new plan.

"I got an idea. How about instead of moving all the cars to one side of the road, we move a group of cars all on one side and another group of cars onto the other side. When the cars get too cluttered on one edge, we start pushing the cars to the other side so we create a snake-like path!"

"Hmm. Yeah, let's try that for a couple of minutes and then test it out by driving through this… snake-like path," replied David, rubbing his stubble.

The group was ready to push the vehicles to the right side of the road. After they did so for a number of vehicles, they moved on to push the vehicles to the left side of the road. David entered his RV and drove for a couple minutes around the path.

"It works! It's time-consuming to maneuver around this path, but it sure does work!" declared David. "Let's keep going!"

"Hey! I think I know where all these roamers came from…" blurted out Tad.

The group focused their attention on him. He crawled between two cars, rummaged through the litter in the ground, and grabbed an empty cylindrical canister. The cylindrical canister had a sinister gray color to it and had drops of greenish liquid on the tip of its opening.

"Poison gas…" whispered Richard.

"Yeah. Wonder where that came from..." sighed David. "Son, you might want to take your hands off the canister."

"Oh! Well, no big deal, right?" nervously chuckled Tad as he dropped the canister.

"I'm sure it's not."

Lisa picked up the canister by pinching it as if she was holding sticky gum. She demanded a flashlight as she studied the color of the liquid. Lori handed her a flashlight. She shone the flashlight inside the canister and studied the residue.

"Chlorine gas. No doubt that the rogue soldiers were responsible for this."

"It could be the Piranhas who was able to get their hands on military weaponry," said Richard.

"Whatever it was, this is no place we want to stay at," said David. "Let's keep moving."

-Six Years Ago-

George smacked his hands as he swallowed the last bite of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth.

"Alright, honey, I gotta go now," said George.

"Okay, bye!"

George leaned close to his wife and kissed her when his daughter walked to the kitchen. The small six-year-old girl had brunette hair in pigtails and was holding a toy police officer. She yawned and walked closer to her father.

"Good morning, daddy! Are you leaving already?"

"Yes, sweetie, you woke up late. It's almost noon already."

"What time will you be back?"

"I'll actually be back tomorrow. Daddy's got a long day ahead of him."

"Will you still be here with me and Mommy to eat breakfast?"

"Of course I will."

"Awesome! You see this toy? That's you! Fighting bad guys and saving the world! I want to be just like you!"

George chuckled and knelt down to give his daughter a small kiss on her forehead.

"Bye, sweetie. Don't let Mommy allow you to make a big mess."

The girl giggled and ran to her mother. George stood up and smiled at both his wife and daughter. He held his suit in his hands and waved at his family before he left the house.

The door busted open as Henry, George, and two agents entered a room. One was a Deputy Assistant Director, a complicated and prolonged word for a special agent, meaning she had control over her three agents.

"On the ground, now!" yelled May, the Deputy Assistant Director.

"Alright, alright, don't shoot!" yelled Gus.

May looked around and lowered her gun as Gus knelt to the ground.

"You know your friends did some fucked up shit, right?"

"Yeah, I know…" whispered Gus.

The four agents heard some footsteps getting louder. Suddenly, a door was opened where many Piranhas came out with guns pointed at the four agents. Sherry stepped out behind the Piranhas and walked behind Gus. Gus stayed on the ground and smiled smugly at the four agents.

"Is this another fucking ambush?" hissed Henry.

"No, unless anyone of you tries to do something," answered Sherry. "I need to send you guys a message."

"What message?" asked George.

"It's been kind of nice that we are playing this game of cat and mouse. Makes me feel very important."

Sherry laughed and fixed her belt. She then started playing with her hair.

"Shit's too tight. Anyways, it's kind of funny how I'm seen as such a terrible and unreasonable person when I'm not. I do things for a reason and I would like it if you guys backed off! I'm a very reasonable person! It's also funny how you guys think I'm the mouse, hiding from big ol' Tom! That's not true. A mouse wouldn't be able to craft a mousetrap."

"The message, Sherry!" yelled George, losing his patience.

"Christ, Thomas! I mean… George. Let a girl finish her story. But you know what? I lost my patience too. I'll just tell you straight up. I need you guys to stay away from my organization. If not, then the people closest to you… your loved ones will perish in this war that you started with us. And just in case you guys don't think I'm being serious, I need to make an example out of one of y'all."

Sherry looked at May, dead in the eye. She smiled and caused May to get angry.

"Seems very unreasonable to me," said May. "Going after my family? Really, Sherry?"

"Oh, not yours. And I AM reasonable! I could've killed you guys. But instead, I'm going to have George's family killed!"

"What? No! Don't fucking do that, I swear, I will kill you!"

George prepared to lunge at Sherry when she pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Henry.

"Nope! You won't! I'll kill your partner here if you try to do anything to me! And that's a promise!"

"No… please don't kill my family!"

"There's a price to be paid for being a traitor, George. But don't worry. You will move on… eventually," reassured Sherry menacingly, before turning on her flip phone. "John. Andrew. Eliminate the Canes."

"NO!"

Sherry turned on the speaker mode on her flip phone and allowed the four agents to hear what was occurring in the house. Windows shattering was heard through the phone. A woman's voice was heard. A little girl's yell gave chills to May and the screams that were released from his daughter would haunt George for the rest of his life. Gunshots roared through the phone. George collapsed to the ground and started tearing up.

"Deputy Assistant Director May Hannas. Tell your other agents to leave our organization alone. Or else. Today's your lucky day, May, Henry, and Martin. Now leave."

The Piranhas allowed the agents to leave the empty fish market. Gus stood up and stood next to Sherry. George left the market and got inside his car.

"Agent Cane, wait!" yelled May.

Too late. George drove away.

"Ever since May of last year, violence between law enforcement and the gang known as the Piranhas escalated into dangerous levels. The first victims of the ensuing violence on the law enforcement side are Zachary Goldman, Vincent Hansen Kal, Clint Haywood, and Franklin Emery, in which all four were killed in an ambush in Hudson, a city 30 miles south of Albany. Over the course of months…" reported an anchorwoman in the TV.

George wandered around the dark living room which was only lit up by the TV. There were shards of glass on the floor. George kneeled down and looked out of the window. He stood up and continued walking slowly throughout his home. The inconsistent lights from the TV gave George chills and he felt like turning away from the kitchen and leaving the house, never to return.

"Mary! Emma! Please be okay…"

George turned on the kitchen lights and instantly regretted it. He broke down in tears and fell to his knees. His wife's body lied still on the kitchen floor with a gunshot wound below her wavy brunette hair. His daughter's body was lying on the floor next to her mother. There was dry blood on her mouth. George crawled to her daughter and noticed that she was holding the toy police officer figure in her left hand. He grabbed the toy, which was hit by George's tears. He then lifted her right hand which was on her stomach. After lifting her hand, a gunshot wound was revealed on her stomach. George cried on her chest as ambulance sirens and police sirens blared in the distance.

-Day 44-

"Just slide the magazine in and place the partially-filled magazine away! Make sure that the magazine is fully in! Try it!" explained Richard.

Benny, Bobby, Becky, Wavehead, Sergei, and Lynn practiced tactical reloads while the others were receiving basic gun training.

"No, no, no. That's not how you hold a gun," sighed David, while moving Liam's arm.

"What? That's how they do it in the old Wild West movies!"

"Well, this is not a movie! Ammo is like water these days. We don't have too much of it. You gotta keep your arms straight, like this!"

David set Liam's arm straight, with his gun pointing at the beer bottle.

"Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Luan, try breathing slowly," said Lori. "Focus on your target and fire when you feel comfortable."

"Okay. But I don't think that's going to work…"

Benny walked behind Luan and lightly grabbed her arms as she aimed with her pistol. Luan lied her head on her shoulder and onto Benny's cheek.

"Feel relaxed?" asked Benny.

"No. How could I when I go crazy everytime you're around?"

Benny softly chuckled. Luan giggled and her face flushed as she lifted her head from Benny's face and focused on her training. Benny kept her arms steady while she aimed with her sights.

"Now… go!"

Luan shot her pistol and failed to make the beer bottle splash with alcohol pouring out. She frowned slightly and lowered her gun, taking her finger off the trigger.

"You know, if it makes you feel any better, you can have my katana if anything ever happens to me."

"If anything happens to you?" anxiously repeated Luan. "Benny, don't say that!"

"Alright, I'm kidding. I don't want to jinx anything. But I am considering dropping this weapon for another. And when I do, I want you to use it."

Benny eyed Tad and made him know about his desire to take his sword. Tad smiled and slowly shook his head as he tapped on his scabbard. Luan smiled and kissed Benny.

"Oh, Benny! That's so lovely of you! But I don't know how to use a katana! I think it's best that you keep it. You're such a badass with it."

"It's alright. I'll train you with it. Although, it's not exactly samurai training. It's… fencing."

"Oh, that's good enough for me. As long as it keeps you and me safe from the roamers, it's alright!"

Benny and Luan hugged as Lori watched them happily.

"Luna, great job!" complimented Lori. "You hit two bottles already!"

"Yeah, I'm telling you guys! It's not that hard!"

"Well, I disagree with that! My bullets don't go where I want it to go!" complained Sam.

"Well, your sights should already be zeroed. Maybe you need a closer target," said Lori. "David, let's move these trainees closer to the targets!"

"Sure thing. Everyone! Ceasefire! We're moving closer to the bottles!"

"Luna, you can go with Richard to get more advanced training," said Lori.

A roamer appeared from the woods where the missed bullets would fly. The roamer resembled a fisherman with its clothing. The roamer could've been easily mistaken as a human, but all roamers have decayed teeth, clumsy footing, and golden pale eyes that reveals them as the living dead. Richard approached his trainees.

"Perfect. Now, practice hitting a moving target. Let's see who can kill the roamer first."

Bobby aimed at the roamer and shot his shot. The multiple bullets he shot did not hit its head. The knockback from the bullets was not as strong as the kids expected since the roamer kept his footing, despite being very clumsy. Suddenly, a bullet made its way to the roamer's head and deep into its brain, killing the roamer.

"Boom! Got him!" cheered Luna.

"Hmm. There's another one."

Lynn and Sergei raised their pistols at the second roamer. However, Luna already had the roamer's head in her sights and shot her pistol. Sure enough, the bullet penetrated through the roamer's decaying skull and killed it instantly.

"That must have been about a hundred meters away. Impressive shot, Luna!" complimented Richard.

"Thanks. Looks like rocking instruments aren't my only skills."

More gunshots were heard. Lily cooed as Leni and Darcy watched out the van windows. Darcy giggled as Bobby nervously fumbled through his pistol magazine, inserting bullets.

"I know, Lily. Those gun thingies make me feel a little nervous too. I'm so glad Lori doesn't make go near them. I would probably cause some harm with those guns. And causing harm to anyone is the last thing I want to do."

"My Grandpa told me that guns are supposed to hurt people. But only the bad guys. Grandpa was going to tell me more about guns, but my mommy didn't want me to know more about it."

"And it's probably the best thing for you," said Lisa, popping out from behind a seat. "The only thing you need to know about those firearms as of right now is that you must not touch them unless there is danger. And when there is danger, you hand the gun to someone else, preferably anyone who knows how to operate a gun. That goes for you too, Leni."

"Gee, Lisa, you're smart," said Darcy.

"I know right?" added Leni.

"Don't mention it," said Lisa, looking at George, who was teaching Vonda how to repair guns.

Lisa was unable to make out what George was telling Vonda but through a thorough examination of what they were doing, she understood what they were doing, step-by-step. Vonda pointed the gun at the ground and carefully slid back the pistol chamber. However, the chamber slid back, causing the gun to go off and a bullet to launch itself to the grass, catching the group's attention.

"Sorry!" exclaimed Vonda.

Vonda's words began to drift off of George's ears. He stared blankly at the beautiful girl, reminded of her daughter, and what she would have looked like, had she not perished at a young age.

 **IV - Last Time I Saw Them**

-Six Years Ago-

"Any operations involving the apprehension of any member of the crime syndicate known as, The Piranhas, are now terminated as they are no longer a priority," declared May. "Agent Burke? Where's Agent Cane?"

"Oh, uh, he's… uhh…"

"Don't tell me he's going after Sherry."

"Well, he's not taking the loss of his family so well. I tried convincing him to not do anything reckless, but he told me something about not having anything left to lose. I can't stop him, Agent Hannas!"

"I can. I can suspend him temporarily. I'll even be generous and give him a few days off with pay," said May as she tapped on her phone.

George's phone rang as he walked to a laundromat. He quickly declined the call and silenced his cell phone. He went inside the laundromat and walked to the dry cleaner's section of the laundromat. He approached a man with a piranha tattoo on the back of his neck and asked for his clothing. The man, without thought, checked to see if his clothes were dried. George's outfit was able to disguise him well.

"Sorry, I can't find an orange and purple jacket," said the man.

"You're sure that my jacket is not there?"

"You can look if you want."

George entered a room where all the clothes were hanged and covered with sheets. George allowed the man to enter the room as well. As soon as he entered, George closed the door, without making any sudden movements.

"Hey, leave that open–"

George pulled out his pistol and smacked the man in the jaw with it. The man fell to the ground, groaning in pain as George held the man at gunpoint.

"Where is Sherry?"

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about."

"Sherry Crowley! Tell me where the fuck she is or else I will find out where you live and murder your family! Tell me where she is!"

"Fuck, dude! She's at Syracuse, hanging around the canal, I think. That's all I know!"

George lifted the man up and patted his shirt.

"Don't fucking tell the police what just happened. Or else… you know what happens."

"Something tells me that Sherry must have ruined you somehow. My advice is to stay away from her and remove that tattoo if you want to come back to your normal life."

George gasped and touched the back of his neck. He then nodded.

"Now get the fuck outta my laundromat and never come back," threatened the Piranha.

George strapped the gun back to his holster and headed out of the dry cleaning room.

-Five Years Ago-

"Agent Cane? Agent Cane? Fuck, did you decline my call again?" hissed May while looking at her phone.

George took cover behind his pickup truck while holding his handgun and his phone. He placed his phone in his pocket and popped up from his cover. Sherry and two other Piranhas were shooting at George. The suburban neighborhood was no safer than the Bronx at the moment. Bullets flew everywhere, hitting windows, other cars, and mailboxes.

"Fuck off, Cane!" yelled a Piranha.

"You know what? Leave him be! Let's go!" ordered Sherry. "It's been fun playing with you, George, but I got some place to be at! Bye!"

"Oh, no you don't!" yelled George.

He aimed his pistol at the car windows and frantically searched for Sherry with his naked eye. However, he noticed frightened residents coming out from their homes and peeking out from their windows at the showdown. The vehicle then drove away with Sherry inside.

"Fuck! I can… I can try again, Mary…"

-Four Years Ago-

"How many times are we going to do this?" cried Sherry.

Sherry aimed her Colt 1911 at George and shot it multiple times. George ducked behind the firetruck. George's phone started ringing.

"Fuck, it's Henry!" whispered George.

"Put it in silence!" ordered May. "We don't have time to answer him!"

Sherry began to crawl away from the scene. May and George ran to catch up to her, but John covered his boss by shooting at both agents. The lamps in Chinatown were shot to the ground, and bullets flew where no one was, fortunately. By the time May and George peeked out from their cover, Sherry and John were gone.

"Where did she go?" asked May.

"She ran. Along with her right-hand man!"

"I admit it now, Agent Cane. Sherry is one hard bitch to catch."

-Three Years Ago-

"I was starting to wonder when you were going to attack me the next time, George! And, May! I didn't think you were going to come back after… you know… I killed your husband and your nephew."

"Are you good, May?" asked George.

"Yeah, let's just finish this bitch once and for all."

"Well, THIS bitch has a helicopter!" giggled Sherry.

She climbed onto the helicopter and prepared to lift off. George and May pointed their guns at Sherry. Three other Piranhas laid dead beside the agents, two who were killed mercilessly by May. Sherry sighed as she realized she didn't want to do something that George and May were going to force her to do.

"I really didn't want to do this. Honestly, I really didn't."

Sherry hopped off the helicopter and into the landing pad in the hospital roof. She then took out a mechanical device that appeared to have switches.

"There is a bomb inside the hospital. And it will blow up in the next hour or so! Now, you can waste your time and arrest me, or… you can let me go so you have time to find the explosive. What would it be, May?"

May and George lowered their guns. May called for a bomb squad to the hospital.

"That's what I thought."

Sherry climbed inside the helicopter and wore ear protection. She turned on the helicopter and started lifting it in the air.

"Third floor! Trash can!" yelled Sherry.

She then made her escape as the helicopter hovered away. May and George quickly proceeded to head down the hospital.

-Two Years Ago-

"You just won't learn… George!" yelled Sherry.

George was handcuffed to a pipe on the ground. He watched as the Piranhas lifted Henry from the ground. His mouth was bloody and his face was bruised from the beatdown that he received from the Piranhas. Sherry stared at Henry.

"There were no soft targets in your case."

Sherry then looked at George.

"Don't think I'm serious, huh?"

"You're always bullshitting around! Always letting other people do the dirty work for you! If it were just you and me, you would've been dead, five years ago!"

"So, that's what you think of me. Time to change that!"

Sherry took out her Colt 1911 once again and aimed it at Henry's head. Placing her finger on the trigger, she hoped to break George. But he wasn't broken. George looked intensely at her, while Henry continued to look straight ahead with a hundred-yard look. Sherry smiled smugly and lowered the pistol. George continued to look at her intensely. Sherry smiled and raised her pistol, shooting the gun at Henry's head. At the sound of the gunshot, blood splattered into a white wall in the Piranha Headquarters. Henry dropped to the ground with half of his face disfigured from his bruises and blood. George was left speechless as a tear came from his left eye.

"Who says I don't have balls?" blurted Sherry. "Oh yeah… my gynecologist."

John, Andrew, Russ, Gus, Gina, and other Piranhas burst into laughter. George's tears fell as he looked down into the ground. George was then uncuffed and led out of the headquarters. Even though he was no longer inside the room, he couldn't shake off the image of his executed partner.

-Day 45-

"So, Lincoln and I entered the room… and we found some roamers. They were all shot while they were alive and they were not killed by the napalm that was dropped on the buildings. And for what? Could it be because they were infected? Or just because they were in the same room as Tim Crowley? And to think that Carol was going to be one of them!"

"Oh my god, Carol! I'm sorry for having treated you like an outcast!" apologized Becky.

"Even though I hate what you did in the past, it's alright," said Dana. "It's in the past."

Carol sighed.

"Well, I'm glad we made up."

"Something wrong, Carol?" asked Lincoln.

"No, it's just the fact that I could've died because of a general's paranoia… it's a lot to think about."

"Alright, time to head to Albany. We should be there in an hour or so…" said David.

As the group headed back to their vehicles, Vonda walked towards Carol and tapped on her shoulder.

"You are probably the only one in this group besides George to talk to my dad. Did you talk to him?"

"I… think so."

"What do you mean?"

"I… actually don't know how he looks like."

Vonda rummaged through her backpack. She took out a picture that was more updated than the picture of her and her father in Disney World in 2006. Tim Crowley had graying fringe bangs and crow's feet on his baggy eyes.

"Yeah, I remember him now!"

"So, you did talk to him!"

"Well, just a little. But it wasn't anything important. He just said that I had a nice Polaroid and he asked me how many films I had. I told him I didn't have too much to which he responded by nodding his head. He was eating a bag of peanuts too."

"My dad loved peanuts."

Vonda smiled as she went inside Sergei's car. George also entered Sergei's car and sat next to Vonda. Vonda tapped on George's shoulder.

"George, is that the scar of your Piranha tattoo?"

George touched the back of his neck and felt the texture of his skin.

"Yeah. Tattoo removal wasn't too good on the back of my neck. Good thing it wasn't such a large tattoo, otherwise, I would've been scratching my entire neck off."

Vonda laughed. George softly smiled as the vehicle started.

After an hour, when the night sky appeared and the headlights of the RV beamed, the shadow of a few cars appeared. David thought that he had reached Albany when in fact he did, but he was met with another surprise. As he got drove further along the road adjacent to the Hudson River, he noticed that the headlights of the vehicles turned on suddenly. One woman stood on top of the middle vehicle, and that woman was none other than Sherry Crowley.

-May 27, 2016-

"Head to the first floor and apprehend ALL gang members. You three, stay outside and patrol the west side of the headquarters. Agent Cane, are you sure you want to do this?" asked May.

"Yeah. I want to see her brought to justice, Agent Hannas."

"Alright. Agents! Move in! Now!"

The agents proceeded to move inside the headquarters as quickly as possible. They were aided by Albany police as they arrested as many Piranhas as they could find inside the faux fishing warehouse. The building was surrounded by police and much time passed before they left.

"Yes, yes it was surrounded by police. And you still got caught…" said Sherry as she walked around George and May. "I told you guys to stay away. Now that your precious police force left my headquarters, and they, by the way, failed to arrest more than seven of my people, you guys are going to get fucked."

Sherry lifted May up and pointed a gun at her.

"This way."

George was lifted by a Piranha and was held at gunpoint. When Sherry returned, she grabbed George's neck and led him downstairs to the ground floor. She then opened up the door to the basement which was hidden behind a freezer that held the medium-sized fish. George walked down the dim-lit tunnel and was frightened by what he would see downstairs.

"Here we are."

George clenched his teeth as he saw a Hispanic teenage girl locked behind a makeshift jail cell. The basement was very small and was no larger than a school classroom. Andrew opened the cell and pushed George inside. Sherry smiled and prepared to leave the basement.

"Have fun with your new roommate. If you knew what was going to happen to you, then you would fuck that girl. You know, rape her, anything for pleasure, and that's alright! It really is. She's used to it. Go ahead! I'll just leave you guys alone now! Bye!"

-Present Day-

Rapid gunfire went off as Sherry shot her submachine gun in the air in anger. The Piranhas were holding their guns in the direction of the RV, although they did not aim it. The headlights were now beaming brightly on the vehicles of our protagonists. Sherry grabbed a megaphone, still holding her submachine gun.

"COME OUT NOW, DAVID! LET'S HAVE A TALK."

David grabbed his shotgun from the back of the RV and he placed shells inside the gun. Lori held onto her AK-47 and placed her hands on the door handle. As much as David wanted to keep the others from following him, especially Lori and Richard, he knew he needed them in case Sherry wanted to take him against his will, or even kill him.

"You're coming too, Becky?" asked David.

Becky grabbed her Glock and nodded. She fixed her tank top and prepared to leave the vehicle. However, David rushed ahead first and opened the door. David looked at Sherry, who placed her megaphone down and jumped from her pickup truck.

She walked towards David and slowed down as soon as David cocked his shotgun. Lori, Richard, and Becky stood behind David, although still in a wall-like formation.

"Where's George?" asked Sherry.

"I told you to leave me and my group alone."

Sherry scouted the vehicles and looked inside each one.

"Where's George?"

"Listen, Sherry–"

"No! YOU listen to ME! I got a hella lot of men and women on my side, ready to slaughter your entire group."

The roamers were walking towards the road where David and Sherry were. The sound of the submachine gun attracted the roamers with the promise of prey. Two Piranhas moved away from their positions and stabbed a few of the roamers.

"Sherry, this is not a good time to talk–"

"Ain't no other time to talk. Now, I need George to come out of that SUV or so help me. You know what? I want your entire group to come out."

"Now, why the hell would I let that happen?"

"Why not? I'm a reasonable woman. I have limits. I'm not just going to mindlessly massacre you and your group when I only need a few of you."

George exited Sergei's car, approached David, and stayed behind him.

"Right, George? I keep my word, ain't that right? Now, do it or else my group will have to drag each member of YOUR group forcefully."

"As much as I hate following Sherry's orders, you gotta do it," whispered George.

David ordered everyone to leave the RV with the exception of D. Lori demanded that everyone leaves Vanzilla with the exception of Clyde, Leni, and Lily. The group gathered together, and Sherry inspected each member. Vonda held her breath as Sherry made eye contact with her. The locked eye contact would remain locked as Vonda was too afraid to look away from her mother's blue eyes. Sherry then looked away and continued looking at everyone else.

"I have a couple demands. First, I want you to hand in all the weapons in the SUV. Next, I want you to give up yourself and George. After you two, I want my daughter back."

Vonda gasped in surprise to how her mother knew about her. Sherry walked closer to the group, each holding a gun or some sort of melee weapon. Sherry then looked at David, unable to believe his own ears.

"That's my daughter, right? Tell me that she is my daughter, Vonda."

"Whether she comes with you or not is up to her."

"I would rather have her in my hands than in the hands of those who killed my soldiers in cold blood."

"As if you were one to talk," blurted George. "My family's blood lies in your hand. My partner's blood lies in your hand. My colleagues' blood lies in your hand."

"I also don't want JUST her. I want that girl as well."

Sherry pointed at the girl holding the red recurve bow.

"Lynn?" asked Vonda.

"Yeah, I want Lynn too."

The roamers began to growl louder as some came together in packs. The Piranhas began to use their guns to dispatch the roamers. The roamers dropped to the gun one by one, creating a pattern of growls before a gunshot.

"Why do you want, Lynn?" asked David.

"It's very complicated. I wouldn't expect you to understand."

"None of the shit you say is understandable. You talk about being reasonable, yet, you come to us with these outrageous demands!"

"Outrageous? I need those guns to make sure that you guys won't attack my group after the deal was done! I need David for an execution in order to keep my people safe! I need George in order to keep myself safe since he won't stop trying to go after me! And I need to be safe to keep my promise to my estranged husband about keeping Vonda safe! How is any of that outrageous?"

Sherry walked and grabbed Vonda's arm.

"I'm going to reunite us with your daddy, Vonda."

Vonda, visibly confused, followed Sherry with genuine curiosity. David was surprised to see that Vonda was going to follow her mother, despite the horrific acts that she had done. Vonda thought that maybe, just maybe, her own mother could've been the last person to talk to her father before his death. Or perhaps, Tim visited New York before the apocalypse in a search for Sherry in order to warn her of the impending doom that would end almost all human life on Earth. Tim wouldn't want one of those ended life to be Vonda. However, Sherry was truly clueless about Tim's death, meaning that Tim's death was not supposed to occur the way it did in Detroit. Vonda wriggled her arms, which caused Sherry to stop in her tracks.

"Wait…"

"Yes, Vonda?"

"What do you mean you're going to reunite me with my dad? Don't you know?"

"Know what?"

The roamers came in larger packs until it started overflowing the roads. Sherry watched as the roamers started coming closer to the Piranhas.

"Hold that thought. We gotta go. Tim wants to see you as soon as possible."

"But–"

"Vonda, we gotta go now!"

Sherry shot her submachine gun at the roamers. David fired his shotgun at the roamers that were closing in on his group. Vonda ran back to David's group as soon as she saw a chance of escape. Her hatred of her mother overcame her curiosity. Sherry clenched her jaw and swallowed hard, trying to appear unhurt by this.

"Vonda! Move! I'm about to shoot your friends right now!"

Sherry ran behind her pickup truck and fired her submachine gun at the group. However, the warning allowed the group to hide behind their vehicles and take the necessary cover to avoid getting shot at. The wrecked cars on the road also provided great cover and allowed the group to catch some of the Piranhas off-guard. David popped out of the RV and fired his shotgun at two Piranhas in rapid succession, killing both of them. George aimed his pistol at Sherry and shot it. However, the bullet missed her and shot another Piranha in the shoulder.

"Lori! Go open the hatchback door of the SUV and grab a couple grenades! Bring them over here!"

Leni and Clyde shrieked and yelped as bullets went flying, shattering some pieces of the van. Lily was crying at the moment, scared by the sound of bullets ricocheting. Lori quickly opened the back door of the SUV and took out a crate. Rummaging through the crate of magazines and bullet chambers, she was able to find two grenades. She ran back behind the RV and handed a grenade to David.

"Alright, so just pull back the pin like this…"

David pulled the pin of the grenade and tossed it at the vehicles that the Piranhas hid by. Some of the Piranhas were flushed out, while a few stayed and took their chances. The grenade blew up and launched shrapnel at two Piranhas, killing them. Sherry watched as two of her soldiers died in the hands of David.

"Alright. Here goes nothing!"

Lori pulled the pin on the grenade and threw it where David tossed it. The grenade landed in front of the vehicles where the Piranhas quickly ducked behind the cars. The shrapnel launched from the grenade and killed no one, although it disabled some of the vehicles that the Piranhas drove in, especially Sherry's.

The group was being pushed back as the roamers started coming between David's group and the Piranhas. Some of the group members decided to stay in the RV, trapped only by roamers and flying bullets. The Piranhas started pushing towards the group, shooting the windows of each vehicle, and rendering the wheels useless.

"Luan! Tad! Becky! Come inside!" yelled Benny.

Tad and Becky looked at each other and nodded their heads. Luan helped Lana hide behind Chunk's van and searched for Benny. Tad escaped from behind a wrecked car and ran as fast as he could to the RV, using the roamers as a distraction to keep himself from being shot at. Becky followed Tad, knowing that the Piranhas were distracted by the roamers in the road. However, Sherry had different plans. She diverted her attention from the roamers and aimed her submachine gun at both teenagers.

"Almost there–!" yelled Tad before he yelped.

The bullets from Sherry's gun lodged themselves on Tad's pelvis and caused him to drop to his knee. Becky quickly ran to his aid, hoping that the other Piranhas were distracted by the roamers. And they were. Except for Sherry, who fired her gun once more before running out of ammo, this time aiming for Becky. However, she missed Becky, but because she was standing next to Tad, the bullets went through Tad's arm. Tad dropped to the floor with his knee bent and gasped as he held his arm in pain. His heavy breaths started to die out as Becky was forced to run inside the RV for her own safety.

"I'm so sorry, Tad," whispered Becky, tears falling from her face.

Luan prepared to run to the RV as well, now that Sherry was forced to drop her submachine gun and fend off the roamers like the other Piranhas. Sherry took out her Colt 1911 and shot it at the roamers.

"Sherry! I suggest that two of us ditch these roamers and go after the people hiding behind the vehicles!" yelled Gus.

"We should go inside the RV, instead," said John. "There are people hiding in there."

"Well–"

Gus was interrupted by a bullet flying through his throat. Luna shot her gun once more and grazed John on the shoulder. She hid behind Chunk's car and reloaded her gun. Sherry looked in the direction of the bullet, trying to see who shot the bullet. She motioned John to come closer as he rubbed his cut arm. A roamer dropped to Gus's body and started helping itself with his flesh, devouring his arms first.

"Guys!" exclaimed Luan. "We need to help the others! The others, they're–!"

A gunshot.

Luan collapsed to the ground. Sherry pulled the trigger on the pistol, aiming at Luan's head once more, before realizing that she ran out of ammo. She left Luan on the ground, her temple bleeding from the gunshot. Blood soaked the ground she lied on, answering the question she asked herself in the beginning of the apocalypse. "Will she ever make it to the end?"

* * *

-May 27, 2016-

"I'm not going to harm you. I'm an FBI agent. My name is George Cane."

"Hey, George. I'm Cassandra."

"Hey, Cassandra. I'm gonna get us out of here. I have some buddies who are working on saving our butts."

"Well, that would be nice, but it's too late for me."

"Too late? What… oh my bad. I'm sorry, I didn't–"

"It's okay. So, George. How are your friends going to save us?"

"Well, tomorrow, they should finish inspecting the warehouse, and they WILL find us. After that… wait. Do you hear that?"

A growl came from the tunnel. Cassandra shook in fear and held onto George, who stared at the tunnel intensely. A zombie appeared from the tunnel, growling at George and Cassandra. The zombie was an unknown beast, whose name would soon die out to be replaced by another name in the apocalypse, if it has already not happened to these two people. They stared in fear as the beast grabbed the bars and struggled to get inside the cell, clawing the bars and biting the air. George examined the monster and flinched with each bite the monster made.

"What the hell is that?"

* * *

 _ **What a hectic ending! I told you guys that the Piranhas meant trouble! Once again, don't forget that the author's notes (my notes) in the beginning of the story will almost never contain spoilers! However, the ending notes will, assuming you scrolled all the way here! Anyways, after three chapters, our group are still in New York since they have to be bothered with all these obstacles! The threat of the Piranhas remain in the next chapter, but the group will retaliate against them. However, will their retaliation work in the Piranhas favor? And is the best or worst cliffhanger I have ever done? Leave a review if you enjoyed the story or feel like dropping some constructive criticism! If you enjoyed, don't forget to favorite and follow this story! I'll try to get the next chapter out in less than a month this time!**_

 _ **p.s. how do you feel about these long chapters? Keep 'em or make them shorter?**_


	8. Midnight

_**Hey, guys and gals**. **I just wanted to start off with an apology for not updating the story in a while. I was extremely busy, so I couldn't find myself any time to work on the story. Sorry for not posting for over a MONTH, but I'll try to get things back to speed by posting at least once or twice a month (preferably twice). However, if you guys want to, I can post more frequently, but the chapters will be shorter. If you really want to, I can keep going ahead with these long chapters. I'll continue to keep doing the long chapters, but let me know what you really want by leaving a review. Anyways, here is the eight chapter of the story, and sorry for the long wait after the cliffhanger. To those who have school, I thank you for choosing to read this during your spring break! Enjoy!**_

* * *

"LUAN!"

Benny took out his katana and prepared to exit the RV. Sherry fumbled through her magazines, struggling to reload her pistol. John, his UZI held by his gloved hands, and the trigger pulled by his naked finger, fought off the roamers that were closing in on the group. A roamer approached Sherry, who responded by kicking the roamer away from her and towards a bleeding Tad.

"Benny! Stay inside!" exclaimed Becky.

Benny refused to listen. He kicked the door open and sliced the head of a roamer who was scratching on the RV door. The roamer with Sherry's shoe print quickly picked itself up half-way before smelling the odor of live flesh. Tad gasped as he held his hand up in an attempt to push the roamer away. However, the roamer bit his hands and clawed at his shoulder. John aimed at Benny, but he quickly turned around and shot his UZI at a roamer that would've had a snack in a second, had John not heard its growl. Benny approached Tad and the roamer and sliced the roamer's head off, only to witness Tad's deformed hand and bleeding shoulders. Tad either passed out from the pain or had bled out, both which would lead to an untimely fate.

"No! Stay, Lori!" hissed David.

"I gotta save my sister!"

"You'll alert Sherry of our location! Just stay! Benny is saving your sister!"

Lori clenched her jaws and watched as Sherry reloaded her gun. Benny quickly ran towards Luan and decapitated a roamer that lunged itself towards the helpless teenage girl.

"Woah, woah, woah! Hold on, buster!" exclaimed Sherry as she held Benny at gunpoint. "Look at YOU! Decapitating roamers and shit! Trying to save your girlfriend over there? It's too bad she's dead."

"I'm going to kill you."

"I doubt it. Drop your sword and get inside the RV! Now! Or else I will slaughter everyone inside!"

Benny sheathed his katana reluctantly and glared at Sherry as he entered the RV. Sherry and John quickly entered the RV and closed the door. Lori ran towards Luan and dragged her near a wrecked car. David followed and moved away from the RV when he witnessed the grotesque corpse of Tad laid next to a couple headless roamers. Slightly emotionally affected, he turned around and took cover behind the wrecked car that sheltered Lori, Lana, and Luan.

"Luan! What happened to her?" cried out Lana.

Lori started sobbing as she lifted Luan's head and rubbed her chin. She leaned towards her face and felt her lifeless and pale face. David scanned the puddle of blood that was poured into the sidewalk. Strangely, the trail of blood was very difficult to see as there were only a few drops of blood here and there.

"Not again! Not again. Not again…" sobbed Lori.

Lori, feeling a pulse from Luan's neck, gasped and signaled David to come closer. David saw Carol hiding behind Sergei's vehicle, and motioned her to come. The Piranhas were still fighting off the roamers as nothing had changed in the past minute. Carol used this distraction to run from behind Sergei's vehicle to the wrecked car.

"Oh my god!" gasped Carol as she noticed Luan's pale face and bleeding temple.

Carol inspected Luan's pulse and breathing. She tilted her head towards her and opened her mouth. She sucked air and shoved her mouth into Luan's mouth, blowing the air into her lungs. After five seconds, she tried it once more and filled Luan's lungs again.

"Did it work?" asked Lana, tearing up.

"I don't know. We'll see."

Carol's face was a little rosy as she continued to suck in air for Luan. She tried it again and again and once more. Her face was flushing after inhaling and exhaling too many times. Lori's and Lana's tears did not discourage Carol; in fact, she didn't give up on Luan. Soon enough, her determination to save a life paid off as Luan started breathing normally on her own.

"She's breathing! Thank you, Carol! Oh my god, I literally don't know how to thank you enough!"

"No problem… Lori."

The RV lights flashed on as Sherry turned on the switch, still holding Benny at gunpoint. She smiled as she saw the other passengers. John inspected the windows and smiled as he noticed that they were bulletproof given the small cracks from bullets that failed to penetrate through the glass.

"Look at what we have here! There's Lynn. And there's that woman that I shot weeks ago. How's that neck doing by the way?"

Missy glared at Sherry and puffed as she looked away from her. Sherry lowered her gun and continued walking around the RV.

"There's the guy I shot in the leg. Using a cane now, eh? And there's a gloomy girl. And there's another redheaded girl who I would say, looks very beautiful! However, she's nothing compared to my lovely daughter, Vonda!"

"Is this what you do?" questioned Vonda. "Hold people hostage and terrorize them?"

"No. We have so much catching up to do, Vonda. And just for the record, I'm not going to harm you or Lynn in any way. I can't say the same for the others though."

"Hand over your weapons!" yelled John.

Becky took out her Glock and a knife and handed it to the brother of Sherry's right-hand man. Missy took her knife out and tossed it at John, who let it fall to the ground. Benny shook his head, letting John know that his katana WAS the main weapon of his choice. John took the katana forcefully, but Benny was too distraught to even care. D shook his head, letting the Piranha know that he didn't have any weapons. Lucy only carried a black shovel with blood on it, to which John took away. John took Lynn's bow and removed the quiver from her back forcefully, messing up her shirt and revealing her stomach. She flushed as she pulled her shirt down and hissed at John who demanded she hand over her bat.

"Who do you think you are, grabbing my shit like that?" hissed Lynn.

Vonda placed her hands on Lynn's shoulder and softly shook her head. Lynn growled as she shoved her baseball bat at John's hands. John continued to demand weapons from the rebellious girl. She gave up her pocket knife and pouted as Vonda gave up her arrows.

"Keep the bow," said Sherry as she got on the driver's seat. "John! Hotwire this shit! Fucking David took the keys with him like a smart asshole."

"What are you going to do to us?" asked Becky.

"You'll see."

"No! I don't want to wait and see! Tell me now!"

Sherry got up from her chair and grabbed one of the arrows from the quiver that John placed in the passenger seat. She walked up to Becky, who was backing up slowly but clumsily. Sherry lifted the arrow slightly which caused Becky to stumble back to D's lap, where he caught Becky with his hands. Sherry lunged the arrow towards Becky before stopping the arrowhead from piercing Becky's throat.

"Want to see? Are you sure you want to see? ARE YOU?"

Becky shivered at Sherry's threat and cowered behind D's arms. Sherry leaned the arrow closer to Becky's chest which caused the heart of both women to race, one out of fear for her life, and the other for being close to achieving her bloodthirsty desires. However, Sherry sensed her innocent daughter nearby and held her breath. She barely pierced Becky's chest and moved the arrow downwards, making a small cut at Becky's tank top. The area above the heart and below her shoulder was exposed from the cut, though it was only slightly more harmful than a papercut. Becky cringed as Sherry halted the arrow and lifted the tip of the arrow from Becky's skin, barely bleeding.

"Don't worry about what I'm going to do. You will see."

Sherry took a quick glance at Vonda, who was wide-eyed and shivering. John lifted himself upright as he coughed into his elbow. The engine roared and the RV was ready to take the unlucky passengers wherever Sherry wished to take them.

"Watch the kids and the woman, John. It's gonna take some time before we reach our old headquarters."

Sherry sat in the driver's seat and started driving the RV. She honked the horn, alerting the Piranhas to move out of her way. She rammed through the burning vehicles and dented the front bumper of the RV, although the kids weren't aware of what they were hitting.

"My wife's in there," gasped Richard.

"There goes the RV!" shouted Luna.

"Shit. Where are they going with it?" asked George.

"Well? Let's go after them!" yelled Richard.

George grasped onto Richard's shirt and held him in one spot behind Chunk's car.

"We got bigger problems."

The roamers were closing in on the group. On the Piranhas' side, the roamers were dealt with, and now, they only needed to take care of David's group.

 **Chapter 8: Midnight**

 **I - Dark Nights**

-May 27, 2016-

The monster fit its hand inside the cage, trying to grab the two prisoners. The monster appeared to be a human being with a pale face and golden eyes. The blood from his mouth and hands were dark. Its mouth was gross and filled with unpleasant liquids. George and Cassandra leaned back against the stone wall. The room was lit with an orange glow coming from a lantern as if they were in a cave with a fire burning inside.

A click.

The cage bars were slowly lifted upwards. The barely deceased human being crawled under the cage and slowly stood up. George and Cassandra crawled their way out of the cage and stood up in the larger room. The bars completely lifted itself into the roof so that the zombie did not have to crawl a second time to get an attempt to eat the two prisoners. George and Cassandra looked around the room for something to ward off the zombie.

"Having trouble?" asked Sherry. "Yeah. I know you are."

"Sherry?" gasped George.

George turned his head towards the direction of Sherry's voice and found her behind the sealed door that kept him and the teenage girl inside the hellish room.

"Sherry!"

George pushed the zombie away from him. The zombie stumbled down. George and Cassandra quickly dashed behind a table to create a barrier between both prisoners and the monster.

"Sherry, what the hell is this? What kinda drugs did you hook this guy with? Why is he acting like a damn zombie?"

"He's my test subject, Gert. And he's not a zombie. He's an infected person who happens to roam around like a zombie."

"Infected with what?"

George kept Cassandra behind him as Gert attempted to bite her. George kicked him to the ground.

"One of your drugs made in a lab or shit?"

"Well, you could say that. Except it was not my lab. Come on, let Gert bite you already. Stop struggling."

George grabbed a wooden chair and slammed it on Gert's head. Gert went towards the ground, with his head oozing of dark-red blood, although he stood up.

"How is he still standing?" asked Cassandra.

"Answer that question, Sherry!"

"Well, because, you gotta destroy its brain in order to kill him."

"So Gert is basically a zombie!"

"Infected. And he's not coming back to a normal human, unfortunately."

George looked around the room and found a bloody hatchet.

"Cassandra! Grab that chair, and swing it as hard as you can at Gert!"

"Okay!"

Cassandra grabbed the chair and slammed it against Gert. Gert fell to the ground, and before he could get back up, George dropped to the ground and swung the hatchet as hard as he could on Gert's skull. The hatchet pierced through the front skull and attached itself to the brain, which caused blood from Gert's brain to start oozing out of its head. George lied on the ground, exhausted yet horrified with what he just encountered.

-Present Day-

The roamers clumsily stumbled over the guardrails and walked towards David's group. Tabby, Liam, Zach, and Rusty ran towards Vanzilla. However, Tabby convinced the other boys to not run inside yet and to fight for once.

"Okay…. But I'm telling you, I'm a bad shot," commented Liam.

"Then don't shoot," grumbled Tabby.

Tabby grabbed a combat knife and prepared to stab the roamers without mercy. The boys also grabbed a knife and followed Tabby. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne fought off the roamers from the other side of Vanzilla, faced towards the city of Albany.

Bobby, Darcy, and Dana hid behind a wrecked car and were shocked to see what happened to Tad. Dana broke down into tears and Bobby held her while looking around themselves. Bobby wondered where Becky was and sighed as his anxious thoughts started thinking about the worst possible scenario about what happened to his friend. Darcy held onto Bobby's arm as he softly stood up.

"It's not safe in here. Let's move inside the van."

A destroyed brain was sent flying off into the pavement. Luna shot once more. She looked back at Lori and Luan and sighed. She then looked at Sergei's car and found Sam hiding behind it. Sam and Sergei were shooting at the groups of roamers that were crawling towards them. Luna aimed her gun at those roamers and ignored the roamers that walked towards her. George and Richard shot their pistols, not only protecting themselves but also protecting Luna.

"Come on, let's go," muttered one of the Piranhas.

"Yeah, one of them bitches got Gus!" shouted another Piranha.

"We kill some of them and then we head out, alright?" ordered another Piranha.

"Alright, Bruna."

The Piranhas walked closer to the group hiding behind the vehicles. With their guns raised and their minds alert, they looked out warily for their enemies and the roamers. While seven of the Piranhas decided to stay and eliminate the group members, the others decided to drive away and head back to their base.

"Alright, Lori, the Piranhas are coming and we need to hide somewhere further back if we want to protect Luan," said David.

"How do we move her? We'll become a large target!"

"You guys stay," blurted out Carol, "I'm going to move her."

"Are you sure, Carol?"

"Yes, David."

"Take Lana as well," said Lori.

"Alright, just cover me. Let's go, Lana."

Carol picked up Luan and held her in her arms. Luan's temple appeared to stop bleeding and a deep bullet graze was revealed. She gasped.

"Lana, run ahead of me. Run behind Chunk's van."

Carol and Lana dashed away as Lori and David stayed behind the wrecked cars, loading their weapons. Lori loaded a full magazine on her AK-47 and pulled the charging handle back before letting out a deep breath. David held his shotgun and was ready to fire it. He then heard the voice of a Piranha gangster.

"There's someone moving over there! Two blond girls!"

The gangster moved ahead of the others, pointing his pistol at Carol and getting ready to fire it. He then walked in front of David's sight as he passed the wrecked car without turning his head to the right. David fired the shotgun at his head, splattering the man's head and dropping his body to the ground.

"Bruna! There's someone behind–"

"I know! I know!"

Bruna and the other five Piranhas took cover in front of the wrecked car. The car was flipped sideways in the way that the roof of the car faced the Piranhas and the underbody faced David's group. Bruna motioned the Piranhas to surround the people behind the car. One person moved to the spot where the recently killed Piranha lies. Another gangster climbed the guardrail and proceeded to attack from the other side. Lori and David faced away from each other in opposite directions. As the Piranha moved closer to Lori, his gun was exposed to Lori's sight, and with her finger on the trigger, she nervously fired her rifle too early and ended up hitting no one.

"Luna? Do you think you can nab that guy over there?" asked Richard.

Luna aimed her pistol at the Piranha and shot it. She missed and ended up causing the Piranha to stumble down from the guardrails. Richard raised his Python.

"Thanks, Luna. My Colt Python will finish the job."

Now that the Piranha was caught off-guard by the bullet, Richard was able to get a clear sight of him. He shot his Python once, with the bullet flying and hitting his chest.

"Now!" yelled Bruna.

The Piranha popped out from the side of the car, only to be blasted by David's shotgun. This time, however, the pellets smacked the gangster's chest and torso, knocking him to the ground immediately.

"Fuck!" yelled Bruna.

Bruna motioned the other Piranhas to move back. They quickly dashed behind wrecked cars, but not before David and Lori quickly popped out of their wrecked car and fired their weapons at them.

Carol placed Luan down as she struggled to run to Chunk's van. As Lana wiped her scraped knee caused by the quick evasion of Sherry's trigger finger, a groan was heard from Luan. Carol fixed Luan's hair by removing it from her face and she noticed that her eyelids were opening up. Suddenly, her eyelids widened and she panted heavily.

"Carol? What's going on? Oh my god, Benny! Ow! Something hurts!"

"Luan, just relax! Relax."

"Benny? Where is he? Is he alright?"

"Yes, he's alright. He's… umm… preoccupied at the moment."

"I'm bleeding! Oh my god! Wait, was I shot? I remember Sherry raising her–"

"Yes, you were shot. And you're okay for now! But I still need to treat you!"

"I was shot?"

"Yes! Can you please hold this towel above your head? I need to get you somewhere safe!"

"What's happening? Is Lori alright?"

"Yes! Luan, you gotta come with me!"

"This towel hurts. Lana, what are you doing here? Ouch, what happened to your knee…?"

George and Richard rushed ahead of the others, running while crouching. They caught up to David and Lori, who quietly walked towards the wrecked car that the Piranhas were hiding in. David noticed a body rising and he tapped on Lori's shoulder.

"Lori, on my count, run in front of the wrecked car and start shooting your gun near the Piranhas! Richard and George, watch our backs!"

"Alright!" said George.

"Three… two… one… go!"

Lori and David quickly dashed in front of the wrecked car and fired their weapons in the air. The Piranhas ducked and kept their weapons raised, staring upwards and to their sides for any potential surprises. And a surprise is what they received when a turned-Gus growled and grabbed one of the gangsters. The gangster cried out as the turned-Gus sunk his teeth into her back shoulder. Lori then popped from the side of the vehicle and quickly shot a Piranha. His collared shirt filled up with blood as he groaned and passed out.

"Drop it!" yelled David.

David appeared from the other side of the wrecked car and pointed his shotgun at Bruna's head. Lori lowered her rifle and pulled out Bobby's Luger. She shot the turned-Gus through its skull. The bitten Piranha wheezed as her shoulder was torn apart and struggled to lift herself up.

"I said drop your gun!"

"I need to take Joan out of her misery!"

"Lori will do it."

Lori looked down at Joan, who was rolling herself to her own back and sniffling. Joan's tears were real as she knew her fate in the hellish world was sealed. Lori continued to hesitate and lost her connection to reality until Bruna snapped her out of it.

"Well? Lori, right? What are you waiting for?"

Bruna raised her pistol when suddenly, Lori shot her pistol at Joan's skull, destroying her brain and sending her to the afterlife, if there was one for poor Joan.

"Well? What are you waiting for? Shoot me already."

"Drop the gun. And we won't kill you."

Bruna dropped her pistol and raised her hands up in the air. George and Richard approached Bruna and lowered their guns. George took out his handcuffs and cuffed Bruna's wrists, while Lori placed Bobby's pistol into her holster. David checked his surroundings and lowered his shotgun.

"Why are you guys keeping me alive?" asked Bruna.

"We need information from you," answered Lori, in a soft voice that was triggered by her own fright.

"So I give you the information and then what? You guys kill me?"

"That's not how justice works," replied George. "You guys might have killed people who ratted out your organization of shitbags, but we don't. We're not savages, Bruna."

"And look who's talking. Cane. If I remember correctly, YOU are the one who murdered my people, even before the apocalypse."

"I was defending myself. You guys were in my way. I was just going for Sherry."

"Hmm. Who are you going after right now?"

The headlights dimmed as Sherry stopped the RV. The light from the lanterns inside a small sightseeing boat revealed the mode of transportation that the hostages were now going to enter. Two Piranhas opened the passenger doors behind the driver's seat and entered inside.

"Andrew! Gina! Nice to see you guys! Is the boat ready?"

"It's ready, Sherry," replied Andrew, as he turned towards the hostages. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Alright, everyone has to leave the vehicle now."

Sherry whispered into Andrew's left ear and then walked over to Vonda's side. Missy, Lynn, Benny, Becky, and Lucy stood up quickly. D grabbed onto his wooden cane that the group found days earlier in a supermarket, and stood up slowly. He started sweating intensely as Andrew and Gina glared at him judgmentally. As soon as he left the RV, Sherry grabbed onto Vonda's hands. Right away, Vonda felt uncomfortable, but she was too frightened to remove her hands as she walked past guns and gangsters.

"This way, my daughter."

Andrew grabbed the black recurve bow and the leather quiver of arrows. He exited the RV and caught up to Sherry and Gina. John turned off the lights as he was the last one to exit the RV, and closed the door.

"Get on the boat," ordered Andrew.

The 50-feet long sightseeing boat had a large cabin with dark-tinted windows. Near the bow of the boat stood an armed Piranha gangster, holding a bright lantern. The docks led to the starboard of the boat, and Missy was the first to step foot on it. The boat gently moved as the river tugged on its skeg. However, a rope tied to a pole in the docks kept the boat from drifting away. Benny looked at the hull of the boat before entering it, which was labeled 'TWELVE HUNDRED'. Gina held her gun behind D as he was the last to step foot on the ship starboard.

"Isn't it nice, Vonda? We can finally catch up on each other's lives."

"We didn't have to catch up on each other's lives if you didn't leave Dad and I."

Sherry allowed Vonda to walk over to the boat first without any of the Piranhas pointing their guns at her. She kept quiet and only smugly smiled at Vonda. The redheaded girl grew annoyed and stomped her way inside the boat, pouting as she stood next to Sherry's new prisoners. Sherry took out her binoculars and inspected the road that the RV was on. She then entered the boat along with Andrew and John.

"Where are we going?" asked Vonda.

"Somewhere far away from here," answered Sherry. "Now, all of you, enter the cabin. We have a lot of talking to do."

The headlights from another car beamed brightly in the distance and dimmed when it came to a stop. The car was followed by other cars, all which took a stop. A Piranha exited the vehicle and walked to the docks where he called Sherry.

"Sherry! Sherry! Glad I caught up with you! Are we meeting at Castleton or Catskill?"

"Neither! Tell the others to head back to base! Oh, and Boomer, can you release our anchor-rope?"

"Sure thing!"

Boomer lifted the heavy rope from the wooden pole and dropped it on the water, allowing the boat to move away from the docks. Boomer ran back to his car and waved at Sherry before he departed along with the other Piranhas.

"Stop stalling, go inside," grumbled John as he pushed Benny into the cabin.

Vonda stared at the docks as it went further away until she was finally able to get a good look at the city. She then stared down at the flowing water where the moonlight was reflected. She saw herself, distorted and alone until Sherry appeared in the reflection.

"Careful. You don't want to slip out of the boat."

"I can swim well."

"Since you're the daughter of a former Coast Guard and leader of an aquatic-based organization, I can't say that I'm surprised. But I am proud."

Sherry then nudged Vonda with a bow and a quiver on her hands. Vonda looked surprised as Sherry handed her one of the few items that she valued the most in the world. Still, she reluctantly took it, and let her mother know that she wasn't grateful for this seemingly sincere action. The docks left the sight of Vonda as she and the other hostages were taken into unknown waters.

-May 27, 2016-

Footsteps shuffled through the room as Sherry and a few other Piranhas entered the room. They gasped as they saw Gert lying dead on the floor. George was dragged upright by Andrew and John grabbed Cassandra's arms and held them on her back. Sherry grabbed George's suit and spit on his face.

"Well… do you feel proud of yourself?"

"Was I just supposed to let Gert chomp me?"

"Yes. Just one bite!"

"Ha, you could bite my ass. I'm not going to turn into–"

Sherry punched George in the face and dragged him into the ground. Andrew was caught off-guard by Sherry's sudden burst of anger, but not surprised. George blocked his face using his arms, but by the time he did this, Sherry punched his stomach and chest over and over.

"No, stop! Stop hurting him!" cried Cassandra.

Sherry quickly stood up and stomped on George's chest. George gasped in pain, and he held his chest as he struggled to catch his breath. Sherry then dragged George like a dog to the end of the room where he stood as a prisoner.

"Stop! Please!"

"Shut up, bitch!"

Andrew slapped Cassandra's face with his leather gloves. Sherry walked over to Cassandra and grabbed her neck, choking her. The beautiful teenage girl grabbed Sherry's hand as she struggled to breathe.

"Don't fucking help George again. Just because you're a woman, doesn't mean I won't treat you like him. Understand?"

Cassandra nodded her head as she started tearing up and turning blue. Sherry released her grip and allowed her to breathe. Cassandra kneeled and caught her breath, while the metal bars for the jail cell started descending. Sherry lifted Cassandra upright and dragged her to where George was sitting and shoved her to the floor. The metal bars descended completely and latched itself into a magnetic bar on the floor. Cassandra was crying softly as she wiped off the dirt from her white long sleeve shirt.

"Now, I need to get another test subject," sighed Sherry.

In the FBI field office in Albany, Special Agent May Hannas and Agent Martin Briggs were watching the activities in the Piranhas Headquarters through the eyes of a hidden camera. They were also hearing the conversations going on between the gangsters.

"Hey, Briggs. Here comes Sherry."

Both agents watched as she spoke to her henchmen. She had blood on her knuckles and was wiping them off with a towel.

"Get another test subject. Gert has been eliminated. Try getting Burner instead."

"Aye, Sherry."

May and Martin looked visibly confused when they heard the phrase, 'test subject'.

"Test subject? We gotta keep listening," said May.

"Oh, look, Sherry left."

"Okay, so here's the list. Multiple counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder on many different occasions, kidnapping, grand larceny, arson, drug manufacturing, money laundering, extortion, human trafficking–"

"Special Agent Hannas? We tracked down Agent Cane's last position before his tracker went down," said an agent that walked inside of May's office.

"Yeah, I know, he's in the Piranha headquarters."

"Are you spying inside the headquarters?"

"Yeah. Look, I want you to gather all the other agents in an hour. I need to make an announcement."

"Sure thing, Special Agent Hannas."

-Present Day-

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Lincoln.

"Yeah," replied Clyde.

Lily was crying and Leni was whimpering as she removed a small shard of glass from her right arm. Bobby grabbed a bottle of formula milk and held Lily in his arms. Darcy held on to Bobby's legs as she gazed at the new wave of roamers in the distance.

"Everyone, get inside a vehicle if there is space!" yelled David.

George and Richard dragged a resisting Bruna as she tugged and struggled in the handcuffs. Lori went inside Vanzilla where she was met with a shattered windshield. She bashed the windshield with her assault rifle and started the car. Sergei and Chunk entered their vehicles where they carried passengers who never once entered their vehicles. Luan and Lisa were strangers to Sergei just as Liam, Rusty, and Zach were strangers to Chunk. They drove ahead of George, Richard, David, Dana, Bobby, Wavehead, Luna, and Sam. Everyone else was inside a vehicle.

"Luan, how do you feel?" asked Carol.

"Confused. And it feels like I have the biggest headache ever on the right side of my head."

"It is a miracle that the bullet only grazed your right temple," said Lisa.

Getting around the wrecked cars was difficult for the drivers and they had to block the runners from getting through the destroyed Piranha vehicles.

"Where do we go?" asked Lori through her walkie-talkie.

David, sweating and panting, took out his walkie-talkie from his belt and turned it on while running alongside Bobby.

"Take a right turn and head towards that empty neighborhood over there."

"That would lead us downtown! Yes, that's where we want to go!" exclaimed Bobby. "The roads are bumpy and there are many entrances and exits we can go through. Plus I know a place we can go."

"Is it where you live?"

Bobby nodded. He stopped running and released Darcy's and Dana's hands. Bobby and Dana gasped as they saw Tad rise from the ground. The turned-Tad had a dangling hand and blood all over his pale face. His long, wet hair partly covered his golden eyes. He growled at the two teenagers and headed towards them. Bobby took out a knife from his pocket and moved slowly towards the turned-Tad.

"Dana! Cover your eyes! You don't need to see–"

Dana yelled as she swung her machete through turned-Tad's head from the top of his skull. The machete did not completely slice through his head, although it did twist to the left and ended up slicing part of his head off. Turned-Tad dropped to the bloody pavement and was spared the eternal torment that every active roamer faced. Dana groaned as she clutched her abdomen, and she began to cry.

"Dana? Look, we gotta go," warned Bobby, as he stared at the incoming wave of roamers. "Are you alright? Did you hurt yourself?"

"No…. Let's go. I'm okay. I'm okay…"

Her shoes were scraped from the pavement after constantly rubbing the floor, trying to resist Richard and George. Bruna stood still and spit on George's face.

"Why are you making this difficult? Do you wish to die?" growled George.

"Is that a threat?"

"Lady!" yelled Richard. "Look behind you! There's a herd of roamers chasing our asses! So stop being difficult and haul ass!"

"No! Don't call me lady! My name is Bruna! And I refused to budge! I would rather die than let you kill my friends! So, either you free me or I won't move!"

"George might live according to a code, a code not to kill helpless people, but I live by a different code," exclaimed Richard. "Anything to make sure the woman I love is safe from harm. So, you better start moving or else I will shoot your leg and let you die in the herd!"

Bruna swallowed hard and looked back at the approaching roamers.

"You won't do it. You're bluffing. You have morals as well, army guy."

"Very well."

Richard raised his Python and aimed for her leg. Bruna closed her eyes and started breathing heavily.

"Richard, no!"

Richard quickly turned his revolver around and swung the butt of his Python at Bruna's jaw. Blood came out of Bruna's mouth and she started falling to the ground before Richard caught her. George sighed in relief as Richard picked up an unconscious Bruna around his back, performing a fireman's carry. Her curly ponytail touched Richard's neck, making him feel uncomfortable, just as her diamond earrings did.

"I thought you were actually going to shoot her."

"Hell no. I'm not crazy. I need to know where my wife is."

The group made their way through the burning cars and followed Bobby's directions to his apartment building. The roamers had difficulty navigating through the maze of burning cars and were distracted by the fire in some of the engines rather than the group. As the group ran away, Luna looked back at the destruction and saw one thing that stood out; the corpse of a turned-Gus with a bleeding neck.

"It's alright, Luna. You did what you had to do," reassured Sam as she tugged on Luna's arms.

 **II - Infected**

The headlights beamed on the littered and ruined street. Lori came out of Vanzilla with a golf club and Bobby's Luger, searching for roamers to kill. Boarded windows, empty cans and bullet chambers in the ground, a toppled stop sign, potholes that were never and will never be fixed, grass and weeds growing from the sidewalks, rotting roamer corpses, some who were police officers, a skateboard with a missing wheel, and pieces of trash all occupied the once busy street. Chunk and Sergei came out of their vehicles and led some of the group members along the walk inside the Casagrande bodega. Besides the moonlight, the only things that were illuminating the streets were the headlights from the three vehicles and fire barrels that represented signs of life before the firefight between the criminal syndicate and the group of survivors. Lori remained alert for any lurking roamers, but she was only met with drifting newspapers in the street. A sheet from a newspaper that consisted of four pages, including the headlines, dragged itself towards Lori's right ankle, prompting her to pick it up.

"Ronnie Anne? Why don't you come inside?" asked Lincoln.

"I… don't want to know."

"Know what?"

The vines hanging from the train tracks swung weakly as the wind pushed its way through the city. The shadow of the alleys and the fire escapes remained still as Ronnie Anne and Lori expected it to move. Nothing was revealed through this intense examination and the girls' fear only increased.

"I don't want to know if who Bobby saw were my grandmother, my grandfather, my cousins… my mother."

A loud hiss was heard and a black cat dashed around the bodega and disappeared once again. Lori quickly looked at the cat and aimed her Luger at it. Panting quickly, she lowered her gun and nodded at Ronnie Anne, motioning her head in a way as to instruct her to enter the bodega. The little rebel of a girl entered the bodega and closed the door, keeping Lori out in the open and the rest of the group members inside Vanzilla. Lori looked at the newspaper and read the date.

"May 30, 2016."

She then whispered to herself as she read the headlines.

"Millions infected in New York. Casualties rise in the tens of thousands as the CDC struggle to contain the zombie virus."

The rear doors opened, allowing Leni, Darcy, Lana, Lily, Clyde, and Tabby to leave Vanzilla and make their way inside the bodega. Lori walked behind the group holding the newspaper with her left hand and the Luger with her right hand. They went inside the bodega where Lori read the newspaper near the windows where the headlights were passed through. Lisa walked closer to Lori and inspected the newspaper.

"Interesting. This is information I have not acquired through the media networks."

"You haven't seen this before? Look, it says that they are preparing to shut down all airports in New York State. Ronnie Anne, when did you leave New York?"

"I left at May 30th, I think."

"Interesting. And not only that. The paper goes on to say that there were reports of zombie outbreaks in New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine! By then, forty-one states have been attacked by major outbreaks."

"Well," added Lisa, "I know that one of them was Calif–"

"Here comes Bobby and Dana!"

Sneakers and boots touched the ground with a rhythmic tapping while decayed flesh and dried blood poured onto the pavement in very small amounts. Bobby and Dana jogged ahead of David and Wavehead who was drenched in sweat. Behind them were Richard, carrying Bruna, George, Luna, and Sam. They fought off the roamers and ran towards the bodega.

"In here!" yelled Bobby.

The runners quickly entered the bodega where they closed the door, preventing a dozen of roamers from entering the bodega.

-May 28, 2016-

"Here you go, you poor sacks of shit," hissed Sherry as she threw two salmon inside the cell.

George grabbed his uncooked salmon and stared at Sherry. Cassandra sunk her teeth into her salmon and bit off the flesh. George remained hesitant as he stared at the fish.

"What's wrong, George? It doesn't matter if it's fucking raw. It's salmon. It's not gonna kill you. Unless it has parasites which would really be unfortunate as you would shit yourself to death."

George sighed and tore off the scales from the fish and bit into the flesh. Sherry tossed a bottle of water inside the cell and left the enclosed room.

"Cassandra."

"You can just call me Cassie."

"Cassie."

"Yes?"

"Was she being serious about the parasites thing?"

"I don't think so. I have been eating salmon for a couple months now."

"You won't be here much longer."

"George? You do know what I meant by, 'it's too late for me,' right?"

"You can't lose hope yet."

"Oh no, it's not that. It's… that I-I-I…"

"What is it?"

"I have AIDS."

George stared at the zombie and realized what kinds of diseases the corpse can fill the room with. He sighed and looked at Cassandra's desperate eyes.

-Day 46-

The moon, not yet full, shone on the rotting corpses outside of the bodega and into the apartment. Bobby, Lori, Ronnie Anne, and Lincoln looked around the familiar rooms while holding a lit candle that once belonged to the Santiagos' grandmother, Rosa.

"Hey, look, Ronnie, Bobby," whispered Lincoln.

Bobby held the candle near the dinner table and found a note. Ronnie Anne grabbed it and read it aloud.

" _To Roberto and Ronalda. Hopefully, you enjoyed your trip to Royal Woods to visit Lori, Lincoln, and their family. However, as you could see, there has been a crisis going on around the world. The airports closed so there was no way for you guys to fly back to us, just as there is no way for us to come to you guys. We are taking a trip to Detroit and then Royal Woods in hopes of finding you guys. However, after realizing that you guys are not there, we will come back. So stay put, my children. We will come back and we will be together. We will be together so we can face this nightmare as a family. I'll be back soon. Mucho amor, your mother._ "

Ronnie Anne's tear dropped to the dinner table and she walked away into the shadows of the living room. Bobby leaned his head on Lori's shoulder and he softly cried in her arms, causing Lori to tear up as well. Lincoln followed Ronnie Anne in the shadows and hugged her as she cried onto Lincoln's chest without holding back.

"Lisa. I feel like–"

Luan threw up on a trash can and gasped as she held on to her feverish head. Lisa looked at her body but did not see any bite marks. Carol took out a bottle of medicine for Luan to relieve her headaches.

"What do you think is happening to Luan?" asked Carol.

Lisa walked closer to Carol. She leaned her mouth towards her ears and whispered.

"I think she's became infected."

"Infected?" exclaimed Carol.

"Shush!"

"Infected? I'm infected?" whimpered Luan.

"Sigh. I believe so. But don't be alarmed! This is like Lynn's case in which her infection proved to be nonfatal. Remember what Tim Crowley said! 5% mortality rate!"

"What if I am the 5%?" asked Luan.

"Not likely. We are treating your headaches and nausea. You still look worried. The infection won't kill you–"

"No. It's not that, anymore. It's… Benny. I'm scared of what that monster, Sherry, will do to him. I… don't know what I would do without him."

"We worry most about the people that we love. Benny is probably unharmed. It seems that Sherry has a soft spot when it comes to her daughter. She wants to appear as a good mother."

"I don't… love Benny. I just like him a lot."

"Is that really what Sherry is doing?" asked Carol.

"Yeah, the clues are obvious. The warning, the failure to shoot Lynn back at the bridge, the fact that she shot Tad when Vonda wasn't looking, it's all apparent."

"Wow," sighed Carol.

"And, Luan, your denial can be detected through the increase of your heartbeat every time I say, 'Benny'."

Luan blushed as she looked away with annoyance.

"Are you really going to release me if I tell you what you guys want to know?" repeated Bruna after being given a choice in her interrogation.

"Yes. Think of it as immunity," reassured George.

Bruna looked around the familiar warehouse that her fellow friends used to work at. Now, the ropes and fishnets hung around in the empty dock warehouse, holding nothing but empty boxes of ammunition. Bullet holes riddled the area and stains of dried blood stuck on the wall the same place Bruna remembered them. She tugged on her handcuffs which were held around a metal pipe.

"What do you wanna know?" asked Bruna.

"For starters, are there any Piranhas lurking around the city?" asked George.

"No. They all left."

"Where did they go?"

"They went back to our base in the town of Hudson. Our old headquarters."

"Is that where my wife is?" asked Richard.

"If you're talking about the woman that Sherry took hostage then yes, that's where she is headed."

"How heavily guarded is your base?" asked David.

"There's about two guards in each bridge, North and South, four in each corner of the warehouse tower plus an extra in the bottom of the tower, and five on the river view side of the warehouse."

"What about the rest of the warehouse?" asked George.

"I'm not too sure. The ones I said are the only ones that I'm sure of. What are you planning to do to the base anyway?"

"We want to negotiate with your group. But not with Sherry. We are going to capture her."

"And do what afterwards?"

"Take her somewhere else," responded Richard.

"Somewhere where you can beat her? I bet your wife must feel lucky to be with someone as abusive as you."

"Somewhere where she can face justice for her crimes," said George. "She's a criminal, Bruna. I don't know why you want to defend this person with your life."

"I have my reasons, Cane. Is that all? Do I need to be questioned any further?"

"Yes. What is she going to do to the people she took?" asked David.

"Well, she wants to take two of your people as they seem to be related to her. I believe she's holding the others as leverage to lead you guys to her."

"How would she know we would find out about her location?" asked Richard.

"I don't know. Maybe she wanted me to get captured and questioned. Or maybe she's relying on luck. Either way, you and her will meet up at some point. And when you do, you better prepare your asses. My advice? Listen to whatever she tells you to do."

"I'll try my best to follow that," replied George. "One last thing. Are you a lefty or a righty?"

"What?"

"Do you write with your left hand or your right hand?"

"I write… I'm a righty."

"You guys can leave now. I'll watch her over the night."

"You're sure, George?" asked David.

"Yeah, I got it."

"You said you would release me."

"Later. It's too dark outside."

David and Richard left the abandoned warehouse and closed the door, before making a walk of a couple blocks to the Casagrande apartment.

"I guess it's just you and me, huh?" said Bruna.

George left Bruna cuffed to the pipe and walked to the stairwell.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"I'll be back."

George walked upstairs and walked into Sherry's office. He looked around the room and saw medals and achievements that reflected better times of her life in the Coast Guard. He walked to her desk and opened one of the cabinets. The cabinet contained a note and a picture of Tim Crowley in his younger years with a young Sherry. Tim hugged a smiling Sherry in front of a ferris wheel. George placed both the note and photo in his shirt pocket and opened another cabinet. He found a notepad and a pen to which he grabbed before he left the room.

"Here. Write down any food allergies you might have, any health issues you have, and sign it."

One of the handcuffs were uncuffed and George cuffed it back in the pipe, allowing Bruna's right hand to move. She grabbed the pen and sat down on the floor, placing the notepad in her lap. George walked away.

"Where are you going this time?"

"I'll be back again."

George walked downstairs and was met with a partially empty room. The freezer that used to contain frozen salmon was empty. George pushed the empty, non-functioning freezer out of the basement door. He opened the door and took out his flashlight, lighting the tunnel that reminded him of the tragic end days before the global apocalypse. He looked inside and saw the cell that was as secure as David's RV. He pulled up the metal bars and with his flashlight in his mouth, he directed the light at the corner of the room in which a rotting corpse laid in rest. The long white sleeve shirt that was worn by the corpse was stained with blood that was left for almost two months in their spots. George released the metal bars, causing them to drop to the floor and making a loud banging noise that filled the room. But George didn't care.

The afternoon sun brightened up the dead city that was populated only by 26 people unless there was a group of people in a different area.

"No allergies. Knee pain. What a nice signature," commented David. "George. Uncuff this woman. As promised."

George grabbed a key and uncuffed Bruna. Her wrists were slightly red from the metal constriction, but the hidden excitement of freedom made her numb to the pain. Bruna was given three cans of canned food, a water bottle, and her .45 ACP pistol back, along with a knife.

"Try not to get yourself in more trouble," advised George.

Bruna nodded hesitantly. George walked with David, Richard, Bobby, Wavehead, Luna, and Sam. The vehicles drove ahead of them, putting some distance between the walking group members and the cars, but not too far that they would go out of sight. Bruna stared at her pistol and placed it in her holster. She picked up her water bottle and closed the door to the warehouse.

"Feeling better, Luan?" asked Carol.

"Not really. I feel stuffy as heck. At least I don't have that annoying headache."

"Look over there," pointed out Lori to Lincoln.

Lincoln looked into the distance where he saw a long boardwalk with a dock that stretched further into the Hudson River. Next to the docks was the RV, with two roamers wandering around it.

"David. David, we spot your RV," informed Lori through the walkie-talkie.

"My RV? I think I see it. Guys, let's go!"

David and Richard stabbed the two roamers simultaneously in their eye sockets and twisted their knives to easily pull it out. David walked inside the RV with his knife out and his flashlight on. The curtains were shut, yet some light still passed through the RV, allowing some things to be easily seen. Richard turned on the light switch and looked around the RV.

"No one's here," groaned Richard.

Vonda, Becky, D, Lynn, and Missy's bag were left on the floor of the RV along with the bags of Rusty, Liam, Zach, Tabby, Wavehead, Lisa, Richard, and David. An AR-15 was placed on the sofa where a Glock, a bloody black shovel, a red recurve bow, a quiver of arrows, a baseball bat, four combat knives, and a katana were stacked against each other.

"Where the hell did they go?" asked Luna.

David inspected all the nooks and corners of the RV but found no clues about Sherry's whereabouts.

"They must have gone to Hudson like Bruna said."

"Vonda's bow is not here," said George. "The red one belongs to Lynn, I think. Look. There are drops of blood."

The drops of blood led outside of the RV but not towards the road. The drops of blood led towards the docks and it finally stopped at the end of the docks, where George looked in both directions of the standing river.

"Who did the blood belong to?"

"I think it was one of the Piranha dudes. I shot one of them in the arm, and he was bleeding," explained Luna. "He had a tank top and a blue vest, so his arm was very visible."

"Well, that was John. And if he came here to the docks, then this must mean that Sherry took them to a boat."

"A boat?" asked Luna, puzzled.

"What the hell would they be doing in a boat?" asked David.

"It would be faster," replied George. "It avoids all the unnecessary traffic that no doubt lies ahead of us. It's a direct route to Hudson through the river."

"Looks like Bruna was right. That means we're heading in the right direction."

"Does this mean we're going back inside the RV?" asked Wavehead.

"Yeah. My… hotwired RV."

Ronnie Anne did not let her eyes off the city for the past few minutes. Even when the vehicles were moving, and the city skyline began to show, her eyes were motionless. Her pupils reflected the buildings in Albany, and when they watered themselves, the roamers following the vehicles became clear. However, much like the buildings, the roamers began to shrink in size and importance, until they were gone from sight, and this was when Ronnie Anne released her sight from the back window of Vanzilla. She faced towards Bobby and looked at him instead, her only living relative in the world.

 **III - Lonely Spirits**

-May 29, 2016-

"You're alright?" asked George.

Cassandra continued coughing until blood came out of her mouth. She looked at George with her watery eyes and tried to speak with her dry mouth, but was unable to.

"Here's some water. My boss should be here anytime soon. I don't know what's the hold up, but we should be out of here soon. Then, we could treat you, give you the right kind of medicine and shelter that you deserve."

Cassandra spoke softly.

"Thanks, George, maybe your boss gave up. Maybe he's not coming anymore. Maybe he thinks we're dead."

"Cassie, we can't think like that. We need a will to survive. My boss, who's a she, not a he, is my will to survive. She's the reason why I still want to live. There's got to be a reason for you to still want to live, Cassie."

"There is. I wanna go back home with my parents. It's been months. As soon as I get out, I want to be as far away from here and the Bronx as possible."

"My boss, May Hannas, will make it happen. She will–"

A loud banging was heard through the tunnel. Sherry walked into the tunnel with Boomer and Russ. The metal bars started lifting up slowly. Boomer and Russ pulled Cassandra out of the cage, with almost no resistance from the sick girl.

"Hey, what are you doing?" yelled George.

"We're hurting you, George," replied Sherry. "Boomer! Russ! Rape the girl! Make sure George watches!"

"No! Don't you touch her! Sherry! Come back!"

"George!"

Cassandra started whimpering softly as Boomer started unrobing her long green skirt and Russ kept her face on the ground. George looked at Cassandra's eyes and saw tears falling rapidly as she started gasping and whimpering louder. George closed his eyes and listened to Cassandra's struggle as he sat on the stone floor, unable to help.

-Present Day-

"Vonda. Just to let you know, I'm not going to hurt you. A mother wouldn't do that to her child," whispered Sherry. "But I do want to know about that other child, Lynn. I know, she's not my child, but yet, she's part of the family, right?"

"What are you talking about?" asked Vonda, puzzled and angered.

"Lynn. Is she not related to you? Sister, cousin, niece?"

"No! She's just a friend! What, you thought she was my stepsister or something?"

"Friend? I figured with the archery stuff going on and the sisterly bond that looks like you guys have, it was almost apparent! Archery came from your father, Vonda."

"Dad never went out with another woman after you left! Lynn is just a friend I met on the road!"

Lynn entered the cabin. Sherry motioned her to come closer. John closed the door and slightly pushed Lynn. Lynn shook her fist and was holding her angry breaths. Sherry looked at John and shook her head. John crossed his arms and headed towards the exit of the cabin, guarding the door.

"Lynn. Got any siblings?" asked Sherry, now sitting in a chair in front of Lynn.

"Yes. I have ten siblings…"

Lynn's voice trailed off as she realized that she errored in her explanation and was hesitant to fix it. Sherry was not the type of person for Lynn to reveal details about her personal life, but Lynn felt somewhat obligated, despite the lack of threat in Sherry's voice.

"...I had ten siblings. I have nine now."

Sherry slowly stood up and knelt down in front of Lynn. After taking a quick glance at Vonda, with remorse in her face, Sherry turned towards Lynn and spoke softly.

"What was your sibling's name?"

"Lola."

"What happened to Lola?"

Lynn looked at Vonda. Vonda slowly nodded her head.

"She was… bitten by one of the… roamers. I failed to save her. I could've grabbed her while the roamers surrounded her… but I chose to stay back and shoot the roamers with my arrows. It wasn't enough."

"I'm sorry for what happened to Lola, Lynn."

"Why should you be sorry? You should be sorry about killing my best friend! You and you!" cried Lynn as she pointed at John.

"Lynn. You need to understand that I had to implement a serious message. It… doesn't matter anymore. I won't hurt you anymore."

Lynn was unable to speak. Sherry continued on.

"It's good that you remember that day. Remember when I said that the roamers sounded like something my ex-husband would call the zombie freaks?"

Lynn slowly nodded.

"That's bullshit. What I said. What I said was bullshit. I already knew what roamers were. Vonda's father explained the whole thing to me. No doubt that you got that term from him, right?"

"Yes. What does this have to do with anything?" asked Lynn.

"I'm trying to make a conversation with you while feeding my daughter's curiosity," answered Sherry as she stood up. "When was the last time you saw Vonda's father?"

"I never met Tim in person," answered Lynn.

"Vonda… when was the last time you saw your father?"

"May 31st."

"You're going to see him soon."

"No, I won't! Don't you realize it? He's dead! He's not coming!"

"Do you really believe your father had perished?" asked Sherry. "I got news for you, Vonda."

After hours of driving from late afternoon to early nighttime, David halted the RV to face trouble once again. The midnight moon rose once again. All of David's group exited their vehicles and they headed inside a small cabin by the road in the woods by the river. Richard and Luna went inside the house to clear out the roamers, but there were none to be found. The absence of soft footsteps and growls made the group feel uneasy as they traversed through the dark cabin. A candle flickered as Lisa's hands and face was now revealed. More candles were lit until there was enough to expose cobwebs. Rusty stumbled upon a room with flies coming in and out of it. He turned on his flashlight and pointed inside the room. He gasped and shivered, catching Chunk's attention.

"Oh, bloody hell."

The corpse was covered in flies. A shotgun lied next to the corpse. Dried blood stained the wall behind the corpse with pieces of flesh hanging from the stone walls. Zach held his mouth until he couldn't help but vomit on the floor. Richard closed the door and handed Zach a napkin to which he would use to wipe his own mouth.

"Keep the door closed. Stay inside. Do not come out until you are ready to face the roamers," said Richard.

Richard, Chunk, and Sergei exited the cabin and met with Lori, David, and George, who were all standing by the wooden door. The roamers lurked near the parked vehicles and approached the cabin. Using the combat knives that they took from the warehouse in Detroit, plus David and Richard's personal knives, the small yet powerful group walked towards the roamers in a linear formation. George took out the closest roamer and the first one out of the many to come. David took out a roamer with a decaying red polo shirt. Chunk stabbed a small roamer with long strands of dying fair hair. Next to it was another small roamer wearing a low skirt with a floral pattern to it, stained with dirt and blood, stabbed by Richard. A roamer with a white tank top also approached the group and its maroon cap did not protect it from Sergei's knife. Lori, the youngest fighter in the small group outside of the cabin and the only female, proved to be a survivor with her quick reflexes and fighting spirit.

"Lori, the roamers are heading for the back door. What do we do?" asked Chunk.

"David, the roamers are coming from the direction of the river. How do we drive them off?" asked George.

"Lori, what do we do about the–" asked Sergei before being interrupted by Lori.

"I'm not sure. David?"

"Let's secure the entrances. Richard and George, you two are going to guard the back door with me. You, Chunk, and Sergei are going to defend the front of the cabin."

"Okay," replied Lori.

Lori held her knife tightly and dropped her AK-47. Reminded of Lola, Lori's rage has begun to reveal itself. Lori stabbed a roamer in the forehead, and to Chunk and Sergei's surprise, Lori pulled out the knife without trouble. She stabbed another roamer in the bottom of its head, below the chin and upwards towards the brain. She quickly pulled out the knife with her bloody hands and watched the roamer fall to the ground. Lori was engulfed in a spirit of discovery and excitement as she continued to fill her bloodlust and vengeance on the roamers. Lori gave a quick glance at Chunk and Sergei.

"You're not going to make me fight them off myself, are you guys?"

"Oh, sorry about that!" gasped Sergei.

Sergei and Chunk grabbed their knives and headed towards the other roamers.

-May 30, 2016-

"Alright, dickhead, it's your turn."

"I already placed a ten. It's your turn."

"Yeah, which means you get to place any card you want. But we gotta remove these shits first–"

As the gangster moved the cards into a pile on the table, he heard a couple footsteps. He removed the cigarette from his mouth and walked closer to the entrance of the warehouse. The garage door was pulled wide open and dozens of FBI members stormed inside the Albany headquarters.

"Shit!" yelled the Piranha.

The gangster pulled out a pistol from the table and prepared to shoot the agents. An FBI agent quickly shot him before he pulled the trigger, the bullet striking him in the chest. The other gangster froze in her seat and raised her hands.

"Everyone! Drop your weapons! Hands up where I can see them!" yelled the leading agent.

Each agent quickly approached a Piranha and handcuffed them. The second floor was bustling with noise as the agents quickly ran up the stairs and the gangsters prepared to make their moves. Suddenly, May Hannas entered the warehouse and watched as the Piranhas were being taken out of the warehouse, one by one.

"Did any of you find Sherry yet?" asked May.

"Negative," responded most of the agents.

"You two! Come with me downstairs to the basement!" ordered May. "Where the hell is Martin Briggs?"

The ringing in Martin's cell phone caused him to pause before drinking his coffee. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 10:00.

"Shit! May? So sorry! I'll be there! Ok! See you there!"

The airport was very busy as people walked in all directions, as they rashly headed towards their flights. A security guard approached Martin and asked for his ID.

"Come on! There's somewhere I have to be!"

"The flights are that way."

"I mean, I have somewhere to be in Albany! Shit, this is why I hate delayed flights!"

A plane left the airport and caught Martin's attention. However, Martin quickly disregarded it. Inside the airplane, a man by the name of David Jones was heading to Flint, Michigan.

-Day 48-

The midnight moon shone on the group once again. The luminosity of the moon grew brighter as it came close to becoming a full moon. The deceased corpses around the cabin were left behind as the group was now at a different place. The house was above a highway and had a beautiful view of the Hudson River. In the distance were the neighboring cities of Hudson, promising the group a fate of uncertainty. David was outside of the house as he watched the river. No activity was shown in the river, but David was once again, reminded of his life during the pre-GIE, or the days before the Global Infection Event.

"Something bothering you?" asked Lori. "What are you doing out here?"

"Just can't sleep. Being alone helps me think."

"It looks like you were crying. You were rubbing your eyes."

"My eyes are sore. What are you doing out here?"

"I literally can't sleep as well. I'm very worried about my sisters, Lynn and Lucy, as well as Becky. I'm worried about the others as well, but… these three girls were a big part of my life before the... you know…"

"Global Infection Event?"

"Yeah. That's what the news reporters called it right?"

"Yes. June 1st of 2016. I don't even know how long ago that was."

"Lisa keeps track of the date. I believe it's July 17. 18 if it is midnight."

"It's midnight. You should go back inside and try to go to sleep."

"I can't do that," whispered Lori. "David, you never talk about your life before the Global Infection Event."

"Another day."

"Can you at least tell me how you ended up in Michigan in the first place?"

"Another day."

"You're an asshole, David. A good leader, but an asshole. I wouldn't be like you. The only reason why I'm not in your place is that I'm scared. I'm quite capable of leading people, but I'm scared of this world."

"Wrong. The only reason you're not in my place is that you can't accept failures. You're not the only scared person in this group, Lori. Now, go get some sleep."

Lori walked away from David and into the house. David kept staring out into the river. On the other side of the river, in the dark of the trees near the water, four shadows moved across the rocky soil. A low dim flashlight streaked across the trees and revealed bloody axes and a chainsaw. The shadows continued moving across the soil and created a disorderly stomping march. The moon shone through a hole in the canopy of the trees and on the midnight bandits who dragged a blood-stained, small school bag and a purse. The four midnight bandits walked away from Hudson and New York City and towards Albany.

-May 30, 2018-

"We need paramedics here!" yelled a stewardess coming out from a plane through the jet bridge.

Suddenly, a medium-sized figure sprung behind her and attacked the stewardess, sinking its teeth at the back of her neck. She fell down to the ground as more monsters came out of the jet bridge. The security guards arrived and raised their guns.

"Freeze! Or we will shoot!"

One of the monsters dropped to the floor to get its share of the human flesh that the first zombie was devouring. The other zombies moved closer to the guards, and the guards finally pulled the triggers of their pistols. Bullets struck the zombies, but the zombies kept moving closer, unfazed by the piercing pain of the metal objects. The three holes in the first zombie's chest proved to the guards that what they witnessed wasn't human.

"What's wrong with these people?" asked a guard.

Frozen in fear, the guard stared at the zombies' golden eyes until one of the zombies lunged towards him and bit his neck.

"Everyone leave! Now! Go! Go!" yelled one of the guards.

Bodies were dropping as people were being devoured and torn limb from limb. The crowd of people in the airport created havoc as they tried to leave. People were stomped while others were separated from their loved ones in the ensuing chaos. The guards shot wildly at the zombies and people in the ensuing chaos, unable to tell the difference between a bloodthirsty zombie and a panicked man.

A radio crackled and made static. Martin cranked it a little to the left.

"An enormous amounts of casualties have been reported in LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Security is placing the airport on lockdown while law enforcement secures the perimeter. Authorities demand that everyone remain calm as they take care of the situation…"

"Damn. That was a close one," sighed Martin in relief.

Martin's phone rang.

"Agent Hannas? I'm on my–"

"Help," whimpered May.

 **IV - Moonlight**

-Day 49-

The midnight moon was full and illuminating. The group watched as the moon rose over the warehouse across the bridge. The white light was reflected in the river and created a sprinkling glow that shone beautifully. There was an intense feeling of wrecking anxiety in the stomach of each child and teenager and even a few of the adults.

"We don't know what's coming next," said Tabby.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Lori. "Your parents would kill us if they found out we let you do this."

"Yeah. I'm doing this because you guys are my family," replied Tabby, gripping her M9.

"If she's doing it, I'm doing it as well. Plus, it will make a better shot," said Liam.

"Yeah, I agree," said Zach.

"Gee, I don't know…" hesitatingly replied Lori.

"We're not just a group, Lori," reminded Liam. "Like Tabby said, we're a family."

"It's true," whispered Lincoln. "We trust each other like family."

Lori nodded and hugged Lincoln.

"Okay. Stay safe, bro."

Lincoln nodded and walked behind Sergei's car, grabbing his walkie-talkie and binoculars.

"I'm in position," said Lincoln through the walkie-talkie.

Leni cradled Lily in Vanzilla while Clyde stared out at the river, a couple distances away from the bridge. Bobby also stayed behind in Vanzilla, watching over his unofficially adopted daughter, Darcy Homandollar, and his little sister, Ronnie Anne. Lisa shone her flashlight on Luan's temple while Carol kept Lisa's sister busy by having a conversation with him. Lana stared at photos of her twin sister in the photo album that Lori kept secure in the glove department. Inside the glove department, was also Lori's phone, which had died many weeks ago and would not be charged again until humanity becomes restored and electricity becomes a priority. Lana knew that wouldn't happen, not in her lifetime.

"That's quite a walk," said David, looking at the warehouse in Hudson with his binoculars. "Do any of you know how to drive a tugboat? Or a motorboat?"

"It's a mini tugboat," commented Sergei. "I can drive it."

"I know how to drive a motorboat," said Sam. "My dad taught me. I used to drive my mother and my my brother around in the Detroit River. "

"Okay. Perfect. George, you're coming with me to the warehouse since you've been inside before."

"I want Chunk and Luna on my boat," said Sam. "And that's about everyone this motorboat can carry."

"I'm going with the Russian dude," said Tabby.

"So am I," added Liam.

David looked at Rusty and Zach, who both nodded their heads. David then looked at Lori who slightly nodded.

"I'll go with them. Make sure they are okay."

"So, that's it then?" asked David. "What about you, Wavehead and Dana?"

"We're coming with you," said Dana.

"We want to be the first ones to see our friends," added Wavehead.

"Alright. Here's the plan…" stated David.

Chunk started the engine, following Sam's instructions while Luna held a scoped M7 Hunter that she found in one of the gun crates inside Sergei's car. Only Luna and Sam were wearing life vest since none of the other vests could fit Chunk. The motorboat drifted slowly alongside the bridge and towards the warehouse. The mini tugboat followed the motorboat as Lori held her AK-47, looking at Lincoln behind Sergei's car. Each of the children inside the boat held suppressed pistols that they have been practicing with for the past few days. They also wore a life vest in the case that they had to jump out of the boat.

David, Richard, George, Wavehead, and Dana approached the warehouse while taking cover behind a toppled car. Behind the small group were corpses of killed roamers with stab wounds in their eyes. Dana sighed as she placed her long strands of hair behind her ears. Wavehead moved his dreads away from his face and sighed.

"Hey, Dana. Got an extra hair tie?" asked Wavehead.

Dana handed Wavehead a hair tie to which he moved his dreads in the back of his head. Now that Wavehead was able to see clearly, without anything bothering his face, he was ready to attack the guards defending the warehouse near the bridge.

"Do we shoot 'em now?" asked Wavehead.

The two Piranhas were sitting on their lawn chairs on top of a school bus, smoking cigars, and watching the calm river. One of the gangsters squinted her eyes and saw an approaching boat.

"Richard and I got this," said David. "You guys come in when we really need your help. For now, we keep things quiet."

David and Richard attached two suppressors to their M9s that they grabbed earlier from the crates stored in Sergei's car. David pointed his pistol at one of the gangsters.

"Yo, Jay, do you see that boat?" whispered the gangster.

"Yeah, I see it now. Is that one of ours?"

"I don't know. I'm going to ask Boomer."

As the gangster reached for her walkie-talkie, a shot went off, and the gangster groaned as the bullet struck her chest.

"What the fuck?" gasped Jay.

Another shot, this time coming from Richard's M9, went off and Jay was caught off-guard. The bullet struck him near his left shoulder. He fell down from the bus and groaned softly. The female gangster's breaths faded away while the other Piranha was gasping for mercy. The small group moved closer to the warehouse and off the bridge.

"Here's your mercy," growled Dana.

Dana knelt down and thrust her machete into Jay's head, unknowingly preventing him from reanimating. Dana pulled out her machete and placed it in a leather sheath on the side of her backpack. Noise came from Jay's walkie-talkie.

"Boats incoming. Guards in the North Bridge. Do you copy!? Hello, do you copy? Nevermind, they are changing course, they are heading for the South Bridge."

David, George, Richard, Dana, and Wavehead stood by the entrance of the warehouse. A few lamps were turned on and the lights illuminated the window in the door of the warehouse. George peeked inside and saw many Piranhas walking towards the southern part of the warehouse.

"What are we waiting for?" whispered Dana.

"We're waiting until there's a few of them left. Then we go inside and finish what they started," replied George. "Shit, someone's coming!"

The group crouched behind a couple bushes as a Piranha left the warehouse through the north entrance. Richard quickly ran towards the door and closed it while David jumped out of the bushes and aimed his pistol at the Piranha's head. The gangster quickly turned back to the sound of the door being shut and was immediately shot in the forehead. The gangster fell flat to the ground, dropped like a statue, and lied still in the grass. George nodded his head and entered the warehouse. Wavehead's jaw was left opened as he entered the warehouse, frightened to what he might encounter.

"Did you hear that? That sounded like a gunshot!" warned a Piranha.

"That's because it was a gunshot," declared George. "Stand down! Freeze and drop your weapons!"

The small group stood behind a shipping container and George was the only one standing outside of it. The four Piranhas looked at him and then smirked. They broke into laughter as they raised their rifles and started shooting at him. He quickly jumped behind the shipping container, which had a couple boxes sitting alongside them as well. The Piranhas approached the shipping container. Dana stood above the boxes and started shooting at the Piranhas from the top of the shipping container, killing their laughter. The Piranhas ducked behind a box of scrap metal.

"How many more of you are there?" asked one of the four Piranhas huddled behind the box.

"Enough to wipe out your entire organization," yelled George. "I suggest you drop your weapons and tell us where your boss hid our friends."

"I ain't going to fucking tell you," yelled the leading gangster with a burly beard.

"Having trouble?" asked a female gangster through the walkie-talkie.

"Nah, we got this. Get the guys outside first. Try to get some of the best swimmers out there as well."

"Got it. Boomer! We have a situation here!"

The tugboat and the motorboat were getting closer and closer to the South Bridge. Four Piranhas grabbed their rifles and started shooting at the boats from the warehouse watchtower. The bullets were landing in the water and splashing tiny amounts of water. Sam sped up the motorboat and escaped the wrath of the bullets that would promise death for its victims. The bullets were ricocheting off the iron mini tugboat and failed to hit anyone hiding inside the boat cabin.

"Boomer! Get the machine gun! We need to take down that son of a bitch motorboat!" yelled one of the tower guards.

"Come out now, Cane. We ain't gonna kill ya," said the leading gangster.

"Okay," replied George.

Richard came out above the shipping container and shot his Python at the Piranhas. The scrap metals bounced all over the place and a bullet pierced through the box.

"Shit! Fall back!" yelled the leading Piranha.

The Piranhas quickly dragged a bleeding Piranha inside a room. One of the Piranhas shot wildly out the doorway, making sure that the group would not enter the room.

"Is it time now?" asked Dana.

"Yeah. George, here you go," said David, handing a grenade to George.

The group moved in closer, to which their footsteps alerted the Piranhas as they shot more warning shots. George pulled the pin from the grenade and tossed it inside the room. He quickly ran behind the box of scrap metals and aimed his pistol at the doorway. He shot a couple times at the door, causing the Piranhas to flinch and hesitate to leave the room.

"Fuck!" yelled one of the Piranhas.

The grenade exploded as one of the Piranhas made an attempt at escaping the room, regardless of the bullets George was sending. The leading Piranha's body was tossed across the room in limbs and pieces. Dana was shocked to see the splatter of blood on the wall along with many grenade fragments with pieces of flesh on them. She looked at David and noticed he was barely affected by this grotesque sight.

"Let's keep moving. No doubt the others heard that," said David.

Wavehead and Dana looked inside the room and were disgusted by what they saw. Burnt flesh hung from the wall, and bodies were barely recognizable.

"Are you guys alright?" asked David.

"I mean, shit, you guys are only teenagers," said George. "You don't have to come with us–"

"We're coming. Just a little surprised is all," replied Dana.

The Piranhas were running to their motorboats. Rifles and ammunition were being transported into the boats. Two Piranhas hopped inside each of the four motorboats and headed towards the boats.

"Guys! You are safe inside the cabin! Just keep shooting at the tower!" ordered Lori.

"Luna, sweetheart, can you shoot the bloody Piranhas, please?" nervously said Chunk.

"I'm trying but Sam keeps moving the boat too fast!"

"Sorry! I'm just trying to dodge the hot lead!"

"Lori! There are four small boats coming closer to us!" warned Sergei.

The four motorboats approached the two boats in a V-formation and the Piranhas were spraying tons of bullets at the boats. Lori and the kids tried to fight back, but the amounts of bullets they were taking was immense.

"David! We're under heavy fire! I repeat we are under heavy fire!" yelled Lori into her walkie-talkie. "Fuck! This thing is literally not working!"

"Here! Luna! I'm going to slow down for a couple seconds!" yelled Sam. "In those couple seconds, shoot the guys in the tower!"

"Okay!"

"Now!"

Sam halted the motorboat. Luna viewed into her scope and shot her rifle at the towers multiple times. Sam moved the motorboat again.

"Did you get anyone?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, one guy! Hurry! We need to keep doing this!"

Boomer started to carry an LSAT upstairs in the warehouse tower. He heard the explosion in the warehouse and called one of the tower guards.

"Hey! Kenny! Take this upstairs! I gotta see something!" yelled Boomer.

"Sure thing!"

Boomer took out his pistol and dashed into the warehouse. Kenny carried the LSAT upstairs and was getting excited.

"Sergei! Just keep moving the boat! We're safe inside the cabin!" ordered Lori. "God, these Piranhas are massive assholes!

A couple Piranhas in the South Bridge prepared to put on scuba gear. They equipped their flippers, scuba masks, and oxygen tanks. Then they grabbed their ADS amphibian rifles and jumped into the river. They swam closer to the boats and moved in with one motive: to silently kill the boat passengers.

Sam stalled the motorboat once more and allowed Luna to take her kill. She aimed at another tower guard and shot him once in the head after shooting multiple bullets. The group was under less pressure from the tower guards, but there was still one guard shooting at them. They were unaware of the guard carrying the LSAT upstairs.

The divers moved closer to the tugboat rather than the motorboat as it was continuing its speed tactics. The divers were equipped with flashlights that allowed them to see through the river that resembled the midnight zone of the ocean. Just like their animal-counterparts, the three Piranhas moved in closer to their prey, swimming around the slow tugboat.

The enemy motorboats started chasing the motorboat that Sam was driving, causing Lori, Tabby, Liam, Zach, and Rusty to leave the cabin. They aimed their rifles at the motorboats and started firing at them.

"I can't get a clear shot at the Piranhas," said Tabby.

"Just keep firing your gun until you hit one," suggested Liam.

"That's how you waste ammo, Liam," sighed Zach.

"Guys, we still have that nutjob shooting at us from above," said Rusty.

Liam, Rusty, and Lori aimed at the tower concentrated as they focused their sights on the tower guard. Lori and Rusty fired their guns at the same time, in which Lori's bullets hit the Piranha while Rusty's bullets hit the lamps. As the man in the tower perished in the firefight, a diver spotted his prey standing on the edge of the tugboat. He took out his knife and went in for the kill.

"Just keep driving away, Sam! I think Lori shot the guy in the tower!" yelled Luna.

The Piranhas kept up their relentless shooting on the motorboat, one destroying the boat's controls. The engine was also shot multiple times, which caused the boat to slow down. Kenny reached the top of the warehouse tower, and he started setting up the light machine gun on the window stool.

Just as Lori and Rusty stopped firing at the tower, assuming that the problem was solved, they started to shoot the motorboats that were chasing Sam, Luna, and Chunk. However, Lori heard a splash of water and looked at the end of the tugboat from the corner of her eye.

The diver sprung from the river, thrust his knife on Liam's chest while wrapping his hands around his mouth, and dragged Liam down into the river. Liam's muffled screams alerted the group in the tugboat, although Lori was the only one who saw what happened. Tabby gasped and wondered how Liam fell into the river.

"Lori? What happened to Liam? He just fell! I heard him!"

Lori froze and was unable to tell Tabby what happened. However, she quickly realized the threat that they currently faced and she quickly pulled Tabby backward by her shirt. A couple bullets came from the river as Tabby sat on the deck, speechless. Lori loaded her AK-47 and started firing into the river. She wasted her entire magazine shooting at an invisible enemy. She crouched down towards the end of the boat, pointing her flashlight at the water, wondering if she had killed the diver.

"Lori? You know we still have a problem to deal with…" said Sergei. "Are you looking for the little boy? He didn't come up yet. And he had a life vest."

Tabby was tearing up. Rusty and Zach looked at each other and struggled to hold their tears. Tabby dropped her pistol and broke down in tears. Lori continued to stare into the water when suddenly, a knife swung down to Lori's right foot. She yelled as the diver grabbed her neck and dragged her into the river. The kids gasped as the small waves in the river began to fade and the sound of Lori's scream faded away. Sergei looked back at the main deck and saw a bloodcurdling sight. The lifeless eyes of the boy stared at the midnight sky as his body remained afloat. The blood continued to pour out of the boy's chest.

A sheer rush of fear and adrenaline activated Lori's survival instincts as she faced the most desperate struggle for her life. Lori held her breath and slowly opened her eyes, although she barely saw anything. She only saw the shadow of the diver trying to kill her, and that was enough to keep Lori active. The diver swung his knife at Lori over and over, but the teenage girl kept swimming backward. Lori extended her arms to get a hold of the diver, but she was met with a slash to her left palm. Bubbles came out of Lori's nose as she finally got a grasp of the diver's hand. Her blood continued to pour into the river and onto the diver's hand. Lori pinched the diver's arms which caused him to loosen his grip on the knife, loose enough for Lori to get a hold it. Lori grabbed the knife and slashed it at the diver's throat. Lori started suffocating as air bubbles began to escape Lori at a fast rate, so she grabbed the dying diver's rifle and swam up to the surface.

Lori coughed and gasped as she moved her hair away from her face. The tugboat was a couple meters away, and she swam towards the boat, sniffling silently as her right foot and left hand sizzled with pain. Two of the enemy motorboats headed for the tugboat. Lori looked at Liam's floating body and sighed. She then looked at the tower and saw a figure that she didn't see before.

"Guys…" coughed Lori. "There's a fourth guard on the tower!"

Kenny aimed the LSAT at the river and began to press the trigger.

Boomer held his UZI as he moved silently in the warehouse. He found the body of a Piranha with two bullet holes in her stomach. Another Piranha coughed as he dragged his bleeding legs towards Boomer.

"It… was… Cane."

Boomer held his breath and let out a deep sigh. He shot the Piranha in the head and ended his suffering. He looked at his UZI and closed his eyes. Suddenly, he was smacked in the head by a Python, and he lied on the floor unconscious. Richard placed his revolver back into his holster and signaled the group to come out of from a corner of the warehouse.

"He will tell us where our friends are," said Richard. "This place is enormous, there is no way we're going to find them fast enough."

"So what do we do about the situation outside?" asked Dana.

"It sounds like our group got it. We got to trust them–"

The sound of roaring gunfire thundered above the warehouse. David ran towards the entrance to the warehouse tower and headed upstairs.

"What? Where's David going? Do we follow him?" asked Wavehead.

"That's the sound of a machine gun. Definitely not one of ours. Let's follow him," answered Richard.

Kenny continued raining hell from the tower on the river. He aimed for the motorboat and its passengers that were responsible for killing his friends. The bullets from the machine gun created huge splashes of water before tearing the motorboat apart.

"Sam! We gotta ditch the boat!" yelled Luna.

"Great plan! Everyone, swim towards the tugboat!" shouted Sam.

"I can't half-swim, mates! I've been knackered by those bloody Piranhas in the leg!" yelled Chunk.

The machine gun began rocking the motorboat apart as the enemy motorboats moved away from the gunfire.

"We'll help you, Chunk! Just jump!"

A bullet pierced through Chunk's back and out his stomach. Then another one. And one more. Chunk dropped to the river with his stomach shredded by the machine gun. Blood poured into the not-so-innocent river adding to those of the Piranhas and Liam.

"Chunk!" yelled Luna. "No–"

The gunfire tore the motorboat apart. Luna and Sam dropped to the river together and remained afloat amidst the gunfire that sunk their boat and their friend. Two swimming Piranhas spotted their dying friend and proceeded to finish off Chunk. Chunk, passed out from the blood loss, was drowning, although he did not die yet. What delivered the final blow to the British man was the stabbings of the Piranhas. After executing Chunk, the divers moved towards the two teenage girls who were unaware of the divers. As they proceeded to take their prey, they were suddenly engulfed in a storm of bullets.

"What the?" gasped Sam.

Two bodies floated to the surface of the river and displayed their bloody diving suits. Lori pulled herself up to the tugboat and nodded at Luna and Sam.

Kenny halted the firing of the machine gun. He heard footsteps and questioned the disorganized sounds.

"Boomer? I think I just killed three people. I can't get the others cause we got them surrounded already."

Kenny moved slowly down the stairs in the warehouse tower. The footsteps got louder but slower. Kenny stopped where he stood. He peeked from the corner of the stairs and saw a group of survivors that did not wear blue, black, or purple-dominated clothing.

"So you killed someone? And you surrounded my group?" asked David.

"Shit!" gasped Kenny.

He stumbled and clumsily ran up the stairs. David chased after him. Kenny tripped on a step and David pulled out his M9. Kenny cowered behind his own hands as he started breathing quickly.

"Where are our friends?" asked David.

"In Albany."

"We were just in Albany!" yelled David. "Who did you kill?"

"It was some big man wearing a vest, I think. And two girls, one with brunette hair and the other… was blonde, I think. They were on a motorboat. Sorry! I was just acting on orders! I'm sorry! I really am!"

"So am I."

David raised his M9 and shot Kenny in the head. His blood spilled into the stairs. Dana and Wavehead watched the blood pour into their shoes.

"Over here!" shouted Lori.

Luna and Sam swam towards the tugboat. The enemy motorboats were circling the tugboat, but the Piranhas were not firing their weapons. As the two girls swam closer to the boat, the Piranhas circled faster and faster around the boat. Their faces were intimidating and grim. Luna held the main deck of the boat and looked around for Sam. Sam was behind her, grabbing her waist. Lori extended her shaking right arm into the river. Luna grabbed Lori's arm and grabbed the rails of the boats and pulled herself up. Sam released her grip on Luna's waist and grabbed onto Lori's arm as soon as Luna was on the main deck. Sam climbed into the main deck and looked around the boat, only to see that the motorboats were slowing down.

"Holy shit," whispered Sam.

"Everyone! Raise your hands in the air and surrender yourself to us!" yelled a Piranha.

The motorboats were still, and every Piranha stood up from their seats, pointing their rifles at the group. Lori looked at the tower and then looked at the group.

"Duck," whispered Lori.

The Piranhas prepared to shoot the group when they were suddenly struck by a sleet of bullets. Machine gun fire rained on the Piranhas, slaughtering the men and women that committed hideous crimes. The motorboats were shredded by the machine gun and the bodies all dropped into the river. Lori and the group held their arms above their heads as pieces of flesh and blood rained over them. Sergei peeked out the tugboat bridge and gazed at the river turning redder than ever, and he looked back at the warehouse tower.

David waved his hands and turned on his walkie-talkie.

"Sergei. Are you guys okay? You should've contacted us to help you out."

"We did. Our walkie-talkies didn't work. But it looks like we still got some help."

"It's not over yet. We still need to find Sherry and the others."

David grabbed the LSAT and carried it down the warehouse tower. Sergei began driving the tugboat towards the warehouse. The boat swam over the river filled with thirteen souls. The group in the warehouse continued to travel through the building that inhabited about eight souls. At last, the group in the tugboat arrived at the warehouse. Lori, Tabby, Zach, Rusty, Luna, Sam, and Sergei got off the boat and entered the warehouse. They reunited with David, Richard, George, Dana, and Wavehead.

"David," panted Lori. "I need to go back to the cars. I can't hold on any longer. My right foot and my left hand are killing me."

"Sure thing. Sergei, take the girl back to the RV."

"But first," said Lori. "I want to know where my family and friends are."

"Well," said George. "That's up to him."

George walked over to Boomer and dragged him to the group. Boomer swung around like a tied-up wild animal and hissed at the group.

"Boomer! Where is my group!"

"They ain't here!"

"Boomer," said David. "I want you to know that we eliminated all of your friends in the warehouse. We will let you go to continue living your life if you cooperate with us."

"No! We're not going to let him run around free," exclaimed George. "This guy is a rapist, murderer, and just a mindless drone under Sherry. He is not Bruna."

"You killed all of my friends? I would rather die! But since you wanna know where your people are, then…"

Boomer paused. He continued talking.

"Sherry never took them here. She took YOUR PEOPLE further down south. I believe she's heading for the dust zone."

"What's the dust zone?" asked Lori.

"It's New York City, sweetheart. Now, if you're going to let me go, give me a gun so I can unload bullets on your asses."

"What do we do with him?" asked David.

"I think we can keep him, prisoner," suggested George.

"Or we can do this," said Richard.

A gunshot exploded into the group's ears and caught them off-guard. Richard continued to hold his Python in the air. Boomer's forehead contained a bullet hole where blood leaked out slowly.

"We're not going to waste our food just to keep this bastard alive."

The midnight moon shone through the window of the warehouse at David and Lori's face. They both looked drearily at each other and stared at Richard. Lori looked at the full moon as she was carried away by Sergei. Filled with conflicting emotions, she realized to the full extent, that sometimes, the enemy must die so that the good can live.

* * *

 _ **The search for the captured group member continues! We lost three group members. How many more people will the group lose to save the hostages? Find out in the next chapter where we get a closer look at the hostage's situation. I will try to keep my promise to post more often. If you enjoyed the story, and want to get alerted whenever I post a new chapter, make sure to follow me and favorite this story! Leave a review if you want to compliment and/or critique my story. Suggestions are always welcome. See y'all soon!**_

 ** _P.S. this chapter just beat Chapter 2: Exodus, for the longest chapter in the story._**


	9. Missing

_**Hey, Mr. Potassium here! Welcome to the ninth chapter of the story! No unexplained delays this time! No further notes until the end of the story, so let's get right into the story!**_

* * *

-Day 32-

Benny slashed the roamer's head off and wiped his eyes once more. Another roamer walked towards Benny, this time appearing as a kid. Richard, Carol, Becky, and Dana froze as they saw Benny standing still. The small roamer grunted and growled at a higher pitch than any other roamer the group encountered. Benny gripped his katana and swung it downwards, pulling it back once it slashed the roamer's brain. Benny wiped his eyes again.

"Benny? Something wrong?" asked Becky.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just keeping moving."

The missing midnight moon set in on the land of New York, barely visible and illuminating. Richard whispered to Carol.

"Hey, Carol. I just wanted you to know that I'm proud of your bravery, you know, saving lives and partaking in this."

"It's not a problem. Anything to help, right?"

"Trust me when I say this. You are one of the most valuable survivors in this world. Benny, you girls, the boy, are very important as well, but your medical skills, that is something we need. Even when faced with the threat of an enemy shooting you, you still want to help."

"That's true," agreed Benny.

"I learned it all from your wife, Richard," said Carol. "But thanks for your insight. You're a very valuable survivor as well."

"Do you think we'll make it?" asked Benny.

"To the highway?" questioned Becky. "Yeah, we're keeping a good pace and the roamers aren't wandering too close to us."

"What about Houlton?"

"We will make it," said Richard. "I trust David to lead us successfully to the town of hope."

"What about our lives? Will we survive in Houlton?"

"We will," answered Dana. "We can make a better life for ourselves there. Sorry about your father. Sorry that we're most likely not going to return to Royal Woods, but you can build your life in Houlton. You have people who care about you, like me, Becky, the rest of the group, that girl Luan, especially her."

"You're right. What am I worrying about?" asked Benny.

"This world is chaotic and it may feel like we have nowhere to go, but we have to keep pushing on," said Becky. "Whatever is bothering you, push it away. Whatever evil you face, bring it down. Understand?"

Benny nodded. He decapitated another roamer and thrust his sword into its skull. The group was getting closer to the highway as the evening dusk settled in. The boy turned on his flashlight and led the small group through the road.

-Day 47-

"AHH!"

Benny yelled as a knife was slightly pushed into his chest millimeter by millimeter. Sherry moved the knife diagonally to her right, creating a large cut across Benny's chest. Sherry pulled the tip of the knife out of the boy's chest and placed it on her desk.

"Just so you can remember the time we shared together," smiled Sherry.

Benny huffed and puffed. His wrists were constricted by large shackles that chained him to the wooden wall in a small room inside the top of the cabin. His chest was bleeding across his naked chest, though fortunately, that was the only damage Sherry has done to the boy. The windows were boarded on both floors so Missy, Lynn, Vonda, D, Lucy, and Becky were unable to look inside. Sherry removed a towel from Benny's mouth.

"You're sick in the head," gasped Benny. "What do you want from me?"

"Where are your group going? Where were you going to take my daughter?" asked Sherry, wiping her knife with a towel.

"We're going someplace safe. Vonda wants to come with us."

"And where would that be?"

"None of your business."

"My daughter's going to this mysterious place with a bunch of strangers and it's none of my business?"

"You're a horrible mother. You lead a group of murderous psychos and have a complete disregard for human life! You terrorize people and now you think Vonda will be safer with you? And you left her when she was a child! What's wrong with you?"

"I had to do whatever it took to make sure Vonda was safe! I don't need you alive. But Vonda does. She cares."

"You want her to love you? You want her to call you Mom? That will never happen, considering what you just did to me!"

"Well, she won't find out. She won't find out about this."

"Who says? I'll just tell her!"

Sherry moved closer to Benny, twisting the ends of her hair. She took off her leather gloves and rubbed her hands slowly on Benny's chest. Placing her hips closer to Benny and grabbing his back, she began to lean closer to the boy's face. The boy shivered as she moved her hands lower and lower to his stomach. He moved his face away and panted in fear, though Sherry mistook this as excitement. She pinched Benny's cheeks and rubbed his hair. She leaned in close to Benny's face and pressed her lips against his's. Benny groaned in reluctance and moved his flushing face away.

"What are you doing?" asked Benny.

"Trying to make you feel comfortable," answered Sherry in a sultry voice.

"Are you trying to get me to not tell Vonda about what happened?"

"I haven't been with a man for so long… you know sometimes, I get lonely. Why are you resisting? Many guys like you would kill for a share of what you experienced."

"Well, stop it! I don't care about your loneliness. It's creepy!"

"There's someone else, right? It's that girl, the one that I shot?"

"You killed her and I'll never forgive you for that!"

Sherry frowned and grabbed a pair of oven mitts. She put the oven mitts on and grabbed a pair of iron tongs, gripping a hot piece of iron. She opened Benny's mouth and stuffed the towel inside it. She then shoved the hot iron on his left shoulder, causing the skin to start burning severely. Benny's eyes flooded with tears as the towel muffled his screams. Pieces of his skin peeled off from his left shoulder.

"Tell Vonda about what I just did to you and I'll burn the other redhead's face off."

Sherry walked down the stairs inside the cabin and opened an unboarded window. She tossed the iron out of the window and into the river, creating a splash of water and steam. She closed the window and walked upstairs, where she grabbed Benny's shirt. She pulled the towel from Benny's mouth and wiped his chest with it.

"What are you going to tell the others?" asked Sherry.

"I… was spending time alone… thinking about Luan."

"Perfect. Here's your shirt back. Now, I'm going to get Gina here so she can stitch you up. You're not going to leave this room for a while."

Sherry released Benny from the shackles. Benny lowered his arms and stretched them, his muscles feeling sore. The woman left the room and locked it as she walked downstairs. Benny was left alone sitting on the floor, wallowing in his own sorrow, beating himself up for allowing Luan to get shot.

The boat moved away from Hudson, where the Piranhas resided in, away from the bloody city of Albany. The boat continued moving south of the Hudson River, and Boomer did nothing but wave at John and Andrew, who were both standing outside of the boat cabin. The boat then disappeared from Boomer's sight.

 **Chapter 9: Missing**

 **I - Corrupted**

The boats in the river floated with red stains on them, some which were capsized and others were torn in half. Lincoln gazed at the river with his binoculars and wondered what had occurred in the river. Lincoln then focused his binoculars on the South Bridge and zoomed in. Large groups of roamers walked through the South Bridge and towards the warehouse. Lincoln then heard a growl behind him.

"Got ya," said Lincoln, as he swung his sledgehammer at the roamer's skull. "And there's more of you guys. Crap."

Lincoln swung his sledgehammer again and again, and once more at the roamers that were walking towards him.

"The gunfire stopped. The roamers are coming. Yet they're not here. Where are they?"

After Lincoln dispatched the roamers behind him, he took a closer look at the bridge. He focused on the two people walking on the bridge towards him. He placed his binoculars down and ran towards the bridge.

Lori had her eyes closed. Her face was one of pain since she resisted the urge to scratch the burning sensation in her cut hand and foot. Sergei continued carrying her through the wrecked cars and killed roamers. Lincoln rushed to Sergei and halted. Sergei continued walking as Lincoln looked at Lori, who slowly opened her eyes.

"Lori! What happened? Your foot is bleeding! And your palm!"

Lori struggled to tell Lincoln what happened to her. The blood continued to pour as Sergei struggled to apply pressure to her wounds.

"Sergei, let me help!" exclaimed Lincoln.

"Thanks, kid, but we're almost there. Just turn on your walkie-talkie and tell Lisa and Carol to start preparing to treat Lori's wounds."

"Where are the others?" asked Lincoln.

"They're behind us. Now go!" gasped Sergei.

Lincoln ran ahead of the Russian man and made his way out of the bridge. He ran towards Sergei's car and grabbed his walkie-talkie. He contacted Clyde.

"Clyde! Tell Lisa and Carol that Lori is wounded!"

"Lori's wounded?" asked Clyde.

"What? Is she going to be okay?" asked Bobby.

"What kinda wound?" asked Carol.

"It looks like her foot was shot or stabbed and her left palm is all cut up. She looks very weak right now."

"Got it, Lincoln," said Carol, before rushing out of Vanzilla.

David, Richard, George, Dana, Wavehead, Tabby, Rusty, Zach, Sam, and Luna walked out of the North Bridge. Richard knew that he kept receiving strange looks, some judgmental while others were confused.

"What! I know what you're all thinking. He wasn't innocent. He wasn't like Bruna! He wanted to kill us!"

"That's true. If anything, I feel he deserved death the most out of all friends, besides Sherry," said George.

"What do we tell the others?" asked Wavehead. "About our friends? The ones that are missing and the ones that perished?"

"We tell them about it," said David. "They'll have to know. It will be upsetting, heartbreaking even… but I will tell them."

They continued walking towards the cars and saw Lisa stitching Lori's stab wound on the top of her right foot.

"It's very fortunate that the sharp weapon missed your dorsalis pedis artery. Your foot did not get infected, nor did your left palm, but you did experience quite some blood loss due to the size of the gash."

"Thank you, Lisa."

"Hey! Is she alright?" asked David.

"Yes. The bandage on her hand should prevent her wound from getting infected and her foot wound is stitched up."

"Hey, where are the others?" asked Carol.

Bobby walked forward, noticing that Becky was not with them. Just as Clyde missed Lynn, Luan missed Benny. Leni wondered where her favorite goth girl was.

"They… weren't in Hudson. It turns out Sherry never stopped for Hudson. She headed for the Dust Zone, which is New York City."

"Is she crazy?" exclaimed Bobby. "They'll get slaughtered in the city! Can you imagine the herds that they will encounter?"

"There's gotta be a reason why she's going there," said George.

"Well, what about that British guy?" asked Carol.

"He… perished in the ensuing gunfight," answered David.

Carol gasped and noticed that Luna, Sam, and Tabby were heartbroken. She also noticed that the boys were tearing up.

"So did Liam…" said Tabby in a very soft voice.

Clyde and Lincoln stared at her in shock. Clyde swallowed really hard and couldn't control his tears. Lincoln sighed in sorrow and then sat down in the grass. He wiped a tear from his left eye and stood up. Zach removed his glasses and hugged Clyde. Lincoln walked closer to Clyde and hugged him as well. Rusty and Tabby hugged the boys, forming their group hug as they shared their grief. Luna and Sam joined in as the others watched and sympathized with the kids.

-Ten Years Ago-

"I can deliver boats, weapons, and I know some guys who would be loyal workers," said Sherry.

"You said you're Coast Guard?" asked a large bearded man with an afro.

"Yeah."

"How do I know you're not going to rat me out?" asked the man.

"Well, I have a husband. And a daughter. If you feel like I ratted you out in some way, you can do whatever it is. But you won't do anything because I won't snitch."

"If you can just give me your address, I'll make sure to keep that in the back of my head. Anyways, it looks like you have everything that we're looking for. It's nice to create more connections."

"Likewise, Mr. Thatch."

"So just give me that address, and you are in. You live close to Hudson, right?"

"Albany. But I travel a lot. Here you go," said Sherry as she handed her new boss a note of her address.

"Are you able to make it here on Wednesday? I'll give your tasks. Your tattoo will come once you have been with us for a year."

"Great. I'll be here Wednesday."

Sherry left the warehouse. She looked at the bustling roads and bridges that moved about around the warehouse. She got in a taxi and headed for Albany.

"What do you mean you're moving to Albany?" asked Tim.

"I'm awfully sorry about this. It's just… I don't love you anymore," explained Sherry as she packed her bags.

"You can't just leave. What about Vonda? She needs her mother!"

"You need to get a job. I'm tired of being the backbone of this family. Besides, I found a better job in New York."

"Your job is more important than your daughter?"

Sherry continued packing her bags. Tim grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. Sherry was crying and she placed her hands on Tim's chest.

"I'm sorry, but it's just not going to work out with us. You need to learn how to work and provide for a family. I'm done with this bullshit."

Sherry walked downstairs from the bedroom to the living room. Tim followed her, distressed and anxious.

"What do I tell Vonda? That you just went missing?"

"If you need to. Tell her that I love her and will miss her."

"Sherry! Please!"

Sherry went inside a car with her bags. Tim stared at the car as it drove away from the peaceful streets of Ann Arbor. Tim sighed deeply and walked back inside his home. Vonda came downstairs from her room and slowly walked down the stairs.

"Daddy? What happened?"

"Nothing, honey, just go back to sleep."

"You look sad."

"Daddy's tired. Please, Vonda, go back to sleep."

Vonda walked upstairs to her room. Tim closed the door and lied on the couch. He covered his face with his palms and wondered what he would have to do to take care of his daughter. He couldn't believe that his wife had enough of him.

"I didn't know Sherry had it in her," whispered Tim to himself.

-May 30, 2016-

"Ain't nobody going to help you, May," cackled Sherry.

Sherry stood by two dead agents with a knife in her hands. She aimed her gun at May and forced her inside the magnetic cage. She locked the cage and placed her gun under her belt. Sherry moved out of the tunnel and closed the basement door. She then went back inside the tunnel into the room and looked at a very sick Cassandra, George, and May.

"If this is still about your husband, Ashton Hannas, and your nephew, Norman, then let me tell you this. I took no pleasure in killing them. I only did what I had to do. You guys need a message."

"Your message didn't work, Sherry," said May. "A huge force of agents are waiting upstairs for you. What are you going to do now?"

"Give up. My goal has already been achieved. You guys are just going to rot in here. Or better yet," said Sherry, pulling out her pistol, "I'll kill you guys."

Cassandra fell to the floor. Sherry looked at her with amazement.

"Is she dead? Did she get sick?"

"Yes. Infected with AIDS," revealed George. "One of your nasty ass men probably transmitted it to her and now she has to get treatment."

"I can tell you right now that AIDS doesn't kill you."

"I know! It's an infection that kills you! But if she didn't have this, she wouldn't have gotten sick."

"Do you really think so?"

"Sherry, you mentioned a goal," said May.

"Oh yeah. Do you really think I'm telling you guys?"

"Of course. Might as well, so you can be remembered for something."

"That's right," said Sherry. "Alright. As you guys know, I have a daughter who has a very deadbeat father."

"That's not true! Last time I saw him, he was working as an IT–" interrupted George before being interrupted himself.

"Fine!" yelled Sherry. "You don't want to know about my goal! I wasn't going to tell you anyways! I'll just leave your fate to Cassandra."

Sherry left the tunnel. George and May looked at each other.

"What do you think she meant by that?" asked May.

"I might have some clue," whispered George.

-Day 48-

The boat remained still in the river. Lynn munched on a small ham and cheese sandwich along with Vonda. Both girls felt guilty about eating a delicious meal that Sherry whipped up for them instead of the others. After many days of eating canned food, however, both girls couldn't help but eat something fresh.

"How is this fresh?" asked Lynn. "Doesn't bread usually spoil fast?"

"It's fresh because I baked the bread myself," said Sherry. "It's easy. I learned it when I was in the Coast Guard."

"I was never told you served in the Coast Guard," said Vonda, still hesitant in the way she spoke.

"Your father never mentioned it, right?" assumed Sherry. "Well, I did. For eight years. I don't like to talk about it."

"Well, can you talk about how you knew about roamers before they existed and tell me why you think my dad is still alive?"

"Okay," responded Sherry. "Tim was the one who told me what I needed to know about the roamers. First, before I get into anything, you need to know that they come from an infection called necrosis flu. He calls it the Infection of the Dead."

"We already know that," said Vonda. "He mentioned it in his cassette tapes."

"His cassette tapes?"

"Yeah. Lynn's sister found the tapes in my father's room in Detroit."

"Are they the ones titled 'Illness'? 'Overpopulation'? 'KHAN'? 'Infection'?" asked Sherry.

"Yeah. How do you know about these tapes?" asked Vonda.

"Patience. For now, if you heard all of the tapes, then you should know that the necrosis flu was developed in a lab. I'm sure it has a real scientific name for it but it was never revealed."

"I bet my younger sister knows," interrupted Lynn. "She's a genius and knew about this."

"Does she know why Tim coined the term, roamer?" questioned Sherry.

"Is it because the zombies roam?"

"Zombies are the name for the monsters you see in the movies, in video games and the ones you read about in novels and comics. My husband also likes to refer that term to the people who turned before the GIE."

"Global Infection Event?"

"Yes. During and after the events on June 1st, 2016, anyone who turned became a roamer, not a zombie. The word, zombie, sounds weird and everyone knows that."

"So, you and my dad kept in touch all of these times?" asked Vonda.

"It was only since last year. He has a plan, which I will tell you about soon."

"What plan?" exclaimed Vonda.

Sherry left the cabin and headed outside to stretch. Missy, Becky, D, and Lucy sipped on their hot cans of soup as they continued to wallow in their misery.

 **II - Twelve O' Clock**

-Day 50-

The clouds covered the midnight moon as the group was back in the house. David sat on the same log in the hill staring at the same abandoned town. The forests were inactive and very small figures were walking slowly towards the direction of Hudson. This time, David sat in front of a fire with his back facing the house. Lori slowly walked up to him with a wooden pole used as a cane and sat by him.

"This log is sturdy," commented Lori. "Don't you get tired after sitting here for a long time?"

"You should be resting. Do I need to tell you twice about your sleep?" asked David.

"No, you don't, but I think I do. When was the last time you slept?"

"Stop worrying about me, Lori."

"I'm not the only one, David."

The entire group inside the house came outside. Richard carried a bag of nuts while Bobby carried Darcy on his back. Leni carried a sleeping Lily on her arms and smiled at Bobby. Lisa walked with Lana as they were holding the maps that David used in the RV. David was surprised to see so many people come together around a campfire in the middle of the night. He hasn't seen something like this since the night in Ann Arbor where their joyful night ended in tragedy. However, this night was different. It seemed as if the solemn night was going to end in a night of hope for the next day.

"Now that we're all together, can you tell us how you started your journey?" asked Lori.

David looked around the campfire and saw almost everyone staring at him.

"Fine. Richard knows, but I guess I'll tell it. I went on a plane from Manhattan to Flint after finding out that General Black was setting up a big project in Detroit. Richard and his wife lived in Flint, so I headed towards their home to tell them about my plan. However, after learning about what was happening in the world, I put two and two together and I figured out what General Black was doing in Detroit. I knew he was going to set up a safe-zone, but I did not know he was going to bomb it. Well, at least not yet."

"When'd you find out?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"After I grabbed the RV from my father's home, I turned on the radio to a specific channel. I heard a man on the radio on the way to Detroit. I heard about Tim Crowley from my days in the military and I just had my suspicions up. However, this man wasn't Tim Crowley, but he did tell us to stay away from Detroit. This was around Day 5, and funny enough, our RV broke down in Royal Woods. We dodged a bullet, simply because the big vehicle didn't want to run anymore."

"So, what did you do in Royal Woods?" asked Lincoln.

"The man on the radio told us about General Black's plan on conducting a huge transportation of the survivors in Detroit to another place. We didn't know he was talking about Houlton, but we assumed he meant Royal Woods since his soldiers were setting up a new base there. He called it Operation Exodus. So, Richard, Missy, and I formed a militia as you saw when you returned to Royal Woods. We simply just waited for the general to arrive at the base and on Day 10, he did."

Carol and the boys looked at David and flinched slightly when they saw something above him. The nuts in the ground crunched and the sounds of heavy breathing alerted Richard. The grass softened the footsteps just enough for David and Lori to barely notice what was behind them, but Carol, Zach, Lincoln, Clyde, and Rusty's reactions alerted them.

"You know, that's an interesting story you told right there," said the leader of the midnight bandits, a man with long hair, holding a bloody ax.

The group was surrounded by three other bandits one carrying a chainsaw, another holding a hatchet, and the other holding a spike-covered mallet. David slowly raised his hands with Richard mimicking him. Lori fearfully looked at David and raised her hands as well. Leni shivered as the bandits started circling the group, picking out their targets. All of the bandits were men, and the fact that they carried torn purses and small backpacks meant for little girls, was clear on most of the survivors' eyes. Darcy clutched Bobby, and Lily remained asleep.

"Look at what we have here," said one of the bandits as he rubbed Leni's hair.

Lori's anger seethed and overpowered her fear. She knows how beautiful Leni is, and that one day, this world will rip her innocence apart. She just didn't want today to be the day. Leni continued to shiver as she looked at Lori, wondering if she was going to take action. The bandit with the craggy face grinned and licked his lips as stood behind Leni with his spike-covered mallet. Leni looked at Lori and whimpered as she held Lily closer to her.

The two other bandits continued to circle around the group with their weapons in hand. One of the bandits stood behind Richard and Carol, with a hatchet in his hands. He wore a gray cap and a brown shirt. The other bandit stood behind George and Sergei, holding his chainsaw with his hairy and muscular arms.

"So, you guys are from Michigan, right?" asked the leader of the bandits.

The bandit waited for a response. David remained silent. The campfire crackled, but it began to die. The bandit with the hatchet looked at his leader. The leader sighed.

"You guys are our largest group yet. Don't try to oppose us," said the leader. "Most of you are going to live. We just need to take out the strongest guys. And after that, you're not welcome to come with us. So, don't try to follow us. Do I make myself clear?"

The group remained silent. The man with the hatchet released his grip on Leni's shoulder.

"They're not saying anything."

"Well, that's good. It means they ain't opposing us," chuckled the leader.

"So, can we start?" asked the man with the chainsaw.

"So eager are we? Hell yeah, we can start."

The man starting burning fuel in his chainsaw. David looked around the campfire and tried to capture everything he noticed with his eyes. David then looked at Richard, Lori, and George. Richard slightly nodded and placed his hands on Carol's right leg. Carol slowly turned towards Richard.

"Duck," whispered Richard.

The bandit swung his hatchet just as Richard and Carol threw themselves to the grass near the campfire. Richard faced the campfire and saw the burning flame covering the masked leader.

The leader swung down his ax but David rolled over towards Lori, who jumped from her seat. The ax cut into the log that David sat in, catching the leader off-guard.

The bandit with the chainsaw moved it towards George but the former FBI agent quickly grabbed the handle of the chainsaw and punched the bandit in the face.

Lori lunged towards the man with the mallet and smacked him with her pole. The man grabbed his face with his free hand, just before Lori smacked the mallet away from his hand.

Leni and Bobby ran away with Darcy and Lily in their arms. The children also followed Bobby and Leni, allowing the monsters inside David, Lori, George, and Richard to be set free.

Richard grabbed his knife and ran towards the man with the hatchet. The man swung the hatchet again and missed. Richard swung his knife at the man and he missed as well. The man stumbled to the ground just as he kept dodging Richard's knife attacks.

David stomped on the ax handle, bringing the leader closer to him as he kept his grip on the handle. David punched the man in the face with his knuckles, breaking his nose. The man pulled out the ax, but David grabbed the handle and kicked the man in his stomach. The leader fell to the ground and groaned as he held his stomach.

George and the bandit struggled to remove the other's grip on the handle of the chainsaw. The bandit decided to release the chainsaw and put George in a choke hold. George coughed as the large bandit held him.

Lori limped towards the mallet and knelt to the ground. The bandit kicked her away and quickly crawled for his mallet. Lori shoved her makeshift cane at the man's face, bruising his nose and cheeks. Lori grabbed the mallet, but the man refused to let go. Lori grabbed continued beating the man with her wooden pole and the man finally relented.

Richard knelt to the ground and dropped his knife. He grabbed the bandit and rolled him into the campfire. The bandit yelled in pain and continued rolling. Carol gasped as the bandit reached for her leg. She looked at Richard who knelt down to the ground and swung his knife at the bandit's neck.

George struggled to release himself from the burly man's grip. Suddenly, the man gasped as Sergei shoved the knife into his lower back. The man released George as Sergei twisted the knife.

"A chainsaw? Couldn't do better?" whispered Sergei before pulling out his knife.

"Going after helpless victims? Is that what you're proud of?" said David.

The leader stared at David, unresponsive. David then swung the knife upwards at the leader's chest, making him cough blood. The leader groaned before passing out, before he died.

Lori grabbed the spiked mallet as the bandit struggled to pick himself up and run. Lori swung the mallet at the bandit's left calf. The bandit yelled as he fell to the ground. Lori crawled towards the bandit and picked herself up slightly.

"Please. Mercy! Make it painless!"

"No mercy for you," hissed Lori.

She swung the mallet at the man's face over and over. The bandit's eyes splattered in the brutal beatdown, his nose ripped apart, and his cheeks were torn open. Lori kept swinging the mallet on the bandit's face. His face was unrecognizable, and Lori started to beat his brain into mush. David walked towards Lori, but she stopped before he could confront her. Lori grabbed her cane and stood up when she noticed how many eyes were set on her bloody face.

"I'm sorry. I know I went kinda far. But he deserved it. All of them did. You all saw it," said Lori as she continued holding the mallet.

"I saw it," said Leni.

Lori frowned. Bobby and Darcy continued to stare at Lori. Rusty faced away from Lori while Lincoln couldn't stop looking at her.

"Thank you, Lori," said Leni, still tearing up.

Leni walked towards Lori as the group remained silent. Lori dropped the mallet to the ground as it stuck itself into the dirt. Leni wrapped her arms around Lori, not caring about the blood in her shoulder, face, and shirt. Lori hugged Leni back looking at Bobby and David. Bobby hugged Darcy and nodded.

"It's okay. I understand that they pushed you to your limits," said David. "I know the feeling."

Lori continued to hold Leni tight as she closed her eyes. Lori's tears ran down her cheeks, becoming red as they fell to Leni's back.

-May 30, 2016-

"A zombie?" exclaimed May.

"Yes. Most likely that Cassandra will succumb to the infection that turns these people into zombies. I know it sounds really hard to believe, but–"

"No, I believe you. It's just… there's an infection going around the world. And I believe it just hit New York. If she turns… we are fucked."

Cassandra stopped breathing. George's heart started beating faster. He began to breathe heavily as she continued holding the girl.

"What's wrong, George?" asked May.

"She died. I failed Cassie."

May and George held each other in the prison as they comforted each other.

Meanwhile, Sherry climbed up the stairs when she heard a group of agents talking.

"What's taking May so long? It's been an hour!" said an agent.

"We couldn't find her upstairs," said another agent.

"Try looking downstairs," said the other agent.

Sherry heard a group of agents walk down the stairs. She slowly walked back into the basement where she walked slowly towards the tunnel. The footsteps began to get louder and louder. She then ran into the tunnel.

"I think I heard someone!" yelled an agent.

"There!" yelled the other agent. "Son of a bitch. That's Sherry!"

Sherry gasped and activated the magnetic lock on the tunnel door. She then shoved her knife into the wiring that unlocked the door. The agents ran inside the tunnel with their guns in their hands. Sherry wasn't smiling as she ran into the room. She pulled the door and slammed it shut. The agents halted as the looked at the door. There was a small hole in which they saw Sherry inside the room.

"Come out, Sherry!" yelled the agent. "We're going to get inside the room, whether we have to rewire whatever you stabbed or if we have to bust our way in!"

Sherry smiled. She was glad she bought herself enough time to progress the plan. George and May stared at her.

"Did you just lock yourself in?" yelled May.

"Shut up," hissed Sherry.

"You're going to get caught, Sherry. This is your endgame? No, this is the end for you," said George.

"The end? No, this is only the beginning," said Sherry.

"Hey, can you rewire this shit?" asked an agent.

"Yeah. Just in case I can't, can you get someone who can bust open a metal door?" asked the other agent.

"I'll get someone," said another agent. "I'm very claustrophobic."

The agent dashed out of the tunnel. As he walked up the stairs, he was faced with a sight that he wouldn't forget. There were many zombies roaming around in the warehouse, attacking the agents. The man froze as he looked around the warehouse. Suddenly, a zombie bit him in his neck, causing blood to gush out.

 **III - Together**

-Present Day-

The morning sun brightened up the river. Vonda stared out into the skyline, wondering where she was headed. Lynn and Lucy sat together on the main deck. They were being watched by Gina and John.

"Hey, Luce. I've been meaning to ask you something," said Lynn.

"Ask away," replied Lucy.

"Did you… move on from what happened in Ann Arbor?"

Lucy remained silent. Lynn started sweating as she feared she might have upset her only living relative in the boat. Lynn was ready to apologize when Lucy suddenly moved her lips.

"I think about it at times. Thinking about it makes me feel gloomy and miserable, but I accepted it. I know I can't change the past, but I won't let it drag my future down. Well… whatever future I might have," said Lucy.

"You never felt angry about it? Just… sad?"

"Of course I felt angry. Then, I started thinking, if I acted on my anger, how would that help me? How would that help anybody?"

"But when I let my fury loose on the roamers, I felt relieved!"

"Do you still feel relieved now?" asked Lucy.

"I… don't. I think I see what you're talking about, Luce. I'm ready to accept what happened to Francisco."

"Lynn, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Francisco's death is not the only death you're going to have to accept and move on from. I understand if you feel angry and heartbroken, because I do feel angry…"

"Luce, you're scaring me. Whose death are you talking about?"

"Luan."

"What? Luan?"

Lynn noticed that Lucy was more serious than she usually looked. Lynn sniffled while being confused. Just as she felt she was ready to move on from what happened to Francisco, she now had to deal with the painful loss of her older sister. Lynn couldn't believe it.

"How?" asked Lynn.

"Benny was brought down to the main deck with us while Sherry was feeding you and Vonda breakfast. He told us that it happened back in the fight in Albany. While the group fought off the Piranhas, Benny attempted to protect Luan from the roamers. But then it happened."

"But then what happened?" sniffled Lynn.

"Sherry shot Luan in the head amidst all the chaos."

Lynn covered her eyes as she released her tears. She shook her head. She sniffled again and wiped her eyes.

"No. I don't believe it. I won't believe it until I see Luan herself."

"Luan was shot in the head, Lynn. How could she survive?"

"People survived gunshots to the head before, Luce! I won't believe it. Not until I see her!"

Sherry was inside the upper level of the cabin. With her was Missy, chained to the wall. Her cap was missing. Along with Sherry and Missy were D and Becky. D and Becky's hands were tied with each other's corresponding hands as one pair of hands hung from one side of the chair they sat on. Becky and D were blindfolded and gagged with rags and towels as they sat behind one another in their wooden chairs. Both teens were sweating intensely as the room began to feel like hell.

"Yes, yes, I know it's hot in here, but the sooner you tell me where you guys are heading, the sooner I let you guys go," grinned Sherry.

"How do we know you're not going to follow us?" asked Missy.

"As long as you guys don't plan to reside in upstate New York, I'll leave you guys alone."

"So, why do you need to know where we're going?"

"Ever heard of a peace of mind? George is never going to stop trying to hunt me down, so I need to know that he is as far away from me as possible."

"Don't worry about it, Sherry. We'll be very far. Trust me."

"I really don't trust you. Are you going to waste my time? Because I don't like to waste time."

Sherry loaded her pistol and pointed it at Becky's head. She then shoved the barrel to come in contact with Becky's head to make a point-blank kill. Becky felt the cold tip of the gun and started breathing heavily and sweating more intensely. She was crying out something, but her voice was muffled by the rag in her mouth.

"You hear that? That's the sound of someone who wants you to fucking tell me where you guys are going before I blow her brains out."

"Okay! Okay! I'll tell you! I'm heading… MY group is heading for Maine! There's this town called Houlton! We're traveling there! I told you now! Will you let the girl and the boy go free now?"

"Houlton? That's bordering Canada isn't it? That's awfully close to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia."

"So, you know about it," puffed Missy.

"I'll let you guys go," said Sherry.

Sherry removed Becky's blindfold and looked at her in the eyes. Her pupils shrunk as she continued to sweat through her oily hair. Sherry removed D's blindfold and makeshift gag. She then cut the rope that tied both of them together. Becky stood up and removed the rag in her mouth. Sherry looked at them.

"Any word about this to my daughter, and I'll make sure that the little goth girl goes through a painful death."

The RV was in the road, driven by David, along with Vanzilla, driven by Richard, and with Sergei's car, driven by Sergei. They drove back near the bridge to retrieve Chunk's car. After long minutes of discussion to who should drive the car, a decision was made. The heat from the sun was made weaker by the A.C. powered by the car batteries in each vehicle. Lori lied next to Bobby as she continued to sleep while Richard followed the RV in the road along the Hudson River. Carol was driving Chunk's car as she was the only one able to since George was sleep deprived, Missy and Becky were missing, and Bobby, Dana, and Leni were never able to get their license.

Lori woke up with a question that she always wondered about. Lori turned on her walkie-talkie and found herself unable to.

"Lisa, you're carrying batteries, right?" asked Lori.

"Which ones do you desire, AA batteries or AAA batteries?"

"AA batteries."

Lisa tossed three batteries at Lori. Lori equipped the batteries on the walkie-talkie and turned it on.

"David? Can you hear me?" asked Lori through the walkie-talkie.

"Yeah, I can hear you fine. What is it?"

"I have a question that most people in the group probably wondered about. Why do you want to go after General Black?"

"It all began with Richard first."

"That's right. General Black used to be a Lieutenant Colonel who commanded my squadron. He had good intentions to save most people in his younger years. But his pride took over and he wanted to become a war hero. He did things that shouldn't be spoken of, but he did them anyways. After becoming recognized among his peers, he was hired to recruit people into a type of special forces."

"And that's where I come in. My wife, Sandy, was recruited by General Black to complete special missions in which she combated terrorism. One day, a taxi was ordered to pick her up in the Bronx, which was the last time I saw her. She was supposed to come back within the range of a few weeks, but it's been six months and she still didn't return. I got worried, and after doing some of my own research, I found out that General Black forced my wife to do the missions against her will. I contacted Missy and Richard, and that's how I found out that Black usually targets families in order to get people to bend to his will."

"Sounds like him," said Bobby.

"You have more family members?" asked Lori.

"Yeah. I have a son. His name is Seth, and uh… I'm sure he's still alive."

"You don't know?" exclaimed Lori. "Where is he?"

"He's in Miami. Although, it is slightly possible for him to be in New York if he happened to travel to New York in May 30th. If he did do that, then, I don't think he's alive since New York City must be overrun with roamers."

"Where in Florida did Seth live in?"

"Seth lived in Miami. He probably moved up north away from the city."

"Or he could've moved south to the Florida Keys," said Bobby.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that if my wife is still following General Black, then she must be in Maine."

"It does matter," said Lori. "Are you going to go to Florida after this?"

"I can't think about it now. For now, Houlton is the main goal."

"I understand. I personally don't want you to go to Florida to retrieve him," admitted Lori. "You're our leader, and if we ever need one in Houlton, like if there was a council or something… you should be a part of it."

The group all sounded like they agreed with Lori. Nodding heads and doubtless murmurs allowed David to know what kind of leader he is. Lori spoke once again.

"My grandfather used to be in the Navy, and you remind me of him often. My parents would respect you, just as my siblings and I do."

-May 30, 2016-

"It's time," whispered Sherry. "It's time for a new beginning."

The second floor of the warehouse was filled with zombies falling down the stairs and into the ground floor. A lot of FBI agents turned into the beasts that started to devastate New York. Some of the FBI agents ran outside of the warehouse where they would take cover behind their vehicles. They took out their guns and aimed at the warehouse.

Inside the warehouse, many of the agents were trapped in corners, rooms, and in between shipping containers. The dozens of zombies would surround the agents and devour them, taking the force of the bullets without a thought. The screams of the agents being ripped apart by hungry zombies filled the building. Blood poured into the floor and gunshots were fired into the walls. The zombies continued their relentless devouring of human flesh and the screams faded.

The agents in the tunnel were puzzled about what was occurring upstairs in the ground floor. The man rewiring the wires that would unlock the magnetic door stopped with his task and looked at the leading special agent. The growls and groans were faint, though the agents still heard the sound of the pack of zombies.

"What the hell is that?" asked one of the agents.

"Maybe the Piranhas are attempting to scare us off?" wondered another agent.

"Is anyone hearing it upstairs?" asked an agent in his hidden microphone.

"Yeah! We don't know what it is! But we do need help! Our men turned aggressive!" yelled one of the agents outside of the warehouse.

"We gotta go help them!" said one of the agents, after hearing the other agent's cry through the wire in his ear.

"You!" said the leading special agent. "You gotta keep working on this magnetic wire! We'll go upstairs to figure out what the hell is going on!"

The agents moved quickly upstairs. They arrived upstairs and were met with the sight of packs of zombies. The zombies moved towards them. The agents pulled out their guns and commanded the zombies to halt. The agents were pushed back down the stairs and back into the tunnel. They finally started shooting at the zombies. The bullets hit their chests, legs, and arms. One of the agents managed to shoot a zombie in the head which killed it instantaneously.

"Shoot the head!" yelled the agent.

Two more zombies were shot and killed while the agents started fumbling for their magazines. The zombies swarmed inside the tunnel and started devouring the agents in the front. The zombies continued to go deeper into the tunnel where they started crushing the agents to death. The man rewiring the wires was caught in the swarm and was bitten in the leg before being crushed by his fellow agents.

"What the hell?" exclaimed George. "What's going on out there?"

The lights started to flicker in the warehouse. Suddenly, the lights went out and the door was now being pounded over and over. Sherry did not expect the power to go out and she ran towards the door. The door needed to be pulled from the outside to get inside the small room, but the zombies, as a group, might have enough strength to bust the metallic door open. The agents were now just tiny pieces of flesh and bones in the ground that the zombies ignored. The lantern flickered in the room.

The girl in the cell growled and started standing upwards. George and May were shocked to see Cassandra's bleeding mouth and eyes. Her face was pale and her eyes were golden, much like those of the zombies in the tunnel. May lifted the cage and held it up for George.

"May! Get me the hatchet over there!" yelled George.

Sherry watched as May ran towards George, handing him the hatchet from the desk. George grabbed the hatchet and swung it at Cassandra's head. Cassandra groaned as she fell to the corner of the cell, finally laid to rest, after months of suffering, by the man who promised her that the suffering would end. May lifted the cage again and allowed George to escape from the cell.

"No more of your fucking games, Sherry! You're going to tell us how to get out of this mess or we'll kill you!" yelled George.

"Woah, hold on. If you kill me, you're going to guarantee your death since I have a couple buddies coming down here to rescue us. I need to stay alive for this!"

George and May walked towards Sherry. Sherry lifted her gun and aimed at George. George dropped the hatchet and took a step backward.

"Smart," said Sherry, as she looked back at the zombies. "Now, what I want you guys to do is–"

May kicked the gun out of Sherry's hand and took a hold of her arms. May punched Sherry in the chest and then in the face. Sherry covered her jaw just as May punched upwards at her stomach.

"Maybe, we'll feed you to the zombies!" yelled May Hannas.

Sherry reached for her gun before George stepped on it. May dragged Sherry into the corner of the room by the cell and picked up the hatchet. Sherry quickly picked herself up and jumped away from the hatchet. May swung the hatchet again which cut Sherry's right hip.

"Fuck! You gotta listen! I'm a… very reasonable… woman! My death means yours!"

"I'm done listening," said May.

-Day 51-

A large explosion caused a roaring fire to streak across the trees in a park. Rogue soldiers were gunned down. A loud shot was heard and then another as two young delinquents fell. The sounds of ribs cracking and a woman yelling. A gunshot pierced through a man's face and then another one through a woman's face. A lamp shattered as another man was shot from the distance. Blood oozed out of a man's neck as it poured through the water. Splashes of water jumped out of the river as two people were shot. The sound of a skull cracking as a mallet bludgeoned their face. Lori looked at the blood-stained bandage on her left palm. She closed her hands and opened them up again.

"I need to change those bandages," said Carol, catching Lori off-guard and making her flinch. "Sorry, for scaring you."

"No, it's alright."

Carol bent down on one knee to take a closer look at the hand. Lori noticed that Dana refused to eat. Lori nudged her and snapped her out of her deep thoughts. Carol opened up the bandages and saw the cut healing itself. She rolled up a fresh roll of bandages around Lori's hand.

"Hey, Dana. Something wrong?"

"No, it's just… I miss Becky. I miss Tad too. Lori, you should've seen Tad. His hands and his face were so mangled. It made me sick… and I can't seem to stop thinking about him like that."

"You're not the only one. When I saw my little sister being carried by my brother, I couldn't shake away the image of Lola being so… grotesque. It's literally been a month now, and even though I still think about the first time I saw her like that, my good memories about her has replaced those thoughts."

"You mean these thoughts are going to fade over time?" asked Dana.

Lori nodded. Dana wiped a tear from her eye and she hugged Lori. Carol stood up and smiled before tossing the dirty bandages away in the ground. The group finished their breakfast and headed back to their vehicles.

Back on the road, everything was quiet. It has been quiet ever since the threat of the Piranhas loomed when they first attacked the group by the bridge. However, the passengers started to talk once more. Darcy climbed out of her seat next to Bobby and went to sit next to Lana and Lisa. Bobby kept a careful watch on the three girl as Lori lied on his lap, taking a nap.

"How are you feeling, Darcy?" asked Lisa.

"Not so good. My mommy used to tell me that killing people was bad. It looks like everyone is killing people, like Lori and that man."

"Well, you know those ugly people that walk slow?" asked Lana. "They're supposed to be killed."

"The roamers? I know that, I'm not dumb. I'm talking about people like you and me!"

"What Lori and David did to those people was necessary in order to ensure our survival. I'm sorry that you had to see that and it'll take some time to understand, but the enemy needs to be killed so that the good can live," explained Lisa.

"So we kill anyone who is bad like those people we saw?"

"Yes, we do," responded Lana.

"No, we do not," said Lisa. "Not everyone who's bad deserves to die. There are just some conflicted people like Bruna!"

"Like who?" wondered Lana.

Lisa sighed.

"That Piranha that we captured and released. Not the big guy, Gus. The woman."

"We got lucky with her! Sometimes, we don't have the time to figure out who is conflicted and who isn't," exclaimed Lana.

"You might not, but I do. In a matter of seconds, I can figure out when someone doesn't intend to do something evil."

"I agree with whatever Lisa is saying," said Darcy. "She's very smart."

"Whatever," said Lana. "Lisa's idea is going to get us killed someday."

"Don't frighten her, Lana!" exclaimed Lisa. "Darcy, ignore what she said. I know what I'm talking about."

"Okay, Lisa. I trust you."

Carol held the wheel that she once held when she drove the van from Detroit to Royal Woods. She adjusted the mirrors and noticed that Sam and Luna were not talking to each other. They stared out the window. Carol couldn't help but break the silence.

"Are any of you planning to learn how to drive soon?"

Luna and Sam looked at Carol without saying a word. Their glossy eyes told Carol that they weren't in the mood for small talk.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but distract us from this sorrowful life," sighed Carol. "I need something normal again. Even though things can't go back to normal, our conversations can."

Sam and Luna continued to stare at Carol. Carol began to get nervous as she feared she might have upset both girls. The mood in the car turned very awkward.

"We were going to get ready to take our driver's exam when we turned 16," said Luna, breaking the silence. "But you already know that won't happen."

"Honestly, you don't even need to ace the driver's exam to get a complete understanding of driving," said Carol. "You just need someone to instruct you how to drive and you practice. Just like how you practice how to play a guitar, you practice driving and that's how you get good at it."

"Is it really that easy?" asked Luna.

"Once you get the hang of it, sure! You can even ask Lori how easy it is. In fact, she can help you out once we make it to Maine."

Luna smiled. She laid her head on Sam's laps and looked into the roof of the car. Sam placed her hands on Luna's hair and started to play with her hair. Luna looked at Sam and smiled. Carol looked at her mirror and locked eye contact with Luna. Carol winked and then looked ahead in the road.

"Are we ever going to talk about the letter?" asked Sam.

"What letter? Oh, yeah… that letter. What is there to talk about? Didn't you make it clear that you only saw me as a friend?"

Sam lifted Luna upwards and moved her hands to her cheeks. She smiled as she leaned closer to Luna and softly placed her lips against hers. Luna's eyes remained open as her face started glowing with a rosy color, before she slowly closed them. Carol took a quick glance at them and grinned. Sam released her lips from Luna's face and she started blushing as well.

"I was too frightened to reveal my true feelings. I would've died from embarrassment, and don't even get me started on… my parents," explained Sam before pausing. "But none of that matters anymore, right?"

"Right!" agreed Luna.

"I'm happy with you and there's nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone else has bigger things to worry about!"

The two girls embraced each other as the van moved ahead in the road. Carol no longer questioned whether she should keep on living. She made her choice. She wants to stay alive to witness the happiness that can be formed even during an apocalypse.

 **IV - Change of Heart**

-May 30, 2016-

Martin Briggs arrived at the warehouse and saw many agents outside dead in the ground. Many of them were missing limbs while others had disfigured faces and bodies. Some zombies were wandering out of the warehouse, heading in random directions until they saw Martin.

"What the hell? What happened here?" exclaimed Martin to himself.

The zombies walked towards Martin as he slowly backed away. He took out his pistol and aimed at the zombies.

"I saw this in a movie somewhere. They're supposed to be scared of the light, though."

Martin shot one of the zombies in the head, instantly killing it. He ran inside the warehouse and saw the carnage that awaited him. There were still a couple zombie left inside the warehouse, some that wore the clothes of his fellow agents and some that wore blue, purple, or black-dominated clothing. He quickly ran towards the stairs and headed for the basement.

"Oh god!"

The zombies that were congested in the tunnel, slamming the door to the small room now faced Martin. The agent shot his gun at a couple zombies, catching the attention of the entire pack. The pack followed him as he walked upstairs, he then heard loud footsteps coming from the stairs. He quickly ran back to the basement and found a freezer. He quickly hid himself in the nonfunctioning freezer, although it still felt very cold.

"This way!" yelled Andrew.

John and Andrew carried their submachine guns with them as they arrived in the basement. They unleashed the bullets in their weapons on the zombies, slaughtering the pack. The bullets tore through the zombies and the freezer, although some of the bullets ricocheted off of the metallic icebox. They ran inside the tunnel where they were met with the foul smell of deceased bodies. They opened the door and aimed their weapons at May.

"May! Move!" yelled George.

The men fired their weapons at the special agent, but she moved right before the bullets tore her body. Sherry picked herself up and ran towards the door.

"Are you alright?" asked Andrew.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Close the door. Lock it. Make sure they rot in here," said Sherry.

The two Piranha brothers locked the door from the outside. May and George ran towards the door and were unable to open it. Sherry laughed.

"Ta-ta, Cane and Hannas!"

Sherry, John, and Andrew ran out of the tunnel and ran towards the stairs. They escaped the basement and were unaware of Martin hiding in the fridge. Martin quietly groaned and wondered if all the zombies were killed. He couldn't hear any noise besides the sound of the door being slammed and the yells from two people.

-Present Day-

The campfire crackled by the river. Richard was sitting on top of the RV, scouting the surroundings of the group, making sure they weren't being stalked. David opened up a can of peaches and offered one to Richard, to which he declined. Lori and Luan walked inside the RV, and moved towards the stacked weapons in the sofa.

"Benny told me that when his time ran out and he is no longer with us, I should take his katana. I didn't think I was going to be tough enough to do it, but after surviving a bullet to the head, I realized I am tougher than I think," said Luan. "Don't you think, Lori?"

Lori rubbed Luan's hair and exposed the scar in her temple. She saw the stitches on her head and noticed that hair wasn't growing around the scar. She covered it back with the longer strands of Luan's oily hair and nodded.

"You're a really tough girl, Luan. Tougher than I imagined."

"I think Benny knew it the whole time. Which is why I AM going to take his katana and honor him."

"We don't know what happened to him, Luan."

"But we do know that he is no longer with us. When is going to be next time we find him? How do we even know if Sherry kept him alive? Just the thought of that makes me want to break down and cry. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to take his katana and use it, the way he would want me to."

"Don't you want Benny to be alive?"

"Of course, I do. But for now, this katana is the last piece of Benny that I have."

"I understand."

Luan grabbed the katana and unsheathed it from its scabbard. She looked at the shiny blade and noticed a dark-red tint on the point of the blade. She grabbed a napkin from the cabinet above the sofa and wiped it on the blade. The napkin revealed that the tint was dried blood. She put the katana back in its sheath and tied the strap across her chest.

"It looks nice," said Lori. "It fits you."

Vonda looked visibly confused as she looked in the distance. There were a few tall buildings remaining in the skyline, the familiar New York City skyline that most people knew. The boat traveled slower and slower. As she got closer and closer to the buildings, she noticed that there were a large amount of debris of enormous size, crumbled in the ground, smoked, shattered, and bent. The boat has remained idle after a while, in which Vonda realized that the debris in the river prevented the boat from moving. The river was littered with steel poles, scrap metal, bricks, tons of glass particles, rubber tires, and even flesh. Vonda looked closer at what appeared to be a skeleton. The skeleton hung from a crooked pole, with wires wrapped around the parts where skin still stuck. Mountains of collapsed buildings covered the land for as far as the eye can see. Vonda stood back and almost stumbled to the wooden floor of the boat.

"Something wrong, Vonda?" asked Sherry, as she placed her hands on her daughter's back.

"Where are we?" asked Vonda. "What happened here?"

"We're in the Dust Zone. This place used to be New York City. But there's no city, right? So… welcome to the Dust Zone."

Missy, Becky, D, Benny, Lynn, and Lucy became horrified by what Sherry said. They looked around the former city and laid their eyes on their crumbled world. Missy was the most frightened of all, knowing that David used to live here.

"This… was New York?" stuttered Vonda.

"Yeah. I mean it's not all of it. You can still see some pieces of Harlem over there. And Yonkers over here doesn't look too bad. Did any of you live here?"

"We're… all from… Michigan," said Lynn. "Except D over there…"

"Unlike any other place, this place wasn't bombed by napalm or missiles. This looks like the work of an H-bomb."

"Why did we come here?" asked Vonda. "Is this what you wanted to show us?"

"Not at all. This is where we're supposed to meet your father."

"I told you. He's not alive anymore. Are you trying to torment me?"

"Why would I do that to my daughter?"

"I don't know! All you have been doing with me and everyone on the ship is playing mind games! You gotta stop! Just tell us why we're here!"

Sherry nodded. John, Andrew, Gina, and two other Piranhas that were maneuvering the boat stood in the main deck, watching their surroundings.

"Before the GIE, Tim told me that he was going to infiltrate the safe-zone in Detroit in order to find out more information about a general that leaded the place. General Quentin Black."

The name caused the group to shiver in fear as it instilled fear in Sherry herself.

"I see you guys know who he is. If you really think I'm a bad person, then you haven't seen this guy. Anyways, he told me about his plan. He was to go to the Detroit safe-zone with his virgin friend and some other guy who looks like him, all three using a false identity, leave once he deemed it the right time to go, make his way into Ann Arbor, and head for upstate New York. However, if he was compromised or went missing for some reason, which it looked like he did, then my sister was supposed to bring you, Vonda, to the borderline of New York and Pennsylvania. She was supposed to have a pass and Kevin and Madison, two of my people, were supposed to lead them to upstate New York."

The hostages looked at each other guiltily, understanding why the whole borderline scenario happened. Vonda shook her head.

"Aunt Meredith? She was a drunk. You guys trusted her? She got herself killed in the fifth day after the Global Infection Event! I met these people while I lived by myself and they were the ones who wanted me to come with them to a safer place!"

"Meredith died? How?"

"There was a protest that she wanted to partake in. Protest turned into a riot, and the riot police ended up shooting at them. She didn't give two shits about me whenever she drank her bottle of vodka," explained Vonda. "And why aren't we in upstate New York?"

"Tim said that in case we were both absent or unable to make it to upstate New York, we were to meet him in New York City. There are a couple Piranhas that would give him the boat ride. I didn't want to head to upstate New York because I wanted to kill George first."

"Why?" asked Lynn.

"He caused me too much pain. I can't live safe without knowing he might kill me the moment he sees me."

"Why is the plan so complicated? Why couldn't you just come to Ann Arbor?" asked Vonda.

"I had too much business to take care of in here. I know the plan is so complicated, but we're so close to completing it."

"He was shot. My father was shot. How could he come here anymore?" asked Vonda.

"He was using a false identity…" said Sherry. "Maybe he could've–"

"There's no maybe…" interrupted Lynn. "Tim Crowley died in Detroit. I overheard the soldiers. They said they identified one of the "terrorists" as Tim Crowley. They shot him! And even if they made a mistake, people were massacred by the rogue soldiers in every building that was in the safe zone! After that, the soldiers shot anyone trying to escape! And after all that, the buildings were bombed by napalm! Even if the man was able to somehow survive through the bunker that ONLY kids inhabited, he would have to escape through the massive herd that consumed almost everyone in the safe-zone! I know all of this because I've been there! I went through the horrific experiences in the godforsaken place! I lived it! And you… want to believe that Tim lived through all that? It sounded like he didn't even expect the bombings to be that early! He ran in the blind night where soldiers were clearly guarding the gates! He's not alive! He's not… alive! He's… not… ALIVE! I wish he was, but he's not!"

Lynn fell to the floor of the boat, releasing all the tears that she held inside of her. Sherry and the Piranhas looked surprised at the girl's sudden outburst. Benny and Lucy looked at Sherry and nodded. Vonda sniffled and looked at her mother.

"Do you believe me now?" asked Vonda.

"The buildings. Soldiers. Napalm. The bunker. Gates," said Sherry. "Only someone who was in the safe-zone would've gotten all those details correct."

Sherry swallowed really hard. The hostages and the Piranhas looked at her. She knew she had to say something soon. The truth really caught Sherry off-guard as all what she did meant nothing. Her goal of keeping Vonda safe was in vain. She knew that she resented her own mother, and without her father's love, there was no use in living a peaceful life with Vonda. Sherry's beautiful daughter would choose to live with the group instead of with her as they continue their journey to Houlton.

"I suppose I can't come with you guys to Houlton, right?"

"Only if you allow George to capture you and keep you captive until we go to Houlton. Then whatever system he wants to try, he will try it. But believe me, if it weren't for him, you would be dead by now."

Sherry had to face the truth. She made new enemies and lost almost all of her allies. She was left with one goal which was to kill George. However, she needs to be alive in order to do that, but if she were to give up the hostages, it would mean the death of her.

"I'm a reasonable person…" whispered Sherry to herself. "Vonda, I'm sorry."

-May 30, 2016-

"Thank you guys, for following the plan," said Sherry.

"Of course. Before we leave for upstate New York, you gotta know, there is a shit ton of traffic…" warned Andrew.

"Oh, I'm aware," said Sherry. "I can't leave yet. I need to come back to the tunnel once the roamers are gone. Start calling them roamers, by the way. Anyways, once he is eliminated, we can continue to conduct our business."

"Of course, Sherry," agreed John. "Do you want the honor of killing Agent Shitcane?"

"You know me, John. I do want the honor," said Sherry. "Where are the others?"

"They're heading for Hudson right now. Boomer, Russ, Gina, everyone's there. We even got Doug and Bertie in the warehouse."

"Great. So we can use boats at our disposal."

Sherry, Andrew, and John walked to their car. They noticed that some of the dead agents were starting to stand up.

"Shit. Do you think you can shoot the door handle or something?" asked May.

"Yeah," said George, aiming Sherry's pistol at the door handle.

George pressed the trigger and heard a click. May looked at George. He pressed the trigger again and heard more clicks. George sighed.

"Let me try to break it with the hatchet," said May.

May swung the hatchet at the door handle, but the sturdy handle did not budge. She swung it again, but nothing happened. George and May looked around the room. They tried to look for keys or something to help them break out of the small room.

"We're stuck!" yelled May. "God! I'm so stupid! I should've killed Sherry whenever I had the chance!"

"We don't know what could've happened if you killed her," said George. "Her henchmen could have killed us if they found her dead. Maybe not."

Martin opened up the freezer and groaned as he pressed his chest. He looked at his hands and saw blood. He then looked at his shirt and saw that there were holes in it. He walked slowly towards the banging while pressing the wound that caused him the most pain. The banging stopped, but Martin continued to walk towards the door. His vision was fading and he held out one arm while walking, causing him to appear like a zombie. He groaned as he quietly coughed out blood.

"There's someone outside," said George.

"That looks like Martin. Fuck! It looks like he turned into one of those fucking monsters already!"

"I'm… not a monster," groaned Martin.

"Shit, you're still alive?" asked May.

Martin unlocked the door handle and pulled it open. As he pulled the door open, he fell to the ground and was knocked out. May and George looked at him curiously and saw blood pouring out his chest.

"Agent Briggs!" shouted May. "Get up! Briggs!"

"Martin's heart stopped," whispered George, as he took his hand out of the man's chest. "He just saved our lives."

"With the cost of his own…" whispered May. "Thank you, Martin. Your sacrifice should not be forgotten."

May grabbed Martin's pistol and checked the magazine. May held the gun and ran ahead of George as they escaped the basement. Both agents ran up the stairs and met a few zombies by the door in the ground floor. May quickly nudged George and handed him the hatchet. George grabbed the hatchet and began to take out the zombies.

May fired her gun at a zombie's head, causing blood to spring out of its head as it collapsed to the floor. George lifted his hatchet and waited for a zombie to get closer to him. Once the zombie was ready to lunge towards him, George swung the hatchet down its skull. The zombie fell to the ground with the hatchet stuck on its head. George pressed his foot against the zombie's chest and pulled the hatchet out of the zombie's skull.

"This way!" yelled May.

George started breathing heavily, losing his energy faster than he previously did when confronting his enemies. He stood low, his foot splashing on a puddle of zombie blood and human blood. The sound of the puddles reminded him of his dehydration. His face flushed as the immense summer heat beat down on him. However, he could not sweat. His mouth was dry and his eyes felt hot.

"Are you alright, George?" asked May.

"I… need… some… water," panted George as he started to get lightheaded.

"Alright, we'll get some water, but first we need to escape!"

George shook his head and focused on the zombies that were walking towards May. George swung the hatchet at the zombie at his neck, creating a huge gash around the neck. The zombie fell along with George. Its teeth was covered in thick saliva along with bloody gunk. The zombie bit over and over, trying to sink its teeth in George's face. George held the zombie away from him by grabbing its arms. Its hands were trying to claw George's stomach, but he resisted with all his might. A gunshot went off and then another one. George was breathing faster and faster as he was losing his grip on the zombie's arms. Suddenly, the zombie was grabbed by May and shoved away from George. The zombie rolled around the puddle of blood before it regain control of its movements.

"Did you get hurt?" asked May.

"No. No, I'm good."

May looked at the zombie walking towards the duo and she quickly shot the zombie in the head. She then helped pick up George. The warehouse was clear of zombies, meaning that May and George could escape the warehouse successfully. Both of them walked towards the open entrance and peeked outside.

"Andrew! John! Mind shooting those pigs down?" exclaimed Sherry.

"Not at all, Sherry!" shouted Andrew.

George and May quickly moved their heads inside the warehouse. The Piranha brothers shot at the rising zombies near the line of vehicles. The firing of UZIs frightened the agents, but they realized none of the bullets were heading towards them. They both sighed in relief and peeked out once more, watching John and Andrew kill zombies. May looked around the line of vehicles and saw Sherry watching both brothers. May then looked at her car.

"George," whispered May. "Take my keys. Run to my car over there. I'll cover you."

George nodded. May handed her keys to George and she checked how many bullets her pistol had.

"Ready?" asked May.

"I'm ready."

George ran ahead towards the car as the Piranha brothers reloaded their UZIs. May came out of the warehouse, firing her gun at their direction. Sherry quickly hid behind a car and fired her pistol multiple times. May's shoulder was struck by the bullet, catching her off-guard. She dropped to the ground, finding herself unable to move her right shoulder. George quickly went behind a car and in front of the driver's seat of May's car. He opened the door to the car and inserted the keys in the car.

"Sometimes, it's too easy," said Sherry. "Let's go."

George started the white car as Sherry, John, and Andrew ran towards the agents. Setting the car in reverse and pushing the gas pedal with his foot, he drove away from the Piranhas. John and Andrew lifted their UZIs at the car.

"No! Save the ammo. We're going to need it," ordered Sherry. "Let Cane go."

As George set the gear to drive, Sherry walked towards May and continued to stare at George. She then looked down at the wounded agent.

"Didn't think I was prepared for you guys?" mocked Sherry. "I knew those gunshots weren't from any of my men and women, because they ain't here."

May panted as she rolled over to her side and attempted to grab her pistol with her other arm. Sherry stepped on her arm.

"Woah, woah, what do you think you're doing? How foolish! You'll meet George soon. Right after this."

Sherry held her pistol aiming at May's head, while she lied in the ground, awaiting her fate. Sherry kept her foot on her arm and pulled the trigger to her gun. A loud gunshot went off. George looked in the rear-view mirror of May's car as he drove away. Blood quickly splattered out of his former boss's head. Sherry looked at the driver's seat of the car and smiled menacingly.

"I'm sorry, May. I'm sorry, I couldn't save you," sniffled George. "I'll make sure… you, Martin, and all the other agents that Sherry killed will see her get punished… by justice."

Sherry, John, and Andrew stared at the white car as it ventured deeper into the city and disappearing. John nudged Sherry.

"Do we go after him?"

"No," responded Sherry. "We have some of ours looking surrounding the city. We even have some as far as Rochester. They'll find him."

-Day 52-

The dust was carried by the wind in multiple directions. The morning sun started rising, but there were no chirps to accompany it. The sound of nature has completely faded as the destruction of mankind remained lurking in the area. The skeleton continued to stare southwards over the distance as it hung from the pole.

The debris in the river rocked the boat as it moved very slowly up the river and along Harlem. Sherry stood next to Vonda, gazing at the gray water. She sighed and turned towards Vonda. The boat ride was becoming smoother although it was still rocked by smaller pieces of floating debris.

"What is it?" asked Vonda, not making eye contact with her mother.

"We're going back to Albany. There's no use remaining in the Dust Zone."

""Congratulations. I knew that from the start."

"Look, Vonda. I know that I'm never going to receive the same love that your father had, but I want to start somewhere. What would it take for you to forgive me?"

"My dad spent a decade raising me by himself. He was there when I was having silly nightmares about spiders crawling in my bed. He was there when I was learning how to ride a bike. He was there when I shot bullseye after bullseye with my bow and arrows. We laughed together and he always knew how to comfort me when I felt down. You abandoned my father and I for what? Because you wanted to lead a gang of murderous hoodlums?"

"That's not… why I left. Times were hard and our financial situation was in trouble. Your father refused to consider moving out of Ann Arbor. He didn't have a job so he was being a burden on us. Because of my experience in the Coast Guard, I was able to find work in the Piranha syndicate. However, the former leader feared that I would rat him out at any time so he made me put down an address. I didn't want you and your father to be involved in the crosshairs, so I moved out. Since your father and I never legally divorced, I didn't have to send alimony checks, but I sent money regardless. Money to make sure you grew up safe and happy. The whole goal was to secure your financial future, because my future was already dead. Looking back at it now, there are a lot of things I wish I can change, but the past is the past. There is no going back now. Of course, I did not expect your father's crazy idea about zombies roaming the Earth would actually happen, but it did, and what I did was basically for nothing."

Sherry started tearing up.

"There is no future of yours to secure. There is nothing. Just this fucking shit pile of a world."

Vonda was speechless. She looked back into her past and starting piecing some clues together. It all made sense to her. There was no way her mother was lying to her.

"I had no idea…" whispered Vonda. "I still can't forgive you. But I don't want you to die. Not if you did all that. I want to give you a second chance of a different type. I want you to leave our group alone, and we'll leave your group alone. You can become someone new, meet someone new, restart your life in this new world. Would you take this second chance?"

"I would consider it," said Sherry.

The sun rose higher and higher into the air. There was barely any debris in the river. The tumbled skyscrapers were gone from sight. New mossy and abandoned buildings filled the skyline. The boat came to a stop by a dock. By the docks was a blue van.

"What's going on?" asked Lynn.

"I'm getting myself a second chance," replied Sherry. "Andrew! John! Gina! Doug! Bertie! You know what to do."

Andrew held Becky's arms and forced her out of the boat and into the docks. John did the same, but with Lynn. Gina grabbed D and led him into the van along with the others. Following her was Doug, who forced Benny out. Last but not least was Bertie, who led Lucy into the van. All of the hostages were pushed inside the van, with Doug in the driver's seat and Bertie in the passenger seat. The three other Piranhas sat next to their hostages with weapons in their hands.

"Where are they going?" asked Vonda.

"Somewhere safe," replied Sherry as she grabbed Missy's shoulder. "No doubt, David and the others are going to be on this road. I heard what they did in Hudson. They'll see us. And then I will release you both."

"Why am I being released?" asked Missy.

"You heard what I told Vonda. David is going to need someone close to him to tell him the truth," replied Sherry.

Hours after hours in the hot sun, Sherry awaited David and his group. Missy and Vonda were eating sandwiches as they wondered what happened in Hudson. The quiet roaring of an RV came closer and closer, until it came to a stop.

"Here they are," said Sherry.

David, Richard, George, Lori, and Sergei came out of their vehicles with their weapons pointed at Sherry. Sherry smiled and raised her hands. Missy and Vonda looked surprised as they saw the group once again. Sherry stepped out of the boat and motioned both Vonda and Missy to follow her. Richard saw Missy and lowered his Python. George, Lori, and Sergei lowered their guns when they saw Vonda coming out of the boat.

"I surrender," said Sherry. "Not only do I surrender myself, I surrender Missy and my daughter, Vonda. No tricks. No games. I give myself up."

David and George walked towards Sherry. David kept his gun pointed at Sherry while George took out his handcuffs and arrested Sherry. Sherry closed her eyes as David lowered his gun. Sherry frowned and was moved towards the road.

"What about my Miranda rights?" asked Sherry.

"Shut up," replied George. "Where are the others?"

"I know I have a right to remain silent. I'll use it."

"Oh yeah? We'll see."

The group looked through the windows of their vehicles and gazed at Sherry, the leader of the Piranhas, captured by David and George. Vonda and Missy followed both men. Missy smiled as she saw Richard and walked towards him. Richard hugged and kissed his wife as they stood near the river. Lori, with her cane, walked towards Vonda and hugged her, confusing her since she didn't know the girl that well. The two walked back to the RV.

Sherry was handcuffed to a pipe in the RV. She looked at each member of the group inside of the RV. Dana, Tabby, Rusty, and Zach were inside of Sergei's car. Wavehead sat with Luna and Sam in Chunk's car. Only David, Richard, Missy, George, and Vonda were inside of the RV.

"This place smells like shit," groaned Sherry.

The vehicles turned around and were droven north along the Hudson River.

The house that the group sheltered in the night before had an attic, which was the perfect place to put Sherry. George moved Sherry out of the RV, with everyone staring at her once again. Luan resented the woman for capturing Benny, and for holding him in an unknown place. Dana and Bobby wanted to know where Becky was hidden. Wavehead longed for his friend D, causing him to hate the woman. All of the Loud children looked at Sherry with disgust as they knew that Sherry knew where Lynn and Lucy were hidden. Sherry continued to look ahead as the door to the house was opened. Four candles flickered.

"The past few days were hard," said Lori as the group surrounded the candles, acting as if it were their campfire. "When we're missing the people that we love, it feels hard to keep on going in a world that we hate."

Luan entered the bathroom in the RV, and closed the door. She looked into the mirror and grabbed her long hair.

"But we have to remember, there are other people that we love. There are other people that love us back. You may love your friends, but they come and go. Family… is for life."

Luan took out Leni's pair of scissors. She took out her yellow scrunchie, causing her ponytail to go down. She noticed how long her hair was as it reached her skirt.

"Remember what I said earlier in Royal Woods about sticking together as a group? I was wrong. We're not going to stick together as a group. We're going to stick together as a family."

The sound of snips and cuts were heard in the bathroom. Locks of hairs fell into the floor next to Luan's shoes. She continued to look into the mirror as she cut more of her hair off.

"We are going to find our missing family! The ones that we accompanied in our journey ahead, and the ones that await us in the journey ahead! And then, they'll no longer be missing!"

Sherry was tied into a chair with a rope across her chest. Her hands were handcuffed behind the chair and she was sweating. She then smiled at the idea of a second chance. A second chance would either have the best results for Sherry or the worst consequences for David's group. Or both. She was one step closer to ruining the group. She was one step closer to killing George. She considered Vonda's idea about a second chance. She considered it and made a choice. Starting a new life without Vonda was not an option. The following days promised heartbreak.

* * *

 _ **The last sentence is true! Don't worry, guys! I won't drag the Piranha arc for much longer, but their influence will still be felt for a long time, whether subtle or not! I like Sherry and her cocky personality, that it makes me wonder, should she meet her fate in any of the next couples of chapters, or should she take the second chance and live? And as for the conflicting leaders, are you Team David or Team Lori? Remember to follow this story if you haven't already, and make sure to leave a review if you have any comments about the story! See you all in the next chapter!**_


	10. The Race

**_Hey guys! Looks like I'm right on time! Two stories in a month! Anyways, let's get right into the story._**

* * *

A couple bullets fell to the ground, causing the young woman to grumble. She tied her fair-haired ponytail into a bun as she looked around the destroyed city. After fixing her hair, the woman bent down and picked up the four bullets that fell to the ground. She opened up the cylinder for her revolver and placed the bullets in their respective chambers. She closed the cylinder and looked around the Dust Zone. She looked at a pole and saw a skeleton hanging from it, with a large X marked across its skull. She walked closer to it, inspecting the other bones. She then looked down at the debris in the river and noticed something strange.

"What is it with the X's?"

An X was marked across another human skull, which made the woman feel uneasy. A low humming noise that resembled thunder in the distance joined the sound of water dripping from a destroyed building near the Hudson River. The woman took out a map from her safari vest. She looked at it and wondered how she was going to cross the Hudson River.

"I could just walk on the debris."

The woman continued to observe her surroundings. She frowned.

"Can't believe this is where David used to live at. Must be hard seeing this."

The woman started to cross the debris that covered the Hudson River.

 **Chapter 10: The Race**

 **I - Interrogation Room**

The lantern glimmered softly while hanging from a pipe in the ceiling above a certain prisoner. Out the window was a moon shining on the silent house and the land around it. Sweat and blood dripped to the wooden plank floor. Muffled panting and heavy breathing came from the prisoner. The chair barely budged from its spot and the ropes did not loosen. The noise of punching and beating filled the attic again. A towel was pulled from the prisoner's mouth.

Richard's red knuckles were becoming bruised as he pulled his hands away from Sherry's face. Sherry's lips were cut and throbbing while blood ran down her chin. Her left cheek was purple and her nose was slightly cut. She spit out blood and gasped as she looked down on the floor. George signaled Richard to halt the harsh interrogation that Sherry was going through.

"Your wife never mentioned how abusive you are," gasped Sherry, putting up a small grin. "I would hate to be her when you're angry."

"I would do anything to keep my wife and the people I love safe. I will hurt anyone who stands in the way," replied Richard.

"Can you tell us where you're keeping the children?" asked George.

Sherry was silent. The creaking of the wooden floor was the only noise that was heard besides the woman's heavy breaths. George sighed and looked at Richard.

"We gotta try something else."

"I could go on all night," said Richard. "Let's try it again."

"No, she won't crack. Not that way at least."

Richard cocked his gun.

"We don't need her," said Richard. "Her daughter knows where their van went. They headed north. I wouldn't even be surprised if they went back to Albany!"

"Most likely. But she's dangerously unpredictable. For all we know, they could be lying in the bottom of the Hudson River."

Sherry looked at George and smiled. She looked down in the floor, appearing to stifle her laughter. Richard wiped his knuckles on his clothes. George looked confused and irritated by Sherry's expressions.

"What's so funny?" asked George.

"Your stupidity. Why would I kill the kids? I need them alive," replied Sherry.

"What are you talking about?" asked Richard.

"Did you even try to hold a real conversation with my daughter?" asked Sherry. "Try doing it this time. Maybe you'll find out what I want. Nothing that you guys do will make me talk. Go ahead. Talk to my daughter. Try to actually care about her."

"As if you do," said Richard.

"I do, actually. And when you talk to her and don't believe her, then talk to your wife. She'll say the same thing."

"David, we're going to go downstairs and talk to her daughter," said George.

"Got it. I'm going to stay here and watch her," said David as he came out of the corner of the room with his arms crossed.

Richard and George knocked on the wooden planks that contained the ladders for the attic. Sergei opened up the attic and lowered the ladder down to the floor. Richard and George climbed down the ladder. Once both men got out of the ladder, George told Sergei to close it. Sergei lifted the ladder back into the attic and closed the attic door.

"Did you find out where the kids are?" asked Sergei.

"No. Where's Vonda?" asked George.

"She's outside with some of the others."

"Is Missy out there?" asked Richard.

"Yeah. She's keeping watch."

Richard and George walked down the stairs in the house that closely resembled the former Loud residence. They saw Lori, Luan, Wavehead, Dana, Luna, and Sam downstairs. Lori looked at the two men and jumped up from the couch.

"Did she say anything about where she kept them?" asked Lori.

George shook his head.

"Not yet," said Richard.

Richard and George exited the house and saw the rest of the group hanging around a small campfire. They were outside in order to have the last pieces of their innocence preserved. Many of the children did not need to hear the sounds of Sherry being interrogated harshly. Especially Vonda. Missy sat on top of the RV, when she saw Richard and George approaching her. Vonda was below the RV, staring at her bow. Missy climbed down the RV.

"Did she say anything about where the others are?" asked Missy.

"No. She just mentioned something about you guys knowing what she wanted," replied George.

"Have any idea what she's talking about?" asked Richard.

"Is she talking about my idea?" asked Vonda.

"What idea?"

"There's something important that she needs to tell you," said Missy.

"When I was talking to… her, she told me that she wanted a life with me. However, she knows that I would choose you guys over her, so I came up with a plan. I want us to give her a second chance. A fresh start."

George scoffed. Richard looked confused.

"Wait. You didn't let me finish. She's not going to come with us. Definitely not. But we should let her go. Leave her alone. We can go our separate ways and never let her see us again."

"Why should we do that?" asked George.

"She's my mom!"

"She might be your mother, but she's not your mom. Before the apocalypse ever happened, what were the chances that you were going to see her again?"

"I might've never called her mom, but she still cares about me. She cares enough about me to leave us alone."

"And how do we know that? You guys didn't reveal where we were going, right?"

"Actually. We did. I did," admitted Missy. "She interrogated us for our destination."

"What! What did she do to you?" asked Richard.

"Nothing really. She threatened to shoot Becky, though. So, I had to tell her."

"Why should we trust her, then?" asked George.

"She wanted to know our location for a peace of mind. She fears you. It might not look like it, but she fears for her life because she knows you're going to try kill her. Besides, threats are kind of weak for her standards. Kinda expected her to rough me up a little. I guess she didn't want to look like the villain."

Richard looked at his fist and noticed that it was bruising. He frowned and looked at his wife.

"What makes you think she deserves a second chance, Vonda?" asked George.

"She only wanted to make sure that my father and I were financially secure. She wanted to pay for my tuitions. She cared about my future. Just because that future can never happen again doesn't mean that she doesn't care anymore. The whole reason she joined the Piranhas was because of me! I feel like this is the only thing I can do to repay her. It's not much but she would appreciate being let free."

"What if she decides to terrorize other people?" asked George.

"With what men?" asked Vonda.

Richard and Missy walked towards Carol. Vonda continued to stare at George.

"If it helps with your decision, I just want to let you know that we were waiting for my dad. My dad, who she believed was still alive. She knew that I loved him, and so she had this COMPLICATED plan that was going to reunite us all together. However, Lynn was able to convince her that… he was not alive anymore. And that's why she freed me"

Richard and Missy walked back. Richard had bandages wrapped around his knuckles while Missy held his arms.

"She's right. I can explain the plan to you if you want me to," told Missy to George.

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Woah, hold on. What plan?" asked Richard. "I thought Vonda already explained it."

"A different plan," said Missy.

Lori and Luan walked outside of the house. Lori carried her AK-47, a knife, and a flashlight. Luan was ahead of her with Benny's katana since Lori's makeshift cane slowed her down. They walked towards the front yard while Luan tied her hair into a small ponytail with one of Leni's hair ties. Two strands of hair stood out, but she didn't mind it, as long as it didn't block her vision. The empty road showed no signs of nearby roamers, so both girls ventured on a little further. Luan unsheathed the katana and walked inside an empty house.

"Why now?" asked Lori. "We can do this at another time."

"I'll feel better knowing that I can use this properly," replied Luan.

"I would feel better if you did this at daytime," said Lori. "Come on, Luan. It's literally pitch black in here!"

"Turn on the damn flashlight then! I have to learn how to use this as soon as I can!"

Lori stunned by Luan's change in her personality. However, she knew that Benny's capture evoked Luan's negative side, so she decided to leave it alone and listen to her younger sister. The flashlight revealed an empty and narrow hallway that led to the living room. Luan and Lori walked into the living room before pausing upon hearing a noise coming from the kitchen. Luan slowed down her pace and stuck closer to Lori as they both approached the kitchen. The noise grew louder.

"Do you hear that? That sounds like a… roamer," whispered Luan as she started sniffing the air. "Smells like one too."

Luan held the katana tighter and faced towards the kitchen. Lori pointed the flashlight at the kitchen and moved it around. Luan gasped and stumbled backward into Lori's arms. Goosebumps chilled both girls as the flashlight revealed the source of the sound.

Tiny spots of dried blood that stuck to the floor seemed as it was going to be a permanent stain. In the ceiling, a rope was tied on a chain that once held a chandelier, now holding a body of foul smell and diseased flesh. The roamer growled as it hung in the air with a noose around its neck. Once the roamer caught sight of the light, it started groaning louder and it raised its arms. A bite mark on its left arm was shown through its torn sweater. The rope moved slightly like a pendulum. The roamer became more and more aggressive.

Luan and Lori watched with horror in their eyes as the roamer growled loudly in the dark house. Lori found herself unable to move the flashlight away as she continued to face the hanged roamer. Luan shivered as her stomach started to twist and turn. She closed her eyes and remembered what she came to the house for.

"Lori. I'm going to slice the rope off."

"Why? You can just stab the roamer through its skull. It's not that high. Or just leave it alone."

"I'm not butchering roamers. I'm trying to learn how to defend myself with a weapon that Benny entrusted me with. Now, keep the flashlight pointed at the roamer."

Luan moved closer to the hanged roamer. She raised her katana and cut the rope like she would cut cake, with ease. The roamer dropped to the floor and Luan quickly jumped back. Luan stumbled to Lori's arms again.

"Sorry! I don't know why that surprised me," gasped Luan.

"It's okay. Now, kill it!"

Luan raised her katana and swung it downwards at the roamer's skull. The blade slashed halfway into the roamer's head, but nevertheless, it took out the roamer. Luan slightly struggled to remove the katana as the roamer dropped to the floor completely. She growled as she removed the katana from the roamer's skull.

"Are you alright?" asked Lori.

"I want to kill another one," said Luan. "I need to kill another one."

"I think I had enough. We both need some sleep. I don't remember the last time we were able to keep our eyes shut for more than ten minutes."

"But–"

"You're going to tire yourself out even more, Luan. It's stupid. It's reckless. Get some sleep."

"Fine. We got a long day ahead of us, right?"

Lori looked around the kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets. The cabinets were almost empty. She sighed and walked away from the kitchen.

"Right."

All the adults and Vonda were upstairs, below the attic. David was rubbing his chin while looking at the floor.

"Come on, David. It's not like I haven't talked to her alone," complained Vonda. "What will she even do to me?"

"Oh, nothing bad," replied George. "But she will play tricks with you. Mess with your mind. That sort of stuff."

"I'm not fooled so easily. I'm not going to fall into her manipulation. But I do want her to listen to me."

"Yes," said David. "You can go upstairs. If anything happens, stomp the floor."

Vonda nodded as Sergei opened the attic door with a broom. The ladder swung downwards and was locked halfway into the air, until Sergei pulled the ladder down to the floor. Vonda climbed upstairs and noticed how dark the room was. The lantern flickered softly as the girl slowly moved towards the woman in the chair. Sergei closed the attic door.

"Hello, my daughter. I'm not going to stay alive much longer, right?" asked Sherry.

"That's what I came here for," said Vonda.

Vonda inspected her mother's face, noticing how bruised her jaw was, how bloody and cut her lips were, and how tied up she was. She felt a ting of sympathy for her.

"About that second chance. I want you to know that the offer still remains open. It's still there. Have you made your choice?" asked Vonda.

"I have. But I don't think David and George want me to take it. Look at what they did to me."

"They did that because you're being too stubborn. You don't want to reveal where my friends are. But that's actually what I just wanted to talk about. I'm thinking that if you tell us where you're keeping them hostage, we'll let you go."

"There's a reason why I'm being quiet about where they are. Revealing their location would not do me any good. You need to understand that these people don't want me to be alive. I caused too much pain in their lives. I caused too much pain in yours."

"Isn't it better to take the chance? The longer you wait, the less my group is going to trust you. Don't you understand? They probably don't want you alive, but I do! And they respect that!"

Sherry looked at her daughter and shed a tear.

"If I tell them where I'm keeping the others, will they let me go? They're not going to keep me captive any longer?"

"Yes, I promise," replied Vonda.

"I never had the chance to tell you, but Vonda… I love you. Thank you for the second chance."

The attic door opened, and Sergei lowered the ladder down to the floor once again. Vonda climbed down the ladder, where the adults remained. Vonda fixed her red hair that reached her shoulder.

"That was quick."

"There was not much to talk about. But I got what I wanted to hear. She will take the second chance as long as she is released after she tells us what we want to hear. And what we want to hear is where our friends are, to which she will reveal. Are you guys okay with those conditions?" asked Vonda.

The adults looked at each other.

"This whole thing seems… too easy," said Richard.

"We'll give her the second chance," said David.

"What! Why?" asked George. "You know what will happen if we let her go?"

"Do you know what will happen if we don't let her go?" responded David. "Our people are going to die. We need to know where they are."

The adults remained silent.

"I'll ask her," said David.

The lantern flickered as David stood in front of Sherry. Sherry gazed at David's face, waiting for him to start the conversation. David kept his arms crossed while he looked down at the woman.

"Where is Benny? Lynn? Lucy? Becky? D?"

"Is it true? Will you guys let me go?" asked Sherry.

"Not at this moment, but yeah, we'll let you go in the morning."

"Perfect. Those guys are in a familiar place. Capital of the state. They're in my former headquarters. Albany."

"Can you tell me why you didn't release them in the first place?" asked David.

"I needed to guarantee that I was going to be released. My daughter told me about her plan while we were talking in the boat. I don't need to say anymore, do I?"

"No. That would be all. I'll be watching you all night."

"All night? I can't go to sleep like this! Tied up in a chair and shit."

"Missy! George! Richard! Come up here!"

The three adults climbed up the stairs. David motioned Sergei to close the attic door. Vonda was left alone in the floor, wondering what David called them up there for.

"What is it?" asked Missy.

"Make her go to sleep."

Missy grabbed her AR-15 and thrust the butt of the gun at the side of Sherry's jaw. Sherry was knocked unconscious, with small amounts of blood dripping from her mouth.

"Alright, she revealed the location of the captured children," said David.

"Where are the kids?" asked Missy.

"In Albany."

"Of course," sighed George. "She'll always make us come back to that goddamn place."

"The thing is," said David, "I can't trust her completely. I need someone to follow her. And it won't be you, George."

"Why?"

"The feud that you two have. I know you want to end her, but I can't have that. Richard and Missy, you guys are going to be following this woman. But I need you guys to be quiet about it. According to Vonda, she'll most likely go upstate, which means she'll most likely go to Albany as well. So, if she heads in that direction, we'll just be on her tail."

"When are we going to release her?" asked Richard.

"In the morning," replied David. "Now, George, I need you to drive Lori's van. She's not able to drive it since she's still limping around with her makeshift cane. And not a word about this plan to Vonda. Got it?"

The adults agreed. David grabbed another chair that was left in the attic and sat down there. The other adults climbed down the ladder and out of the attic. The group outside of the house walked back inside. Lori and Luan walked to the backyard where they saw the campfire being put out by Bobby. Lori limped towards Bobby and wrapped her arms around him. Luan watched the two hold each other as they walked inside the house. She followed them before being stopped by Vonda.

"You're Luan, right?"

"Yeah."

"You're alive! I heard you were shot in the head. You know Benny and the others think that you're dead? Except Lynn, she thinks that you survived somehow, and you did!"

"Benny thinks I'm… dead? How was he feeling?"

"He looked depressed. Hurt. He didn't want to talk to us at first. Let's talk about it inside the house."

Luan and Vonda went inside the house. They closed the door to the house. In the back door mat, there was spots of blood, dripped from the katana.

The birds chirped and flew away from the tree near the house as the cloudy skies reduced the strength of the summer heat. Backpacks filled with supplies were thrown into the RV. The back door of the house was opened.

Sherry walked outside with handcuffs around her wrists behind her back. She smelled the dry air and smiled. Vonda walked by her while George held her handcuffs. Sherry rubbed her jaw into her right shoulder, stinging her whenever she pressed to hard against it. George took out his keys.

"Looks like I'm acquitted, right, George? Or fuck the judicial system?"

"You're exiled. Banished. Don't ever cross paths with my group again," said George.

Sherry's handcuffs were unlocked and her wrists were free to leave. She stretched her arms forwards and let out a huge sigh of relief. She removed her small blue leather vest and looked at Vonda.

"This will probably be the last time I see you," said Sherry. "Thank you for the second chance."

Sherry handed her vest over to Vonda. Vonda slowly grabbed it, wondering why her mother didn't want it anymore. Sherry rubbed Vonda's hair and walked away. She grabbed a large stick in the ground and continued walking away from the group, in the direction towards Albany. George swallowed hard as his nemesis was simply allowed to walk away without facing the justice that she deserved. He walked away from Vonda and into Vanzilla. The rest of the group went back inside their house to eat breakfast. However, Vonda and Lori remained in the street, watching Sherry in the distance. Finally, Lori grabbed Vonda's shoulder, and both girls walked back inside the house.

 **II - Loose Ends**

Footsteps in the pavement sounded loud and clear as Sherry strode through the road. Leaves and branches rustled in the air around Sherry as she continued to move quickly ahead. She found a car nearby and she jogged towards it. She found a box of tools near the car, just sitting in the road, waiting for someone to use them. As she walked towards the box of tools, a roamer popped out from behind the car and lurched towards Sherry. She walked closer to the roamer and attempted to kick it away, but the roamer grabbed her foot before she was able to touch her chest with her boot. The roamer opened its mouth and leaned closer to her leg. Losing her balance, she fell down to the ground and groaned.

"Shit," she whispered.

The roamer did not let go of her foot after falling to the ground with Sherry. The roamer raised its head and growled at Sherry. It dragged itself closer to her body as Sherry looked for the box of tools. The box was sitting to her right as she dragged herself towards it, just like a roamer. The roamer kept chomping in the air as it neared its teeth into human flesh. Sherry grabbed the handle of the box with the tip of her fingers and pulled it closer to her. The box rolled sideways. She pulled it again, and the box rolled sideways again. She was then able to open the box with both of her hands. She wriggled her leg, pushing the roamer away from her foot, although it still kept a grip on her right boot.

"You're so fucking irritating," she hissed.

Sherry searched through the box and found a screwdriver and a monkey wrench. She grabbed the screwdriver with her left hand and the wrench with her right hand. She pulled the roamer near her by pulling her right leg closer to her chest, and she thrust the screwdriver into the roamer's scalp.

"What the fuck?"

The screwdriver was stuck on the roamer's head and was unable to fully penetrate through the skull and deep into the brain. The roamer growled louder as it was starting to claw her jeans. She smacked the roamer away with the wrench and she was able to free herself. She crouched towards the roamer and swung the wrench down at the roamer's forehead. She swung it again and again, harder with each swing. The crack of the skull was louder until all that was heard was the mushy sound that would come off of a gelatin dish splattering everywhere.

"That was so fucking disgusting. There better be something good inside the car, or else I will lose my shit."

Many yards away from the car, behind two trees, two people stalked Sherry. They watched as Sherry stood up from where she sitting at and she looked inside the car windows. The wind blew throughout the road, causing the air to be less than dry. Both stalkers crouched closer to Sherry as the winds disguised the sound of their footsteps.

"Looks like she can handle herself pretty well," whispered Missy.

"Indeed. Now, what's she doing?" Richard whispered back.

The door handle was unlocked, so Sherry opened it and looked around. She got inside the car and rummaged through the glove department and the back seats. She found nothing but bags of nuts and chips. She then attempted to get out of the back seats, but her hips pressed on the horn of the car wheel.

A loud horn sounded.

"Oh, you have to be shitting me!" she yelled in frustration.

She took a bag of nuts and stuffed it in her left pocket as she escaped from the car. Richard and Missy looked around them to see if there were any roamers nearby attracted to the horn. Sherry held the wrench in her right hand and started running away from the car in the direction towards Albany. Richard and Missy quietly followed her.

The RV moved slowly along the road that Sherry took. However, knowing that the vehicles were going to take that road, Sherry had switched roads as soon as she was out of everyone's sights. Everyone but Richard and Missy.

"So they're alive," said Dana. "They're alive, right?"

"Yes, they're alive," said David.

"What happens if they're not alive?" asked Rusty. "What if Sherry tricked us?"

"I doubt it. She cares too much about her daughter. If she did trick us, however, she'll regret it. As of right now, Richard and Missy are following her."

"They are?" asked Wavehead. "How much time are they going to take to follow her?"

"They're following her until she reaches Albany. Richard and Missy are already prepared with food and water. It shouldn't take too long since they can reach Albany by nighttime."

"Hopefully they'll be alright when we find them," said Dana. "Our friends, you know."

The vehicles continued moving ahead. In another road, Sherry was catching her breath as she knelt down to the pavement. Richard and Missy quietly drank their water and continued to watch the woman. The woman stood up and found two roamers approaching her. Richard and Missy increased their concentration on her, but then a noise came from behind them. It was the cracking of a branch and the sound of rustling leaves. Richard and Missy aimed their guns at whatever was behind them.

"Oh, fuck!" silently whispered Lori. "You guys almost gave me a heart-"

Missy grabbed her, covered her mouth, and pinned her to the ground as quickly and softly as she could. Sherry stood up and looked around the trees, trying to pinpoint where the noise of the rustling leaves came from. Sherry saw a couple leaves move from where the three stalkers watched her. As she moved closer, a squirrel dashed across the road from where the rustling leaves were, catching Sherry's attention. The squirrel ran into the trees in the other side of the road. Sherry took her eyes off of the squirrel and prepared to kill the two approaching roamers.

Missy took her hands off of Lori's mouth and wiped it on the pile of leaves underneath her.

"What are you doing here?" mouthed Missy.

"I was following you here!"

"We know. What are you doing here?" mouthed Richard.

"I want to follow Sherry too!"

"Did you follow us this whole time?"

"Yes! Sherry's leaving! Let's go!"

"You gotta go back with-! You know what? Okay. Fine. Follow us. But you gotta be quiet," whispered Richard, as Sherry moved further and further away.

"It's going to be a long walk," whispered Missy. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah. I can handle it, though."

"You're a lot tougher than I thought, Lori. But foolish. And reckless. Ever thought about joining the military before?"

"Eh, I always saw myself as a CEO in the future of some business in Michigan."

The three stalkers continued to follow Sherry as she remained unaware of their hidden presence. The sun continued to dive into the horizon as the stalkers were on Sherry's tracks. Richard and Missy were focused on Sherry from many meters away while Lori felt exhausted under the summer heat and the immense pressure that she felt in her foot. She always hated to admit that she was wrong, but Lori didn't have a choice. She would have to take a break before she injures herself.

"Hey, Missy," whispered Lori.

"Yes, Lori?"

"Remember that day when there was that herd? In New York. In this state. In the start, I mean, near the border of the state. Remember when we learned about the trick with the eyes? Twisting the knife into the roamers' eyes?"

"Yeah? I do remember it. It was a month ago, Lori."

"Remember how we all felt like the day after the herd attacked us? Well…"

"Don't tell me you're exhausted," sighed Missy.

"It's not that I can't keep going on. I just… need a break. That's all. A couple minutes can't hurt, right?"

Richard and Missy looked at each other. Richard seemed as if he was going to say something, but Missy was the first to break the silence.

"I understand. I do remember that day and the day after it. I remember how exhausted you were, but I also remember how emotionally broken you were. You deserved your rest then and you deserve your rest now. I know how it feels like to lose your little sister," said Missy.

"I'm going to keep following Sherry. You guys stay here. I'll-" said Richard before being interrupted by his wife.

"No, you shouldn't. She just stopped. I think she's taking a break as well. Perfect timing,"

"Wait, you had a little sister?" asked Lori.

"Yes. Car accident. She lost her life to some drunk driver. It was about ten years ago and I still remember arriving to the hospital where they took my little sister. The doctors couldn't stabilize her, so she lost her life, while the other driver was able to walk out of the hospital a few weeks later. When I arrived at the hospital, I saw the doctors rush into a room. The room that she was in. I walked in there and saw a doctor writing down the time of her death. Eight fifty-two. I was never able to tell her how much I loved her, or even a proper goodbye. She was just taken from my life from circumstances that neither one of us can control. The point is, no matter how angry I felt towards the driver, I wasn't able to do anything to him. I can't kill him because that's immoral, so he was able to roam the Earth for a couple more years. Just like the undead beings we face. But I learned to move on from it. I accepted how things were, but it wasn't so easy. Besides my husband providing me unconditional love, I was able to move on by keeping a piece of my sister with me. Her vest. The same one I'm wearing now."

"You knew I have been angry at the world for my little sister's death. Angry at the roamers. Angry at the gangsters. You knew."

"I saw you the other night when we were at the cabin. Now, I know that you really don't have a piece of Lola to carry with you, but you do have the love of your siblings. And your boyfriend, Bobby. And even us. We're family, right?"

"Right," said Lori. "Thanks. That was really helpful."

"I was just speaking from my mind," replied Missy.

"Sorry for interrupting, but it looks like a van is approaching Sherry. Heads up. It might belong to one of the Piranhas."

Missy and Lori stood up, taking cover behind some trees. Their footsteps stayed silent as they approached Sherry. Sure enough, a black van braked as soon as it neared Sherry. Sherry smiled and walked slowly towards the van.

"It's about damn time. Give me something to drink. I'm thirsty as hell," Sherry panted. "We gotta go to Albany ASAP. David and the others are heading there. We need to stage an ambush. Scare the others away, but capture George."

"What about the prisoners?" asked the driver.

"We'll kill them. We have no need of them anymore. But hurry. The race has just begun, and David is probably already close to Albany."

Richard, Missy, and Lori looked at each other. They were all puzzled by the van's surprising and sudden arrival. None of them were able to come up with a decision to whether they should continue to follow Sherry or if they should stop her. However, as Richard and Lori tried to come up with ideas, Missy jumped out of the woods, pointing her rifle at the van.

"Stop right there!" shouted Missy.

"Christ!" gasped Sherry. "Doug, give me a pistol."

"Here's your ol' reliable," said the driver.

Doug handed Sherry her .45 ACP pistol. She jumped out of the van and her smile faded away as she noticed that Missy had her gun pointed at her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" asked Sherry. "Weren't you supposed to leave me alone a while ago?"

"Yeah, but I had a bad feeling in my gut that you weren't going to do something right. Looks like my gut was right. What is this about the race to Albany? Killing our people?" asked Missy. "Vonda gave you another chance for a reason!"

"Right. If you lower your gun and leave, I promise I won't kill your people."

"I don't believe you. Tell your driver to get out of the van."

Sherry whispered something to the driver in the van. The driver seemed to be whispering back, but Missy could not make out what he was saying. She walked closer to the van sitting in the middle of the road. Richard and Lori watched out for any nearby roamers, but there weren't any. Not yet at least.

"What's the hold up over there?" asked Missy.

The driver got out of the car and lifted his hands up while holding a pistol in one of his hands.

"Drop your weapon!"

Doug, the driver, looked at Sherry. She nodded. He turned to look at Missy and began to lower his weapon to the floor. Moving at a slow pace, Missy's patience was tested. Missy aimed her gun at Doug, and watched as he continued to move his hands slowly towards the ground. He knelt as he kept his grip on the pistol. He then came to a stop, still gripping the chamber of his pistol, all while keeping his glare at Missy's face. His hands hovered a couple inches above the pavement.

"Well?" asked Missy. "Are you going to drop it or not?"

Seeing her chance, Sherry raised her pistol quicker than Missy could turn her gun towards her. Having the woman in her sights, Sherry fired her gun at the woman, striking her in the chest. A red gaping hole appeared between her vest and in her shirt as she dropped to the floor. As her arms fell to the ground, her grip on her rifle loosened and she coughed out a small amount of blood.

"NO!" yelled Richard.

Richard came out of the shrubs that he and Lori were hiding in, shooting his Python at the two Piranhas. Doug entered halfway inside driver's seat as he grabbed the grip on his pistol. His first, second, and third shot missed Sherry as she jumped behind the car. She shot a couple bullets at Richard, all which missed him and hit the trees near Lori instead. A few roamers came out of the trees that the stalkers were hiding in and walked towards the shooters. Richard hid behind a car and he shot his fourth shot at a roamer that was approaching him. Doug shot a couple bullets at the car before closing the door and starting the vehicle. Sherry jumped inside the van while Richard came out of his hiding spot. Richard aimed his revolver at Sherry and teared up before he pulled the trigger. Suddenly, a loud gunshot roared and Richard flinched. His revolver and right thumb flew out of his hands and into the ground.

Sherry closed the rear doors of the van. Lori covered her mouth with her hands as her eyes widened. Richard stumbled to the floor and attempted to grab his revolver with his left hand. He kept losing his balance as he was unable to properly place his right hand into the ground. Sherry opened one of the rear doors of the van and aimed her pistol at the man. Lori came out of the shrubs and shot a burst of bullets into the van. Sherry ducked to the floor of the van as Doug drove it away from the scene. Richard chased after them, blood dripping from his missing thumb and a gun in his left hand.

Lori ran towards Missy, limping as fast she could. She dropped her cane to the ground and noticed that Missy was still alive. Lori dropped to her knees, scraping it as she moved closer to Missy.

"I don't remember it hurting this much," groaned Missy.

"You're going to be okay. You'll be fine. Just stay strong!"

Lori looked around for a safe place to drag Missy at. She looked at the car that Richard hid behind in and decided to drag Missy there. Missy groaned harder as Lori pulled her closer to the car. A gunshot rang from a couple dozen meters away.

"Tell my husband I love him," whispered Missy weakly.

"No! You're going to be alright. It's just… tell me how to patch you up!"

Missy lifted herself slightly so her back can lie on the rear bumper of the car. The rear bumper of the car touched the ground as it was destroyed by unknown forces that the group will never know about but it now serves as a place for Missy to rest in.

"Lori. It's too late. My heart… it's ripped, I think."

There was silence. Lori looked into Missy's eyes. She then shook her head.

"No. That's not fair. It's not fair!"

"Lori! Lori. It's alright," groaned Missy as she starting closing her eyes. "I hope you get to see your parents. Remember, don't lose sight of what's good and bad. Sometimes…"

Missy hacked strongly into the ground where splatters of blood lied. She then sighed.

"Sometimes, you have to do things you don't like, and it might feel like you're losing your humanity, but… you have to do it with good intentions. Lead your family. Show them what's right. I believe in you, Lori."

The sound of the van appeared again and it came closer to the two women. Lori looked around to see where the sound was coming from as she wiped a tear off from her right eye. The van approached the two women as Sherry opened the door again. Lori ducked and covered hear head. The van made a U-turn and Sherry was able to see both women in the ground, hiding behind the car.

"Time to finish the job," shouted Sherry. "I hate loose ends."

Sherry aimed her pistol at Missy and fired it once more. The bullet struck her head, causing her entire body to lean stiff against the car. Sherry aimed her gun at Lori. A bullet struck the license plate near Lori as she ran away from the car. She grabbed her rifle and unloaded the entire magazine on the van, scaring the two Piranhas away.

"Drive, Doug, drive! This girl is going apeshit on us!"

Lori tossed her AK-47 to the ground and ran towards the van, even though she knew she couldn't catch up to it. The van made a turn and then another one to put the two Piranhas on the road back to Albany.

Richard arrived at the intersection where the Piranhas made a turn with their van, and he decided to run back to where Lori and Missy were. Lori stood still, traumatized by Missy's sudden death. Richard stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw Missy. He walked closer to Missy, noticing the bullet hole in her forehead. Richard lied on the ground, holding his hands tightly, and released his tears as the love of his life no longer became part of his apocalyptic life. The wind brushed on Lori's face and hair, revealing tiny drops of blood on the right side of her hair.

The RV engine hummed as it approached the location of the source of the gunshots that they were hearing. David noticed that there was a person with fair hair behind a car with her face hidden from his view. He drove the RV closer to the destroyed car and stopped it. David stepped out of the RV, while George stepped out of Vanzilla. They walked closer to the car, holding their guns. David noticed on the ground that there was an AR-15, a makeshift cane, an AK-47, and small puddles of blood. Suddenly the person with fair hair stood up, revealing herself to be Lori.

"Lori?" David said in surprise. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Lori's trauma revealed itself in her eyes as she continued to stare at David. She shivered softly, as the temperature of the air began to drop into a mild one.

"What happened, Lori? What are you doing out here?" asked George.

The passengers got out of their vehicles wondering what the situation was outside. Richard then stood up from behind the car, his eyes glossy and red, and with blood dripping from his hands.

"Carol. Patch me up," said Richard, his voice broken.

Carol gasped as she saw Richard's right hand, missing a thumb. She grabbed his hands gently, taking him inside the RV. David walked behind the car and he felt his heart drop. He remained silent. Most of the group members walked towards David and saw what surprised him. Missy was sitting in the ground, with a hole in her chest and a hole in a forehead. Her lifeless eyes stared into the distance before David peacefully closed them. He gently took off the dog tags around Missy's neck and stored it in his pockets. David and Sergei looked at each other and nodded. Sergei grabbed Missy, lifted her, and walked towards the woods, where Richard accompanied him.

"Did Sherry do this?" asked David. "We saw a van coming in this direction and we thought it belonged to her or one of her people."

Lori looked at David silently and nodded her head. David pinched his nose and sighed heavily. Lori walked away, heading to where Missy was going to be buried at.

Lori and Richard took the vest out of Missy's body.

Sergei dug a long hole using Lucy's shovel that was kept in the RV.

Richard lowered Missy into the hole softly.

A wood plank was being written on by Richard.

The wood plank served as a tombstone, which read:

MISSY BOLTS

February 14, 1978 - July 23, 2016

"You know what we have to do, right?" asked Richard.

"Yes," said George. "No capturing her this time. No second chances."

George looked at David. David turned to look at the group. Lori leaned her head on Bobby's shoulder while holding Missy's vest, finding comfort by him and in the vest. Dana stood next to the girl who had strikingly similar hair to her. As a roamer approached, the girl moved away from Dana and was ready to unsheathe her katana. However, Sam stabbed the roamer in the skull with her ice pick, which stopped Luan in her tracks.

"And this is why I announce… that we have to eliminate all of the Piranhas!" declared David. "They're a threat to this world. We have to end the threat. Then we'll no longer be hunted."

Fury boiled up in Vonda. Of course, Sherry did this. Of course, Sherry did that. It's Sherry. Why wouldn't she do it? Vonda felt stupid for giving her poor excuse of a mother a second chance at life. Vonda fully resented her mother at this point, and it seemed as if there was no going back.

The group walked back to their respectives vehicles as the race to Albany was set in motion. Sherry's headstart gives her a large advantage, but with Albany being a couple miles away, there was no telling who would decide the fate of the hostages. The RV, Vanzilla, Sergei's car which was formerly Chaz's, and Chunk's van which is now Carol's, moved to return to the former headquarters of the Piranhas.

 **III - Eight Fifty-Two**

A low humming echoed around the room. Indistinct footsteps were distant. A cough filled the room.

Lynn opened her eyes and blinked twice. The stone ceiling had small pieces of dust falling off of it. She lifted her head and looked around. She was inside a small cage with Benny, who was sitting down in a fetal position next to a corpse. She then looked further out the room where she saw Becky sitting below a table and D sitting next to an empty chair. She then looked at her little sister who was pacing around the room, looking for something to pass time. Lynn lowered her head to the cold and damp stone floor.

"So it wasn't a dream," whispered Lynn.

"Indeed it wasn't," responded Lucy. "You slept for quite a while."

"Really? What time is it?" asked Lynn before sighing in realization. "Nevermind. I forgot that there is no way to tell time in this goddamn desert of a room!"

"Oh my god! Why is it so hot?" yelled Becky.

"Why am I still in a cage?" asked Lynn.

"The Piranhas mentioned something about you and Benny being the most rebellious out of all of us," replied a shirtless D. "They were going to put Becky in there too, but then they noticed that it would be way too tight in there for three people."

"Oh. Hey, Benny. Are you alright?"

Benny lifted his head up. Lynn inspected his face. Benny's eyes were red and dry, his skin was red, although there was not a sweatdrop to be seen anywhere. He was breathing slightly heavier than normal and his lips were parched.

"You're severely dehydrated. I think you're about to have a heat stroke," said Lynn. "Take off your shirt."

Benny did not move at all. It seemed as if Lynn's words passed through his ears, with his brain receiving no understanding of what she just said. Benny continued to look ahead into nothingness. Lynn stood up above Benny and leaned closer to the boy. Benny was breathing faster.

"Did you not hear me? Take off your shirt!"

Benny shook his head nonchalantly which surprised Lynn.

"You must be dazed and lightheaded. Let me take it off for you."

Lynn grabbed the collar from Benny's shirt and began to pull it up. As she pulled up, Benny grabbed her wrist and gripped it hard. Lynn pulled the collar and Benny pulled down her wrist. Lynn then removed her grip on Benny's shirt.

"What are you doing?" asked Lynn, puzzled about Benny's behavior.

"I'm okay. I'm-"

Benny coughed into the ground. His raspy voice prompted Lynn to start pulling on Benny's shirt again. Benny tried to grab Lynn's wrist again, but she managed to grab his wrists first. Lynn pulled his hands up while she took off his shirt. Benny continued to struggle.

"No! Keep it on!" cried Benny.

"What's wrong with you! I'm… only… trying to help!"

Lynn removed Benny's shirt, revealing what Benny has tried to hide for so long. Benny's face turned red as the others stared at his chest and his left shoulder, with even Lucy appearing surprised.

"What happened to you?" asked Lynn.

"I-I-I got cut. And burned."

"Yeah, we can see that burn mark right there," said Becky. "Your bandage looks stained."

"Benny! You should've told us about this sooner!" cried Lynn. "It looks like you're falling ill from some sort of infection. Did you get bit?"

"No. Sherry did this."

"What did she do to you exactly? Were you guys fighting or something?"

"She kept me chained to a wall. She pushed a knife into my chest and cut me up. She then ironed my shoulder. But nothing else. There were no roamers involved."

"She had Missy chained up to a wall as well," said Becky. "She threatened to shoot me and D if Missy wasn't going to reveal our destination!"

"I'm surprised she didn't force a roamer on us," said D. "That would've suited her style. She's insane!"

"Do you think the apocalypse is making her lose her mind?" asked Lucy. "Or has she been like this before it all happened?"

"Who knows? Maybe Vonda does," said Lynn. "If only we were able to tell her what she did to us."

Lynn faced Benny and grabbed his shirt. She handed it back.

"I wouldn't want you to put this back on. But if you feel the need to, then wear it back on."

Benny refused to put his shirt back on. The room was cooking all of them. Benny continued to look at Lynn.

"How are you calm? You haven't shed a tear ever since we arrived."

"Why would I shed a tear? I know it seems as if we're going to die in this room, but maybe not."

"No, it's not about that," said Benny, his voice shivering. "It's about your older sister."

"I don't believe it. If I haven't seen her, then she can't be dead. People had survived gunshots to the head before."

"You're in denial, Lynn. She's dead! I saw her get shot! I-,"

Lynn walked towards Benny and hugged him. Benny's eyes were stinging him as he couldn't cry anymore. His tears have been dried up and used. Lynn lied her head on his right shoulder and closed her eyes.

"We're all here for you," whispered Lynn. "We're like family. You won't leave us and we won't leave you."

A tear from Lynn's dry eyes fell into Benny's shoulder. He felt the warm teardrop run down his chest and into his bandage, where it absorbed the salty water.

"It's not denial," said Lynn. "It's hope."

Footsteps became more distinct as it came closer to the small room. The tunnel echoed the naturally quick pace of the Piranhas' footsteps. The knob of the door was twisted, and the door was then opened. Andrew, Gina, and John walked inside the room.

"It's showtime," said Gina.

John grabbed Becky's arms and forcefully escorted her out of the room. Andrew pointed his pistol at D and forced him to leave the room with him. Gina grabbed Lucy's wrist and walked out of the room. Lynn and Benny were left alone in the room, locked in a cage together.

"You know what has to be done!" said Sherry through a walkie-talkie. "We're going to be there in about a minute!"

The van arrived in the headquarters just as D, Becky, and Lucy stood together. The sunset had disappeared out of the horizon, with only a moon to illuminate the late evening. Sherry stepped out of the van with Doug with their pistols in their hands.

"Ponytail and the katana boy are still down there," said Andrew.

"I'll get them," said Sherry. "If David and the others arrive, and I'm still not here, shoot them, but don't kill them. I want to try something out."

Sherry walked inside the hot room and towards the cage. She and Doug pointed their guns at the two young teens.

"You know this cage's not locked right?" said Sherry.

She pulled the cage upwards to Lynn's dismay. Benny seemed to not care. In fact, he would rather stay in the cage so he can deal with his grief in peace. Sherry grabbed Benny's arms and Doug grabbed Lynn's wrist as they moved out of the room.

The refreshing air of the warehouse could not calm Benny's fear of what was going to come next. Sherry kicked Benny's calves, causing him to fall to his knees in order to be in line with the other hostages. Lynn lowered herself, and held Benny's left hand. Benny looked at Lynn.

"Go. Do it with the others. We're family, right?" whispered Lynn.

Benny nodded and grabbed Lucy's left hand with his right hand. Lucy did the same with Becky, and she did it as well with D. Sherry looked at the group and smiled.

"How sweet. Just to let you all know, what I'm going to do is nothing personal."

The RV, Vanzilla, the SUV, and the van arrived in front of the warehouse. The headlights shone on the hostages. David, Lori, George, and Richard saw their people once again, relieved that they are alive, but frightened that they might lose them again. D, Becky, Lucy, Benny, and Lynn looked at the familiar vehicles and smiled.

Sherry walked towards a shipping container and opened it. Inside the shipping container was a roamer with a snare attached around its neck. The snare was connected to a grabber which was held by a hook in the shipping container. Sherry removed the hook and held the grabber, controlling the roamer as she moved out of the shipping container. The roamer's growls increased the heartbeats of every hostage, even Lucy, for she feared for the life of the others.

The group got out of their vehicles and took cover behind them. David pointed his gun at the Piranhas while they pointed their guns at the hostages. Sherry revealed herself while she held the roamer by the neck with her grabber. Lori noticed that the roamer was extending its arms and clawing at the air, trying to bite the hostages. Vonda knew that her mother was using fear and intimidation in order to make the group seem weak.

"I'm going to make this very clear to you all!" yelled Sherry. "Hand over George, or else these children will die a slow death! Lower your guns! Want to test me?"

"So, what's the plan?" asked Lori.

"You guys have lost enough already. It's time to do what I should've done in the beginning," said George.

"No. Don't go yet," whispered Vonda.

Vonda walked away from the RV and towards the Piranhas.

"No! What is she doing?" whispered Lori loudly.

"I think she's got a plan," said David. "Meanwhile, let's prepare ourselves."

Vonda stuck close to the RV, holding her bow. The Piranhas stood still, watching. Sherry was not ready to talk to Vonda face-to-face.

"Vonda! You gotta get away from here! Either go back into one of the vehicles, or run! I can tell shit is about to happen!"

"You think this is what Dad would've wanted?" asked Vonda.

"Your father would've wanted you to stay alive. The whole time you were with me, I was able to fulfill his and my wishes! But he doesn't give a shit about what I did!"

"So, you think he would've wanted you to be responsible for the death of Lynn's best friend?" shouted Vonda.

Lynn looked down at the tiles in the floor.

"What about what you did to Tad! No one that young deserves to die like that! And what about Luan? How do you think those three feel?"

Vonda pointed at Lucy, Benny, and Lynn. They looked at Vonda, wondering what she was trying to tell Sherry. Lynn felt her heart drop. She got no confirmation that Luan was dead or alive.

"I don't think he would've given a shit, Vonda," hissed Sherry.

"But I do," said her daughter. "You need to stop."

There was silence except the growling of the roamer. Sherry and Vonda locked eyes. Sherry looked at the Piranhas and sighed.

"No. I can't stop. Not until George is dead," said Sherry. "I'm sorry, Vonda. I really am. I don't do any of that because I wanted to. It's because I needed to. And the things I'm going to do is because I need to do it. It's difficult to understand and you probably think I'm a monster, but the way I do things is to ensure the survival of myself and the people closest to me."

"You can go back! You don't have to do these things!"

"Go back where? You thought the apocalypse changed me? You can ask George. The apocalypse didn't change me. It only created a truer version of myself. I can't take any half-measures anymore."

Sherry moved closer to the hostages and looked at the group. Upon seeing that they did not budge, she released the snared roamer and pulled out her pistol. Vonda took out an arrow from her quill and aimed it at the roamer. She released the arrow at the roamer, which was stumbling towards Benny. The arrow pierced its cheek and forced its head to face D, Becky, and Lucy. Lori raised her gun, but could not find the confidence to shoot the roamer. Sherry crouched to the ground, hidden behind the hostages. Vonda drew another arrow and prepared to aim it at the roamer.

However, she was too late. The roamer sunk its teeth into its victim. Vonda's mouth widened and her eyes grew as she struggled to comprehend what just happened. Sherry looked at the roamer and was slightly shocked to who its victim was. Its victim was unable to scream as the roamer ripped the skin off of the back of her neck. Lori cried out as Lucy fell to the ground with a gash on her neck.

D and Becky ran away from the roamer while Benny and Lynn ducked to the ground. Vonda saw her mother hiding behind Benny and she grew angrier. She lifted her bow and shot an arrow at Sherry, piercing through her right arm. Sherry yelled in pain.

Lori lifted her pistol and started shooting at the Piranhas. The Piranhas ran inside the warehouse and away from the chaotic scene. Gina took hold of the grabber and lifted the roamer upwards with blood in its mouth. The roamer begged for more of Lucy's flesh. Lucy crawled away, while holding her left hand on the back of her neck. Gina aimed her pistol at the group and started shooting at them.

"Go! Sherry! I got them! Go!" yelled Gina.

"Ah! Fuck!" gasped Sherry as she looked at her lower right arm.

She grabbed Benny by his neck as they both walked inside the warehouse. George was unable to shoot Sherry as she was using human shields. Richard was not used to shooting with his left hand, so he was not able to hit Sherry as well. David tried to shoot the other Piranha, Bertie, but was unable to since he was hiding behind Lynn.

Luna, Sam, Luan, Sergei, Dana, and Wavehead left their vehicles to join the skirmish. Luan ran towards the roamer that bit Lucy. Gina saw Luan running towards her. She aimed her pistol at the girl while trying to control the roamer at the same time. The roamer moved around in a wild manner, causing Gina to miss her shot, her bullets hitting the river by the docks.

Vonda saw an opening, so she pulled back the string on her bow with an arrow and aimed at the Piranha. Vonda released the string, causing the arrow to be launched into her chest through one of her lungs. Gina fell to the ground and released the snared roamer. The roamer walked towards Lucy to get a second bite, but Luan quickly lunged towards the roamer and thrust her sword into its head. She took a close look at the roamer and noticed how many bullet holes were riddled into its body.

"Walk, girl," hissed Bertie.

Lynn continued to stare at Lucy as she crawled her way towards the vehicles. Luan was escorting her back to the vehicles with tears running down her cheeks. Lynn found herself unable to cry, but she was breathing heavily. Bertie looked at the girl's face and then at Lucy.

"Oh, I see. Here, let me end her suffering."

Bertie peeked at Lucy and aimed his pistol at the little girl. Lynn was breathing harder and harder until she was hissing, and finally letting out a yell. She turned around and punched Bertie in his stomach and then his face, knocking his glasses into the tiles in the ground. Lynn dashed away from Bertie and towards Lucy. Bertie picked up his pistol and was ready to shoot the girl.

"Oh, no you won't you little shit! You won't get away with-"

Lori pulled the trigger to her AK-47. The bullets roared as they escaped the chamber and lodged itself into Bertie's body. The trigger was not released until a few seconds later when the magazine was emptied out.

Lynn covered her head as she faced the concrete floor. She opened her eyes and looked back at the gangster. His corpse laid in the ground, riddled with bullets just as the roamer was. She quickly picked herself up and ran towards Lucy. Becky and D ran along with her, as two of their captors were now dead.

Inside the warehouse, Sherry, John, Andrew, and Doug made their way towards the back door. Doug entered his van while the others stood outside. Sherry, Andrew, and John were looking around the warehouse.

"Where did katana boy go?" asked John.

"Guys! It don't matter! We gotta get outta here!" shouted Doug.

"He's right!" agreed Sherry. "But first, take this shit off of me!"

Andrew took out a knife and cut the arrow so that the arrowhead would fall to the ground. Sherry's sweat ran faster down her face as she pulled out the arrow slowly. She then completely removed the arrow, tossing it to the ground and entering the van.

"I need some bandages," said Sherry as John and Andrew entered the van with her. "Damn, I can't believe Vonda did that. Remember guys, she's still off-limits!"

"Off limits?" asked Andrew. "She just tried to kill you!"

"She's my fucking daughter! Is there another option? And don't you dare say the other option or else I'll cut your balls out and shove 'em down a roamer's throat!"

The van was driven away from the warehouse, where Benny was hiding inside the shipping container that contained the snared roamer. He peeked out of the container and escaped it, wiping his hands on his pants. He looked out the ground where he saw his fellow group members surrounding a bitten Lucy. He then fell to the ground and looked at the ceiling before losing consciousness.

"Lucy!" shouted Lincoln.

He and his sisters ran towards the dying girl, who was holding her neck in pain. Even Leni understood what was going on with her little sister. Luna held her hands in her mouth in shock as she knelt down to the ground. Lana and Lisa looked at their older sister, realizing that they would have to face another huge loss. They held each other while Luan went to comfort Luna. Lori, Lincoln, and Lynn leaned close to their beloved sister as she started to speak.

"Luan…" Lucy said softly, causing the katana girl to come closer, "You're alive!"

"Of course she is," sniffled Lynn as her voice started breaking down. "I knew it. We knew it. We knew she was alive. Isn't that right, Luce?"

"Don't cry," said Lucy, while moving her bangs away from her eyes. "Do you see me crying?"

"Sorry, I can't help it."

"Lisa, isn't there something you can do?" cried Lori. "There's gotta be something!"

"Negative. Nothing works."

"Lori, it's alright," said Lucy.

"No it isn't!" broke down Lori. "We're going to lose you! Just like how we lost Lola! You don't deserve this!"

"Lori, please. It's alright. It happens. Death has always been around us since the dawn of mankind. There's nothing you can do to stop it. But that doesn't mean you have to fear it once your fate is revealed. Accept it. Embrace it. Not every death is your fault. Remember that, Lori."

"Lucy, I don't even know what I'm going to do without you," said Lincoln. "We were supposed to reunite with Mom and Dad together. We were going to make life the way it was."

"You'll be fine without me. You all will be. Now, I'm going to be truthful with you all. I never believed that life was ever going to be the same as it was in Royal Woods. But it's alright. You can make a new life that is worth living. Ironically, given the state that this world is in, life is not all about gloom and doom."

"I only wish you were going to be around to see whatever happy life we made," said Luan.

"It's not going to be the same without you, Luce," said Lori.

"We'll miss you," cried Lincoln.

Lucy looked at Lynn. Lynn rubbed her exhausted and dry eyes and placed her hands on Lucy's chest.

"I have no words right now…"

"I understand. You don't have to say anything. I know how you feel. I… love you guys."

Lori, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lincoln, Lana, and Lisa looked at Lucy in her eyes.

"We love you too," said all of the Louds, except Lori.

"Goodbye, Lucy. I love you too," sniffled Lori.

Lucy's breath stopped as her eyes stared into the moon in the sky. Her body became stiff and she was unable to move. Lynn felt Lucy's heart stop. She tightened her face as if she was about to cry, but no tears came out. Richard touched Lori in the shoulder and offered her his Python with a frowning face. Lori grabbed the Python softly and cocked it.

David, George, and Richard walked close to the warehouse. George looked at the roamer that Luan killed and noticed something familiar about the monster. His face was similar to someone he knew. And that's when it hit him. Martin Briggs. George was painfully reminded that he was going to have to kill Sherry to achieve justice for not just the fallen agents, but for the other people that the woman killed as well.

They walked inside the warehouse and found Benny lying unconscious by the window of the warehouse. He was breathing, informing the three men that he was still alive.

"George, let's get him some water! Quick!" said David.

Lori lifted Richard's Python and pointed it at Lucy's head. Blood poured out of Lucy's neck as her grip on it was released. The other Louds have moved away from Lucy, knowing that it would break their heart to see Lucy killed before she turns. But seeing her turn would be even more heartbreaking to the Louds.

"God, I literally can't do it!" cried Lori.

She lowered the revolver and closed her eyes. None of the group members were able to step forward and prevent Lucy from turning. Not even the tough Sergei was able to stomach the thought of killing an eight-year old girl.

Lori held the revolver softly and was ready to drop it on the floor. However, her hands were touched by someone else, and the Python was slowly taken away from her hands. Lori opened her eyes and looked upwards and saw Carol Pingrey holding the Python by the chamber.

"Can I?" asked Carol.

Lori softly nodded her head and tapped her shoulder. Carol gripped the revolver in her palms, holding the Python correctly. She lifted the revolver and faced it towards Lucy's head. She sighed and closed her eyes as she pulled on the trigger of the revolver.

A loud gunshot went off and the most difficult task was done. Carol looked back at Lucy and was saddened by the hole in her forehead. She turned around and handed the Python to Lori, not looking at Lucy again.

Lori shivered upon touching the grip of the revolver. She knelt to the floor and covered Lucy's eyes with her bangs. David, Richard, and George came out of the warehouse with a dazed but conscious Benny. He drank a bottle of water while observing the Louds mourning for their sister. Lori lifted the Python and handed it over to Richard.

Becky hugged Dana and Bobby, not saying a word as to be careful about respecting the grieving that the Louds were going through. Wavehead and D grabbed each other's right hands and gave each other a brotherly hug, patting each other's back softly. Carol walked over to Becky and was met with her tears as she realized that she was never going to see Tad again. Carol continued to embrace her as she looked at Benny, noticing how filthy his bandage was.

Benny looked at Lori, Leni, Luna, Lynn, Lincoln, Lana, and Lisa. Clyde was holding Lily, keeping her away from witnessing the death of another sister that she barely knew. Benny then saw a girl with her hair similar to Dana's and a katana in the ground by her. He quickly realized that he was looking at Luan, and he was overwhelmed with conflicting emotions.

Luan turned around and saw Benny, shirtless with a large bandage wrapped across his chest and a mark resembling peeled skin around his left shoulder. She silently stood up, leaped towards him, and embraced him tightly. Her soft whimpers told Benny that there was no time to happily reunite with each other and that there was never going to be any time for that.

"I thought you were gone…" said Benny. "I'm sorry, that's not what I should be worrying about."

"No, it's okay," sniffled the girl. "I want you here. I missed you. Just hold me."

The wind howled. The roamers were growling as they moved close to the group. They were killed off by Sam and Sergei, whose jobs were to prevent anything from disrupting the grieving of the Louds and the reunification of the captured members and their group. The wind howled stronger, prompting the group to enter the vehicles.

David and Lori remained outside, staring at the buried dirt. Lucy's name was engraved into a wooden plank that the group found in a park near the warehouse. The wind blew on Lori's hair, masking her sorrowful face.

"What are you still doing here? You do realize what we have to do, right?" asked Lori.

"Come inside the RV then. If you want to see the pursuit, then you can."

"I just don't want to see the pursuit. I want to be the first one to catch Sherry," hissed Lori. "And then there's nothing you can do to keep me from ending her."

"George gets the honor," said David. "She's responsible for the death of his family. He's been chasing her for so many years. He deserves it."

David and Lori went back inside the vehicle. Lori had revenge in her eyes. She believed it would make her feel better and ignored the emotional toll that premeditated murder would have on her.

"Where do you think Sherry's going?" asked David.

"Upstate. Definitely upstate," replied Vonda, pointing at the map that Richard was holding. "Probably in the Adirondacks, near Lake George. That's where my dad and I went once."

"Then that's where we're going to go," said David.

 **IV - Pursuit**

-Five Days Later-

An arrow whooshed through the air and landed on its intended target. The squirrel dropped to the ground from the branch that it stood on. A roamer saw the animal drop from the air and was attracted to it. Vonda pulled another arrow in her bow and released it, killing the roamer. The roamer dropped to the floor, allowing Vonda to take her game.

"The sun's setting. We should go back to the RV," said Lynn.

"Wait, Lynn," whispered Vonda. "Do you see that? Over there?"

Vonda pointed at something in the forest. It was more than fifty meters away. It moved in a quick and sneaky pattern, unlike a roamer.

"It looks like someone," said Lynn.

"It is someone. Let's follow that person."

The RV hummed in the road as it was ready to move once again. The dark clouds hovered close to the group. Benny was showing Luan how to use the katana more effectively against the roamers. Becky and D were talking about their experiences on the boat while held hostage to Dana, Wavehead, and Carol. Luna and Sam lied in the pavement, looking at the empty night sky while holding hands. Richard and Lana fixed the engine to Sergei's car, though Richard had slight trouble holding a wrench. David and Sergei noticed how low they were on ammo for their weapons. Lori looked into the woods with her eyebrows raised and her pupils expanded.

"What's wrong, Lori?" asked George.

"I'm worried about Vonda and Lynn. What if Sherry found them?"

"That would be a problem, but Sherry won't do anything. Vonda told me that she and Lynn were the only ones whom Sherry did not threaten or harm."

"I just want her gone," said Lori, as she looked at the figure in the woods. "I think Lynn and Vonda are back."

"That's not Lynn or Vonda," said George. "Who is that? Wait… everyone! Duck!"

The man fired his machine gun at the vehicles. The windows shattered, wheels were popped, and bullet holes riddled the vehicles. The group were all laying low in the ground. The man moved into the forest.

"A Piranha!" yelled Richard.

"It was John! One of Sherry's lieutenants! We gotta get rid of him!" yelled George.

David and George carefully approached the trees in the forest. They entered the forest, taking cover behind some trees. John let out a burst of fire while taking cover behind some trees. Each time he fired his machine gun, he paced back a few steps to take cover behind another tree. David and George would sometimes come close to John, but by the time they lift their weapon, John has already locked his sights on the two men. David and George were forced to take cover behind a couple trees again, and found themselves being led deeper and deeper into the forest.

"Give yourself up, Cane! You don't want to end up like your wife and daughter, right?"

"Shut the hell up! Was it you who killed them?"

"Andrew personally got his hands bloody! But the blood is in my hand as well for breaking into the house with him!"

George came out of the tree with his gun pointed at John. However, he noticed that he held David at gunpoint. John was waiting for George to make a move so he could shoot David. This seemed all too familiar to George, but he didn't know how to put an end to it.

"Fine! I give myself up! But let him go!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Cane. David is Sherry's biggest threat besides you and she hates loose ends. I-"

As John prepared to conclude his words, an arrow flew through the air and pierced John behind his abdomen. A second arrow followed and pierced him through his left lung, forcing him to cough out blood before collapsing to the ground. George and David were surprised to see Lynn come out of a low evergreen tree with a bow in her hand. Vonda followed her with her bow diagonally around her body.

"That's what he gets for what he did to Francisco," said Lynn as she pulled out the arrows from John's body.

"We have to move," warned Vonda. "There's a bunch of roamers coming. They were around where we were at, but there's no doubt that they heard those gunshots."

"Alright, let's move," said David.

Two roamers came out of from the deepest part of the forest, their eyes locked at the body in the ground. More roamers followed them and they all knelt down to the ground to take a bite of the barely alive human. Lynn looked back at John and felt satisfied with his bodies being ripped into shreds by the roamers. His plan to distract the group from Sherry ended up being a distraction for the roamers that would've threatened the entire group.

"Everyone get inside their vehicles!" yelled David. "I know that they are in bad shape, but there are a lot of roamers heading this way! We can't take them all!"

"The wheels in my car are popped!" exclaimed Sergei. "We'll just leave it here! We'll come back for it later! Everyone's wheels okay?"

The rest of the group nodded as they entered their damaged vehicles. The engine in Chunk's van, Vanzilla, and the RV roared as they drove ahead into the road. Suddenly, David saw a van run across the intersection ahead of the group. The van was the same one that the hostages were taken inside of, and the same one that the Piranhas used in their escape from Albany.

"Here we go," whispered Lori. "The race of her life. The race of our lives."

The RV, Vanzilla, and Chunk's van took a right turn in the intersection and pursued the van, just as the roamers crossed the road, surrounding Sergei's car. Some of the roamers were diverted in another direction by the car, while some of the roamers continued to head towards the woods in the other side of the road.

David, Richard, and Lori saw the van ahead of them. They continued to chase the van, burning their gasoline as they proceeded to speed up the RV.

"I'll be damned!" shouted Sherry. "They still found us! John failed!"

"They're missing a car," said Andrew. "John's doing his job."

"It's time for me to complete the job then."

Sherry opened up the rear door of the van and took out her pistol. Andrew grabbed his UZI and aimed at the RV. They shot their weapons in rapid succession, hitting the RV. The RV withstood the bullets and continued to pursue the van. Sherry was unable to hit the wheels of the vehicle.

As Doug accelerated the van, Sherry closed one of the rear doors to the van while leaving the other door open for her right-hand man. Sergei opened up one of the windows in Chunk's car and aimed at the wheel of the van. He shot his M4 rifle at the van, taking out its rear wheels.

"Shit! Who did that?" yelled Doug.

"It's some guy!" yelled Andrew. "Move the van away from the road! I ran out bullets!"

Doug proceeded to move the van steadily towards the woods.

"Brace yourselves!" warned Doug. "We're going through the woods and along Lake Champlain!"

Sergei fired his rifle again, hitting the passenger chair and the passenger's side of the windshield. The Piranhas yelled as the bullet flew past by them. Doug moved the steering wheel uncontrollably, causing a few trees and stones to scrape the sides of the van.

"Ahh! Hold on!" yelled Doug. "Hold on to something!"

The van drove head on into a tree and crashed into it, creating a loud boom. Sherry and Andrew were sent flying into the front seats of the car, with the chairs softening their impacts.

"Woah! What the hell was that?" asked Lori.

"They crashed into something in the woods!" replied David, sounding unusually surprised. "They made a path for us. Let's proceed slowly."

Andrew's left elbow twisted unnaturally, tearing his skin. Sherry's right shoulder dislocated itself as she struggled to move out of the van. Blood poured slowly out of Andrew's head, while Sherry's arm and face was lacerated from the crash. Both Piranhas escaped from the van through the rear door, with Andrew and Sherry assisting each other in running deeper into the woods. The headlights of the RV beamed into the van, showing the destruction inside it.

All the adults, and most of the group members left their vehicles to inspect the van. The tree was leaning slightly away from the group, while the front bumper of the car was completely wrecked. Lori shone her flashlight on the front seat of the van, and saw an inflated airbag . She opened the door and saw Doug, who was bleeding profusely from his chest as there was pieces of glass everywhere in the front seat. Doug's neck was bent backwards, and his face was unrecognizable. Lori vomited on the ground and looked away from the van.

David and George cringed at the grotesque sight of Doug's face. Richard remained concentrated and walked away from the van, pointing his flashlight towards the trees in the woods.

"A trail," said Lana. "Sherry went this way."

The group got their weapons ready as Lori and Richard pointed their flashlights in the direction of the trail. David, George, and Lana moved ahead of them. The footprints in the ground lead the group closer to the lake near the woods.

Night replaced dusk. The roamers crossed another road and went into the forest where a path was cleared by a van. They roamed in the forest, following the slightest of noise, whether it is the hooting of an owl or the crack of a twig. Some of the roamers walked towards the van, smelling flesh and blood. However, as soon as the roamers approached the corpse, they moved away and wandered away from the van, moving towards the vehicles, where they saw a couple humans. Leni, Lily, Clyde, Lisa, Darcy, Ronnie Anne, Tabby, Zach, Rusty, and Bobby were inside their respective vehicles, unaware of the approaching roamers.

A few roamers caught sight of the group following a path. The roamers growled and limped quickly towards their prey. Richard and Lori pointed their flashlights behind them, taking away David, George, and Lana's light. The group were met with a new threat. The roamers.

"Hey! We need some help here!" cried out Lana.

"Oh, sorry!" exclaimed Lori.

"Hey! What about us?" exclaimed Becky and Carol.

"I got you guys!" said Richard.

The head of roamers were being stabbed and destroyed. However, panic grew within the group.

"We can't see!" yelled Luna.

Luna, Sam, and Sergei separated from the group as they struggled to escape from the roamers surrounding them. The shrubs and twigs in the ground shuffled louder as Luna and Sam followed Sergei who was running away from the group. Lynn shot her arrows at three roamers that approached Lori. Vonda covered Lynn with five arrows, in which four each pierced through a roamer's skull. Luan stood behind Benny as he protected her from the roamers. He sliced four roamers who were lunging towards the teenagers.

A shot went off. Richard aimed his revolver at another roamer and shot it in the head. D joined in and shot his pistol at a roamer walking towards Becky and Carol.

"This way!" yelled Lori. "This is where Luna went!"

"What about Becky?" asked Dana. "They went this way!"

"They're with Richard! They're fine for now!"

"Guys! Keep moving ahead!" yelled Benny.

"Who keeps shooting that?" shouted David.

"Sorry!" responded Richard. "There's a lot of roamers in here!"

Another shot went off. Richard and D looked at each other. Luna and Sam ducked as they saw a flashlight from a couple meters away. They looked behind them and noticed that Lori and George were a couple dozen meters away.

"That wasn't us!" yelled Richard and D.

"I know!" shouted David back. "It came from somewhere else! It sounded like it came from ahead of us!"

Another gunshot went off, causing a piece of bark to fly off a tree above Luna. She held Missy's AR-15 and looked towards the flashlight. Sergei fired his gun at the shadowy figures behind the flashlight. The flashlight was turned off and the shadowy figures moved away. Luna aimed her gun at one of the shadowy figures and pulled the trigger. After a couple shots, the figure slowed down and disappeared into the woods.

"More shots coming from ahead of us!" shrieked Lori. "Is that you, Luna?"

"Yeah. Some of them came from two people though! I think I tagged one of them!"

Lori, George, and the rest of the group ran towards Luna's voice. Suddenly, Lori was smacked by a pistol. She dropped her flashlight and stumbled to the ground. George pointed the light towards the attacker and was immediately hit in the back. He dropped his flashlight and was dragged backwards. Likewise, Lori was dragged into the forest as she struggled to grip her hands and legs into the ground.

Sherry took hold of the back of Lori's tank top and wrapped her arms around Lori's neck. Lori's breath was taken away as Sherry choked her, with every passing second potentially being Lori's last ones.

The group found themselves lost as they inspected the ground for the dropped flashlights. The growl of the roamers grew louder. The scattered survivors did not know where to go.

George quickly picked himself up and swung his fist at whoever dragged him deeper into the woods. Andrew fell to the ground, gasping as his right thigh and abdomen were bleeding. He heard a growl approaching the two men and attempted to crawl away. George stepped on his right leg and stood still as the roamer slowly walked towards the two men.

"You did some of the worst kinds of things just to help achieve a delusional woman's dream?" huffed George. "My family is dead because of you… your family is dead because of us. You're going to see your brother in hell soon."

The roamer lunged towards George, but he quickly dodged the roamer and moved behind it. He grabbed its arms and the back of its neck and threw the roamer down at Andrew. The roamer growled at the Piranha and sunk its teeth into his face. Andrew yelled in agony as George quickly ran back to where Lori was.

The group decided to run in a straight line to avoid the roamers. They followed each other and passed many trees that were obstacles for the roamers. Soon enough, they escaped the woods and ran into a field that led to a lake.

"I shoulda killed your entire group back in the bridge. I was too easy on you guys," hissed Sherry. "Remember that day? Jesus, what a pussy you were, Lori."

Lori sunk her teeth on Sherry's arms and bit with all her might. Sherry shrieked in pain and released Lori, squeezing her bleeding arms. Lori attempted to pick herself up, but was kicked in the back by Sherry. She tackled Lori to a tree and punched her in the stomach. Lori coughed out blood, and was punched in the face, again, again, and again. Blood and saliva flew across Lori's face as she tried to push Sherry away. Suddenly, George grabbed Sherry from behind her and threw her to the ground.

Sherry groaned while holding her bleeding arms. George grabbed her shirt and pulled her upright. He punched her in the eye and in the chest, while she tried to kick him. He pushed her against a tree and smashed the back of her head on it. Sherry dropped to the ground, lightheaded and weak.

Lori grabbed Sherry's leg as George lifted her head and back. They carried her into the open field where they were met with the group near the lake. The group members were surprised to see Lori all beat up in the face. Lincoln was especially surprised to see the cuts, bruises, and blood in her face. Lori ignored it and asked for Richard's Python.

"I was going to kill her, but here you go," said Richard, handing Lori his trusty revolver. "Blow her brains out.

Lori walked close to Sherry and cocked the revolver, aiming it at her head.

"Wait, no!" shouted George. "Lori, wait."

Lori held the revolver in the air. She continued to glare at Sherry while the group looked at Lori. Vonda and George approached Lori.

"Why am I stopping? She killed my little sister! She killed the people that we cared about! Tell me why I'm stopping!"

"I know you feel angry, but think how this is going to affect you. This is not going to make you feel any better. Whatever is consuming you is only going to get worse if you kill Sherry!"

"So what?" yelled Lori. "You're going to kill her anyways!"

"I've done some things that I'm not proud of. But I've done them already. Everything you did, as of right now, has been out of the interest of protecting the group. But if you kill her right now, in the state you are, you're killing her out of revenge. You're young, Lori, and I don't want to see you lose your humanity so fast."

Lori shivered. Everything George was saying reminded her of Missy. She looked down at the ground and handed the revolver back to Richard. Sherry grinned and sighed as she looked at Vonda. Lori broke down in tears as she walked towards the group.

"You're right, George. Thank you for saving me."

"Well, I'll kill her then," said Richard, lifting his revolver.

"Wait…" groaned Sherry. "Vonda. I know that you don't have the heart to let these people execute me. I know you're a very good person, and I'm sorry about all the evil things I have done. I admit that the things I've done are selfish and were for my own needs. I could've done a better job with caring for you. But I do love you. And I don't want to see you turn out like me."

"Even if I let them kill you, I'm never going to end up like you!" yelled Vonda.

"Are you sure about that? The apocalypse didn't change me… but it most certainly will change you."

"You caused too much pain to all of us. I can't just allow you to roam around. I already did that and you made me regret it. Not another chance for you."

"Vonda, I'm your mother!"

"You're not my mother. I don't know who you are."

Vonda looked at George and softly nodded. Vonda walked away from Sherry as George lifted his gun. Sherry's tears flew down her beaten face as she realized that in trying to protect the one person she loved, she caused that person to resent her. Sherry closed her eyes and accepted her fate. Richard lifted his Python, but it was too late. George pulled the trigger, and a loud gunshot echoed out the field and throughout the woods.

"No! I was supposed to kill her!" yelled Richard.

"It didn't matter who killed her," said George. "As long as it wasn't Lori or any of the young ones here."

Vonda heard the gunshot over and over. She watched as the group dragged Sherry's body towards the lake. Her body was thrown into the lake, creating a splash that echoed throughout Vonda's head, just like the gunshot did. The body flowed away as the threat that the group faced disappeared. She stared out into the lake. Lori placed her hands on her shoulder, comforting her. Although, Vonda has always felt like an orphan since the beginning of the apocalypse, she now truly knew she was one, alone in the world.

She looked back at the group and noticed how bleak their expressions were. She felt at home with the group and no longer felt alone. She then walked back with the group and looked forward to continuing their road to Houlton. After all, the journey ahead did not finish yet.

* * *

The woman made it across the debris. Some of the debris sunk into the water since the woman's weight forced it further into the flowing water. The woman encounted a set of clothes: a choker, a small shirt that would expose a waist, blue jeans, black boots, and a hoop earring.

"Well, I'll be damned. This looks very familiar."

The low humming noise grew increasingly louder. The woman looked behind her and saw nothing of importance. She took a deep breath and continued to walk to where she was headed. She coughed softly and sniffled.

"Shit. All of this was for nothing. Even if I'm away from the others, I still get sick. Ah, fuck, I really gotta take some medicine."

The woman looked around, knowing that there was no one around, but still making sure for a sense of normality.

"I really miss my sister."

Lori walked away from the river with debris as she placed the map back into her vest.

* * *

 ** _And that wraps up the Piranhas arc! The third arc is something that will come as a surprise to most of y'all or maybe I've been leaving too many hints for it. Maybe I didn't leave any. Anyway, the mood grows grim in the next few chapters as supplies run low and the group are faced with conflicts, both internal and external, that challenges everyone's morals. See you in the next chapter! As always, don't forget to follow this story and leave a review if you enjoyed! Peace!_**


	11. Justice in the Somber Nights

_**It's been a while, right? Or has it been too quick? Anyways, there's gotta be a story after the whole ordeal with the Piranhas! Here comes the eleventh chapter of the story! Hope you enjoy reading this!**_

* * *

-Day 4-

A flicker of light shone on the stairways. Running up to the 17th floor was tedious and exhausting, but Tim Crowley couldn't risk exposing his face to the cameras in the elevator. The papers and documents in his hands remained unopened, but the longer he waited, the higher the chances he would be caught reading private military documents. Tim reached his room and was met with the face of two disapproving adults.

"Mr. Simmons, you gotta stop bursting into the room like this," said Angelica, a mother from Huntington Oaks.

"Indeed, it's very frustrating," said Mark, the husband of Angelica. "Don't you agree, Carol?"

Carol took off her headphones. She looked at Mark and shrugged.

"I don't really care about that. Have you seen my parents? They were supposed to come up here like, five minutes ago."

"No, I haven't seen them. Bringing coffee upstairs is a lotta work, Carol. Don't you think you should've went with them?"

"Sorry, to interrupt, but can you guys leave for a couple minutes? I need to talk to Mr. Crowley for a little," said Tim.

"No, this is our room. You guys can talk outside if you want–" said Angelica before being interrupted.

"It's fine. I'm going downstairs to find my parents," said Carol, putting her headphones in the bed. "Don't touch that."

"Fine. We're going to accompany you," said Mark. "We're feeling kind of hungry, don't we, my wife?"

"Yes, my husband. Yes, we are hungry. Let's go, Carol!"

Angelica, Mark, and Carol left the room, allowing the two men to have their privacy. Tim Crowley placed the documents in the table and pulled down the curtains of the window.

"I got 'em," said Tim. "Time to find out what Black is planning to do. Here, take this, Jonathan."

Tim handed a set of folders to Jonathan. He opened the folders and found dozens of grids and blueprints. Tim opened a folder and noticed that one of the papers explained a timeline. The day he had to watch out for was Day 10. He shuffled through the papers and found a report on the body counts of the cities and towns of Michigan. On the first day, there were about 34,000 casualties in the town of Royal Woods, 13,600 casualties in Huntington Oaks, 20,000 casualties in Ann Arbor, and 500,000 casualties in Detroit. He then looked at their current status. Detroit was secure, Royal Woods has fallen, Huntington Oaks has fallen, most of the other neighboring towns has fallen, but Ann Arbor was secure.

Tim sighed in relief, knowing that his daughter was safe for the time being. He looked at his watch and peeked out of the curtains. The Safe-Zone was still taking in more refugees, and Tim had to do something about it.

"If you are heading to Detroit, you might want to reconsider that decision."

Over the course of days, Tim sat by his radio, revealing plans that the military had in store for the refugees in Detroit.

"It is not safe in here. I repeat, it is not safe in here. This is a warning for everyone."

General Black convinced the chief deputy in Ann Arbor to order his men to slaughter the protesters outside of the stadium. He had to act fast before the residents could find out about the radio messages.

"In June 10, 2016, the soldiers are going to enact a major evacuation of all minors, meaning anyone under 18, presumably in underground bunkers."

Before Gerald Brooker arrived at the Safe-Zone, he was able to warn a few survivors away from Detroit.

"He will order the rogue soldiers to slaughter anyone inside the buildings in Detroit. Those who manage to escape… will be captured by the rogues…"

Lieutenant Lead stormed into a room, demanding information about a man named Tim Crowley. The frightened residents couldn't give an answer to which General Black apologized for.

"The Safe-Zone will be bombed by napalm. All the buildings will burn to the ground while the minors are left without their parents…"

Tim Crowley recorded Gerald Brooker in his tape, "The Truth about the Safe-Zone." Jonathan Simmons stood on guard by the door.

"The remaining hostages will be transported into Royal Woods where Operation Exodus will soon take place."

Gerald Brooker headed downstairs, nervously wiping his glasses. He read his note from his son, and he felt his heart warm up.

"The adults will be transported to a designated area set up by K.H.A.N., that is the group responsible for the spread of necrosis influenza. And they will be subjected to horrible experiments."

A gunshot sounded from below the General's building. General Black calmed the refugees down, convincing them that he killed a terrorist threatening the lives of everyone.

"It's all a part of a grand plan. This is what they believe. 'Those who enter a Safe-Zone believing in an easy solution are not fit for survival. However, their children can't be blamed for the actions of their foolish parents. The children that are able to escape the herd that they will inevitably encounter are fit to inhabit the new world that will be formed after Day 10'. Yup, you heard that right. Watch out for Detroit."

Jonathan Simmons looked into the mirror and congratulated Dr. Frederick for his successful plastic surgery. He now appeared identical to Tim Crowley and was ready to undertake a tremendous sacrifice.

"Are you ready, Simmons?" asked Tim.

"I am. Thank you for everything you've done for me. I hope you make it back home to Vonda," said Jonathan Simmons.

"Thank you for making it possible."

Simmons loaded his gun and ran ahead towards the gates. His hair rode along with the wind as he pulled out a pistol and shot the guard. A few soldiers chased after Simmons out of the Safe-Zone. Tim silently hopped over the gate and ran into the houses outside of the fences and barbed wires.

The soldiers shot their M4s at Simmons, causing him to fall into the ground. Tim climbed up a ladder into the attic of the house where there was a small window. The cobwebs and spiders infested the dark corners of the attic. Tim peeked out of the window and saw the soldiers shoot Simmons in the head.

Tim took out a bottle of water and drank it, hoping that the last step to his plan would work. If it didn't, then what Gerald Brooker and Jonathan Simmons did was for nothing. He looked out the window again and saw General Black walking towards the corpse.

General Black circled the body and leaned closer to inspect the face. He then waved his hands, ordering the soldiers to come closer to the body. The rogue soldiers lifted the body up and the general nodded his head. They walked back into the Safe-Zone with a soldier guarding the entrances again.

"Don't worry, Vonda," whispered Tim. "I'm coming. I'm alive. The last step worked."

 **Chapter 11: Justice in the Somber Nights**

 **I - Bleak**

The roamers swung their hands on the windows, moving their jaws up and down. The wind blew the saliva that dripped from the roamers' mouths, creating a monster-like image for the children to remember in their sleep. Their yellow eyes seemed to glow in a demonic manner as the sky darkened and the shadows of the trees appeared in front of Vanzilla. The children huddled closer together, with Bobby attempting to find a solution to get the roamers away from the van. The van kept shaking, with roamers shaking the surrounded and infested van. Some of the children were ready to cry, while the others were frozen in fear. Lily cried, not making the situation any better.

"Please, don't cry," whispered Bobby, as Leni handed Lily over to him. "Shh. It's okay. We're going to be okay."

"It's not going to be okay!" exclaimed Tabby as she noticed one of the windows cracked slightly. "What are we going to do? I don't want to die!"

"I don't want to die either!" sobbed Darcy. "Save us, Bobby!"

"Darcy, please calm down. We're not going to die."

"Bobby, you gotta do something," whimpered Leni. "Please, I'm too young to die!"

"I don't know what to do, Leni. I wish I did know, but…"

"We're going to die!" sobbed Zach.

"Hey!" yelled Ronnie Anne. "Everyone, SHUT UP!"

The thumping of the roamers' fists and mouths grew louder as the cries quieted down. The van continued to shake violently. The children focused their attention on Bobby's younger sister, who frightened them enough to keep their eyes away from the windows. Noticing that everyone calmed down, Lily's cry softened until she was just sniffling.

"We're not going to die!" exclaimed Ronnie Anne. "Did you guys forget about Lori and the others? They will come back."

"I wish there was only some way we can contact them," said Lincoln. "I could try using my walkie-talkie, but I doubt it would connect to their channel."

"May I tinker with it?" asked Lisa.

Lincoln handed his walkie-talkie to Lisa. Ronnie Anne smiled until a roamer threw its own head at a window, making her jump. Another roamer cracked another window, causing Darcy to shriek as it stared at her.

"The roamers might break inside before the others get here!" shrieked Tabby.

"In that case, grab your weapons!" said Ronnie Anne. "Kill them ONLY if they get inside. Don't smash any windows and don't try to provoke them!"

"I don't have a weapon!" said Luan. "I gave the katana back to Benny!"

"Stay in the middle of the van, then!"

Blood stopped pouring out of Doug's van. A couple roamers passed by it, not minding the corpse inside it. There was no reason to pay attention to a corpse living among them. A turned-Doug limped out of the van, moving its head around. Hearing thumpings nearby, Roamer Doug walked towards the van. However, in a blink of an eye, its head was shoved into the damaged van and stabbed with an ice pick. Roamer blood splattered into the shattered window of the van. Roamer Doug dropped to the ground as Sam pulled out her ice pick out of its head.

The thumpings became less frequent as the roamers turned around from the window. Dana swung her machete at one of the roamers along with Becky, while Wavehead dug his trench knife inside of a roamer's head. Luna followed Sam and beat any roamer approaching the girls with her crowbar. Richard walked steadily towards the van, letting out a yell after killing a roamer.

The children watched with wonder. Bobby felt his heart warm up as the group returned to save them. However, his warm heart turned cold as soon as he saw Lori, choking in disbelief. Her eyes were bruised, her lips were bleeding, her nose, cheeks, jaw, and many other facial parts were lacerated. Despite her wounds, she walked through the fight that her group were leading, with an AK-47 in her hands. Lincoln smiled, knowing that whatever moment of distress Lori went through, she made it out alive.

George and David fought off the roamers that approached them and Lori. They admired Lori's character a lot more than before, knowing that Lori valued her humanity and the people she cared about more than her wrath. Both men hoped that it would stay this way, and in order to preserve her humanity, they must get Lori and her family to Houlton as soon as possible. However, David knew that this wasn't going to remain forever, and just one brutal moment could change Lori's behavior for the worse.

Lori continued to walk to Vanzilla in a striding manner. Her stride was one of a warrior who walked out of battle with her sword after a long battle.

The roamers were killed off, so now the survivors were able to return to their respective vehicles. As Lori entered the driver's seat, she noticed that she wasn't able to see well. Carol tapped her in the shoulder.

"Lori. You need to come with me to the RV."

"No, I'm good."

"Lori, look in the mirror."

Lori looked at her own face in her car mirrors, noticing how beat up it was. Lori sighed, wondering if she should've ignored George and killed Sherry. She looked in the mirror and looked at her cuts once again. She then followed Carol to the RV.

"George, drive the van. Sergei, go ahead and drive Chunk's van. We gotta go back to Sergei's car and get our weapons back. Then we can go ahead and continue to Houlton."

The group gazed at Lori. Some looked confused, and the looks of confusion perplexed Lori. She then noticed David looking at her with his arms crossed. Lori quickly realized what she did.

"Oh, sorry, force of habit. You're the leader. I'm not. Sorry-"

"No, it's alright. Those were good orders. I trust you to make good decisions. You're like my vice president. A lieutenant. Second-in-command. You too, George."

Lori smiled as she walked into the RV. George looked at Richard and softly smiled before looking away. Richard clenched his teeth as he looked at George. He looked away and thought about how he couldn't get justice for the woman that he loved. He followed Lori into the RV, along with David as they prepared to leave the woods.

After many minutes, the group returned to the road in which many of their lives were almost lost to the hands of John. A lone roamer lurked near Sergei's car, eating the flesh of a squirrel in the ground. The RV, Vanzilla, and Chunk's van stopped near the car. The roamer looked at the group, revealing a familiar face.

"I gotta take care of this asshat again?" said Lynn.

The doors opened in which some of the group members got out. Roamer John turned its attention to George, standing up and growling at him, holding out its partially consumed arms. Just as George took out his knife, an arrow flew through the air and struck Roamer John's skull. The roamer dropped to the ground with the arrow stuck in the right side of its head. George looked at Lynn and nodded while he placed his knife back into his belt.

David, Richard, George, and Sergei approached the car. The wheels were flat, the windshield was shattered, the mirrors were gone, and bullet holes riddled the vehicle. Lori and Bobby walked together, along with Lana. Lori's face was covered with many tiny bandages, although none covered her bruised eyes.

Lana walked around the car, inspecting it. Upon closer observation she was able to confirm her thought about repairing the vehicle.

"This car can't be fixed anymore. It's too damaged."

"We can do fine with three cars, right?" said Lori. "We have 28 people. Fourteen people in Vanzilla. Ten people in the RV. Four people in the van. We can move the remaining boxes of weapons to the van. We don't need the empty ones anymore."

"Let's move them out quickly then," said Luan. "I can't see anything in this darkness."

There was a long silence when the group moved the boxes from Sergei's car to the van. It was no longer called Chunk's van as Luna and Sam did not need to be painfully reminded about his death. The group looked at each other, with lowered eyes and frowning lips. After finding out that all of the Piranhas, except Bruna, were exterminated, the children felt somewhat relieved, but it did not remove any of the emotional baggage that they carried. It was one of those somber nights in which no words were spoken for hours. What made this somber night different than the others is that justice has been done to avenge the fallen souls of Lucy Loud, Missy Bolts, May Hannas, Martin Briggs, Henry Burke, Francisco, and the rest of the list.

Lori, Lynn, Richard, Luna, Tabby, Dana, and Becky all felt the fury that built up inside of them from not being able to avenge those closest to them. Despite this anger, most of the group knew that George deserved the kill. Not only was it George's personal mission to bring Sherry justice, but he was an enforcer of the law, meaning he knew how to kill Sherry in such a way without letting his emotions overwhelm him. Most of the group understood this, but Richard did not.

-One Month Later-

Footsteps flocked the pavement near a few abandoned stores. The day was bright, the air was dry, and the road was hot. Lori's shoes burned her feet as she rubbed her hand on her forehead, wiping off the sweat on her skin. Feeling very lightheaded, she walked towards a tree to rest under its shade. Upon coughing again, Darcy was given a few more sips from the canister that Bobby held attached to his backpack. Sergei, Lisa, and Lana walked towards a car with a plastic tube and an empty jerry can. David walked towards Lori, grabbing his canister and offered it to Lori, but she raised her hands and shook her head. He insisted again, but she shook her hands and her head.

"Lori-"

"No. Save it for someone who needs it. Like Clyde."

David looked back at the group and noticed that Clyde was having a hard time keeping up with the others. He rubbed his stubble and took off his shades. He walked towards the boy who limped with his makeshift crutches.

"Need some water, kid?" asked David.

"Yes, please," said Clyde. "Thank you."

Clyde took the canister and took three sips before handing it back to David. He shook his head.

"Lori wants you to keep it. She doesn't need it."

Clyde looked at Lori lying down in the shade and decided to walk over to her. Lincoln and Lynn walked close to the tree, and Lincoln headed towards the shade but Lynn drifted away from the boy. He walked back with Lynn and scratched his head, keeping a perplexed gaze at his sister.

"What?" asked Lynn.

"You don't want to sit in the shade?" asked Lincoln.

Lynn shook her head and looked away, walking ahead of the others.

"Wait. You're going ahead of the others!"

"Can't stop," stated Lynn.

"That's right," said Richard, his growing stubble moving along with his jaws. "Every minute we stay out here in the sun, we detoritiate, from dehydration and from the heat exhaustion."

"Don't worry about me, Lincoln." said Lynn. "You can stay with them. I'm going to get us water. The less people, the less trouble."

"Let me come with you. Lynn!"

Lynn continued to walk ahead with Richard, Becky, Dana, Wavehead, and D. Lincoln caught up to Lynn once more. Lynn turned around and let out a quick but deep sigh.

"Come on! You've been acting strange these past weeks! Is this about what happened to Lucy?"

"Yes. Thank you for reminding me."

"It's not just about her, is it?" asked Lincoln. "Lynn, I'm your brother, you can tell me-"

"What do you want me to say? That I want to stay away from all of you? Because that's how I feel!"

"What do you mean?"

"First, I couldn't protect Lola and Clyde from the roamers back in New York! Lola's dead and Clyde can never walk without his crutches ever again! Then…"

Lynn choked back her tears. She didn't want to seem weak again, but here she was, pouring out her emotions, she thought to herself.

"I told Francisco to run to the RV," said Lynn, her voice breaking. "I told Lucy to stay inside the RV. I sent both of them to their deaths. I'm bad luck, Linc. It was never anyone or anything else. It was me this whole time. I think it's better that I stay away from everyone that I love."

"Lynn, that's nonsense! You're not bad luck! It's just the way this world is and you have no control over it!"

"It's what I believe," sniffled Lynn. "Stay with Lori. I love you, Linc. I'll be back."

Lynn walked away and followed the other survivors that were moving towards a specific direction. Lincoln lowered his eyes and felt defeated. He then felt someone place their left hand on his shoulders.

"I kinda overheard what you two were talkin' about," said Tabby. "Think you can help me out? I'm feeling kinda low and I just thought you could cheer me up."

"Sure. Let's head back with the rest of the group."

Vonda shuffled around the road, looking at every tree surrounding the group. Her dry throat and stinging throat attacked her with a variety of negative-riddled emotions. She heard a voice and turned around, drawing her bow towards the voice."

"Hey there, my daughter."

Vonda's pupils dilated. The ghostly figure had a bullet hole on its forehead and was back to wearing the vest that she has received from her mother as a gift.

"Can I even call you that? I see that you're lost. Your group ran out of gas in the middle of whatever fucking nowhere in Massachusetts. Want me to help? Or do you just want me to get shot and tossed into a river? I know you would. You did that to me after all."

"No, that was you! You put yourself into that position! I gave you a chance! You didn't deserve that chance! You deserve death!"

The figure cackled as Vonda continued to hiss with anger. She released the arrow on the string and pierced a roamer through its skull. Her pupils expanded once more and she quickly looked around her surroundings.

"Vonda!" yelled David.

Vonda quickly turned her head towards the group under the tree's shade, noticing that the group were holding their weapons. David stood tall and was ready to walk towards her.

"Something's wrong? You shouted remarks at the roamer before you killed it."

"I… I'm fine."

"I think you need some shade. Put down the bow and lie in the grass with us."

"I can't. She could still be around here."

"Who's she?" asked David.

"My mother, of course," replied Vonda, bluntly. "You guys saw her, right?"

"You definitely need some shade," said David.

Vonda closed her eyes and palmed her temples. She shook her head and let out a deep sigh before walking towards the tree. David looked at her, wondering why she was hallucinating her mother. He then realized that Vonda's mental state was in trouble, and if nothing is done about it, she could possibly lose her sanity.

"How do you feel?" asked Lori.

"Not so good," replied Vonda. "I'm thirsty. Hungry. I'm losing my mind. I'm seeing things that aren't there."

"It's the heat. Our supplies are running out quicker than we can scavenge them. But, we will come across something. Keep your hopes high."

"I didn't kill you. I didn't kill you."

"What?"

Vonda's breathing paced more rapidly and she started shivering. Lori grabbed Vonda and hugged her, rubbing the back of her head.

"It's okay. We'll get more supplies. Just relax."

"I didn't kill my own mother, right, Lori?"

"No. Of course not."

"I could've allowed you guys to take her to Houlton with us. I could've given her another chance!"

"That wouldn't be so smart. No one is to blame for her death but her. Don't feel guilty."

Lincoln and Tabby arrived near the tree, catching the group's attention. Ronnie Anne looked at Tabby and noticed how she was touching Lincoln's arms. She shrugged it off and lied her head on the tree. Lori stood up, ready to walk to Lincoln.

"Lori?" called Vonda. "Why do you care so much about me?"

"No one deserves to be alone," said Lori.

Vonda smiled softly and closed her eyes. Lori waved her hands at Lincoln.

"Hey, Lori. What is it?"

"I want to get some supplies for the group. I want you to come with me. And only you."

"Sure thing. Let's go."

Lori looked back at David.

"Lincoln and I are going to go ahead in the road. We're going to be back in less than an hour."

"In this heat? What about water?" asked David.

"Lincoln has a water bottle. I'm going to be fine."

David nodded. Lori and Lincoln walked ahead in the road, leaving the group behind in the shaded tree. Lori took out a hatchet from the side of her backpack and Lincoln held a knife in his left hand. The heat continued to bully the survivors.

 **II - Guts**

The front door of a small grocery shop opened. Richard held his knife in his hands as he turned on his flashlight, shining the light near the aisles. He slowly walked inside the store with Becky, Dana, D, Wavehead, and Lynn behind him, each person holding a weapon to defend themselves. The light moved around the store, revealing small amounts of water and food that the group were looking for. Richard looked back at the rest of the group and nodded his head. He turned his head back to the light, when suddenly, the light revealed a roamer coming close to him.

"Richard! The roamer!" shouted Becky.

He lunged towards the roamer with his knife, slashing its decayed brain. Rotten and infected blood oozed out as the knife was pulled away from the roamer's skull. The group looked around as they heard growls coming from all directions.

"What do we do?" asked Wavehead.

"We need some light! Pull the curtains up!" ordered Richard. "Then, we'll be able to see shit!"

Wavehead and D ran to the right side of the store. D smacked the roamers in the head with his Glock 17, keeping his fingers off of the trigger. Wavehead stabbed the roamers in front of them with his trench knife, allowing a safer passage for both boys. Meanwhile, Becky and Dana dashed to the left side of the store for the curtained windows. Becky and Dana mimicked the boys unintentionally, with Becky smacking the zombies with a gun of the same variant and Dana slashing the roamer's skulls with her machete.

Lynn looked around and struggled to choose who to run with. The boys weren't doing a better job than the girls, but they weren't doing a worse job either. The same could be said for the girls, and that is exactly why Lynn couldn't pick. She wondered why her indecisiveness decided to strike her at this moment.

"Lynn! Follow me!" yelled Richard. "Clear the roamers in the left aisles! I'll clear the roamers from the right!"

Lynn grabbed an arrow from her quiver and swung it upwards as she dashed towards Becky and Dana. One of the roamers was struck from the bottom of its jaw, the arrow sliding its way up to its brain and out of its head. Lynn used the same arrow to stab another roamer through its left eye, creating a sewer of roamer blood to flow out of its eye.

One of the aisles was brightened up by the sun through one of the windows. Dana and Becky pulled the strings to the curtains as fast as they could, while stabbing the roamers approaching them. One roamer walked faster than the other roamers as it was a newly decayed roamer, and the muscles from its leg has not rottened as much as the other roamers. It held its arms out and was ready to attack Dana. She extended her leg in an attempt to kick the roamer away, but the roamer already grabbed the backpack straps on her shoulders.

She fell down to a floor of empty cans and indeliberately stuck her machete through the roamer's stomach, causing its guts to slide out. Dana moved her face away from the roamer's mouth and moved the machete up his stomach to his chest, causing more of the roamer's organs to fall onto her. The roamer growled louder and strengthened its grip on the girl, while moving its mouth closer to her face. She shrieked while struggling to remove the machete from the roamer's body.

Becky smacked another roamer with her gun and attempted to help her friend out when another roamer grabbed her backpack, keeping her from going down to the floor. Becky quickly paced backwards where she shoved the roamer into a wall. The roamer was not affected. She raised her eyebrows and clenched her teeth as she bent her wrist to point her gun at the roamer behind her.

Lynn quickly moved into the scene where she tossed her arrow to the floor and dragged the roamer away from Dana. More blood poured onto her clothes as she slid the machete closer to her. Dana tightened her face and goosebumps appeared in her arms. Lynn grabbed the arrow and turned the roamer over. The roamer growled at the girl, while she stuck the arrow into its eyes, and then it growled no more.

Becky pulled the trigger, and a deafening shot caused blood to splatter on the back of her hair, to her backpack, and to the wall behind her. Everything went quiet as Richard, Wavehead, and D dashed to her aid. She fell down to the ground, along with the roamer. No sound came from the other survivors. A loud humming and then loud ringing struck Becky's ears immediately after she fell to the ground. She pressed her hands against her head and struggled to cry out, but she couldn't hear anything besides the ringing.

"Shit! What happened here?" asked Richard.

"Becky!" cried out D. "Becky! Are you okay?"

The ringing continued to bounce around Becky's brain, leaving her confused. She looked around with widening eyes, until she saw D, in which her eyes began to relax. The ringing persisted, but she was able to hear distorted voices coming from the group. She could hear D shouting something, but the ringing muffled those words into noises.

Dana helped Becky stand up as she shook her head, the ringing fading away at a slow pace, but surely fading away. Becky threw up on the floor as her nose caught the smell of Dana's shirt.

"She's not hurt," said Richard, as he walked away to the aisles.

All the roamers were lying in the ground, with pieces of their brains and skull sitting on the floor. Richard stepped on a few of these brain pieces, creating small puddles of blood.

Becky looked around. She could finally make out what the others were saying.

"Becky? Are you alright?" asked D. "I think she can't speak. She's very nauseous."

"No, I'm alright!" groaned Becky. "It's just… the ringing in my ears won't go away! I shot the gun too close to my ears!"

"Dana… you have roamer guts all over your shirt," commented Wavehead. "That's probably why Becky threw up. Those guts smell like shit."

Dana gagged as she sniffed herself.

"Oh my god! I smell so gross! Ugh! How do I remove this shit off of me? Sorry, guys! I gotta go outside!"

"Please do! It smells fucking disgusting!" shouted Becky. "Am I loud?"

"Yes," said Lynn. "Yes, you are. Try not to shoot a gun next to your ears next time."

Lynn, Becky, Wavehead, and D, walked to the center aisles while Dana rushed out of the store, covering her nose. The light from the sun stunned Dana, as she covered her eyes with her hands. She released her grip on her nose and tried to not smell the rotten organs in her clothes. A small piece of intestines fell out of her shoulder and into the pavement. The squishy noise it made as it hit the concrete floor nauseated Dana.

"I gotta change my clothing. This is too-"

A roamer groaned a yard away from Dana. She stood silently and turned her heads towards the roamer, her hands covering her eyes from the sunlight, and her arms dripping with blood. The roamer inched closer to Dana and moved its head to the left and raising it upwards. Dana slowly raised her machete, but she then noticed that the roamer inched away from her. The roamer continued to groan while walking away from her and the store. She lowered her machete and tilted her head as her jaw was left hanging open from what just occurred.

Lori and Lincoln were walking alongside each together in the road, slowly in the dangerous heat. Both children were suffering from dehydration, but they were still able to walk further into the road with the hopes of finding a store. Lori looked at Lincoln and nudged his arm.

"What's up, Lori?" asked Lincoln.

"Who do you like? Ronnie Anne or Tabby?"

"What kinda question is that? We're trying to find some water for the group!"

"We are searching for some water for the group. But we're talking as we search for a store. Let's talk like we did back at home. We never had any time to bond ever since Detroit fell."

Lincoln looked at his older sister and realized that the last thing they were able to talk about besides survival was their visit in Albany. Her older sister waited for a response, feeling dejected after every second.

"I don't know. I don't like them like that."

Lori raised her eyes and leaned closer to Lincoln.

"It's the end of the world, and you still can't admit your feelings to either one of them?"

"I did have a fun time with Tabby in the Sadie Hawkins Dance and I did have a fun time on that date with Ronnie Anne, but they're just my friends."

"You'll find someone. There might be a lot less fish in the sea, but you'll find someone, eventually," said Lori.

"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm more worried about us getting to Maine safely. I want the people I love to be happy," said Lincoln. "That's all that matters to me now."

"I'm glad we can still do this. Even in the harsh days and somber nights, we can still have these kinds of conversations."

Lincoln looked at Lori once again. She looked back and smiled.

"Do you think we're still going to have conversations like these, years from now?" asked Lincoln. "Will we even be around for that long?"

"Who knows? But I do know something. I want you to be around when we reunite with Mom and Dad. I want you to be around when I start a family with Bobby. I want to be around when one day you can start a family. To share our happiest experiences with each other, and to be there for each other when we're feeling down. One day, we'll grow old and look back at everything we did, either smiling or crying, and we'll do it together. If I die tomorrow or years from now, I want you, Leni, Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lana, Lisa, and Lily by my side."

The two siblings arrived at a gas station. A sign appeared near the pumps, reading, 'SORRY NO GAS'. A few roamers turned their heads towards Lori and Lincoln. Both siblings raised their weapons and walked to the roamers.

"Maybe, we'll be one of the lucky ones," said Lincoln.

Lincoln grabbed a roamer's neck and thrust his knife inside it, stabbing the bottom of its brain. Lori held her hatchet tightly and moved the weapon down a roamer's skull. She removed the weapon from its skull and swung it at another roamer's face. The roamer dropped to the ground, where Lori kneeled down and ended the roamer's life with one swift chop to its head. She quickly stood up and helped Lincoln by killing a roamer that approached him from a few meters away.

Lincoln looked at Lori and gave her a thumbs up, while shoving his knife at a smaller roamer, killing it. The corpses of the roamers were on the ground, with not too much blood lying around the roamers.

Lincoln and Lori went inside the gas station, searching for any supplies they could use. Lori grabbed the batteries off of the shelf near the counter. Lincoln took out his backpack and dropped all the canned food from the shelves inside it. Lori placed a lighter and a box cutter she found in the floor in her pockets. Lincoln grabbed a gallon of water from the shelf and handed it to Lori. He then grabbed the last gallon of water himself, and walked out of the gas station. Lori took out the lighter from her pocket, and flicked it on with her left hand. The flame moved around softly and still, until Lori flicked it off and covered the light.

Richard, D, Wavehead, Becky, Dana, and Lynn walked back to the group with supplies in their backpacks. Richard took out his revolver as he heard a couple footsteps. The rest of the group stood still and heard the footsteps moving around near the trees. Richard saw two moving figures in the forest, and he aimed his gun at them. They stood still as another moving figure approached them. The figure took out a long weapon and swung it at the other figure, causing it to drop to the ground.

"Nice kill!" shouted one of the figures.

Richard popped out of the trees and held his revolver aimed at the figure, causing Luan to shriek. Benny turned around and saw Richard pointing his gun at him. The rest of the group came out of the trees with their weapons in their hands, Becky and D being the only ones with guns aimed at the two figures.

"Shit!" yelled Richard, lowering his gun. "What are you two doing out here?"

Luan placed her katana back into its scabbard, while Benny looked into Richard's eyes. Benny lowered the ninjato sword that Tad previously owned.

"We were practicing killing roamers with our swords," replied Benny.

"You mean coming here to fool around with each other?" chuckled Wavehead.

Luan groaned as Benny shook his head. Richard looked around his surroundings and noticed three dead roamers in the ground. Luan sniffed the air and faced Dana.

"Dana! You have blood all over you!" gasped Luan.

"Yeah. Roamer blood. Let's go, now!"

Dana walked ahead of the others, cutting through the branches in the forest, and making her way back to the group. The rest of the group followed Dana along with Benny and Luan.

"Woah, what's the rush? Did you guys find any supplies?" asked Benny.

"Yeah," replied Lynn. "A couple water bottles, some canned food, and some silverware. Nothing too important."

"Dana has something very important to say, but she wants to tell it to the entire group. So annoying," sighed Becky.

Vonda awoke the sounds of chattering among the group. Her hair was drenched in her sweat and she desired water above anything else. Water was being distributed among the group, most of it being poured into individual canisters.

"Can I have some water?" asked Vonda, her eyes dry and her tongue pale.

"Sure thing. Here you go," said Lynn.

"Alright, everyone!" said Dana. "Where's Lori and Lincoln?"

"Right over there," pointed out David.

Lincoln and Lori were walking right next to each other, holding a gallon of water, surprising most of the group. Lincoln smiled at the younger survivors, while Lori smirked at the older survivors.

"Where'd you guys find that?" asked Sam.

"In a gas station ahead in the road," answered Lori. "We found some food and batteries as well."

"Interesting. We should split up more often," suggested David. "It would help us cover more ground."

"Alright, listen up!" shouted Dana. "Earlier, I had a machete stuck in a roamer's body as I struggled to fight it off. Thankfully, Lynn here saved me, but the roamer's organs poured onto my clothes. Blood everywhere. And, like, I'm talking about a LOT of blood."

"Yeah, we can see that," said Lana. "Sorry, continue."

"Anyways, I went outside and I was trying to remove the organs struck to my clothes when I noticed there was a roamer very close to me. Like, very close. But guess what? It approached me and then it left!"

"It just… left?" asked Lisa.

"Yeah. It seemed like it was sniffing the air around me and it must have been confused by the rotten air that I gave off! You know what that means!"

"My god…" whispered David.

"Yup. They get fooled by roamer blood. By smearing roamer blood and their organs onto ourselves, we can BECOME one of them. Goodbye, infection of the dead!"

"That's a crucial discovery that you made!" commented Lisa. "But, as valuable as that information holds, it seems too risky to test this discovery among the rest of the group."

"Too risky? I'm fine right now, though!" said Dana.

"We'll see. And even if nothing occurs in the following days and/or weeks, it doesn't mean that it is completely foolproof. For one, I can already hypothesize that this method introduces a huge buildup of concentrated necrosis influenza gas that could creep its way up the nasal passages. But what do I know? I didn't create the disease."

Lori joined in.

"Still! We might have to try that out sometime in the future!" said Lori.

Lisa nodded her head. Dana smiled and took off her shirt, showing the dress that she was wearing inside.

"Sergei, Lisa, Lana, did you guys siphon the gas already?" asked David.

"Yup, it's in these things," replied Sergei, holding up his jerry cans.

"Let's walk back to the vehicles," said David. "We're almost there! We just gotta get outta Massachusetts and go through New Hampshire, and then, just like that, we're in Maine."

The group began walking back to the vehicles. Richard couldn't help but correct what David said.

"It's been a month since we've been in the Adarandacks-" yelled Richard.

"Adirondacks," corrected Lisa.

"Whatever! It's been a month and we're still not in Boston. Is it going to take us another month just to touch Maine? And then another month to get to Houlton? It's not going to be over soon, David!"

"Well, we could try Lisa's strategy of taking gasoline from the bottom of the gas stations. That way, we can get to Houlton faster. But every gas station we stopped by has been empty and there weren't a lot of gas stations available in the road."

"Are you going to keep on depending on other people's words?" asked Richard. "Well, we could try it his way or her way, but what about your way, David? What would you do if it was just you and me? Don't tell me you wouldn't know what to do!"

"Richard… it seems like you're questioning my leadership."

"It's not that! It's just… it was better when it was just you… and my wife… and I. There's too many damn ideas being thrown by too many damn people that we don't even know! And with more people, more supplies get put to waste faster! You see what I'm saying, David?"

"What do you want me to do? Just leave all of these people behind? No! That's not what we do! We gotta get these people back with their family because that's what we do! I know that you're feeling down because of your wife-"

"Don't mention her. Don't bring her into this. It's not about her."

"I know it isn't. What's wrong, Richard? Something's happening to you."

Richard covered his eyes with his hands and groaned. He removed his hands and blinked quickly.

"I'm sorry. It's the heat. The scarcity of our supplies. It feels like I'm slowly dying every second I'm not with her."

"I understand. I worry every second I'm not with my wife and son."

Richard nodded and continued to walk in the road back to their vehicles. A couple clouds began to cover the sun as it climbed down to its bed in the horizon. The vehicles were sitting next to a small home. The entire house was scavenged except the mattresses and blankets.

 **III - The Humane Way**

A flicker of fire burned in the air as Richard lit up the small campfire as he did in all the nights in the past. He turned to his left and saw a slightly larger campfire than his made by Lisa, just as she made in the past days. David was eating his canned peaches while talking with George. They chuckled, just as Richard and David did in the past days. Bobby and Lori talked to each other while sitting on a log, whispering private things to each other, just as Missy and Richard did in the past days.

Richard poured a some water into the campfire from his canister and kicked some dirt into it while stomping it softly. He quickly kneeled down and inspected his campfire. He then stood up and walked towards David.

"I'm going to get more firewood," said Richard.

"Take George with you," said David. "Or better yet, let me come with."

"I can get it myself. Just stay here and relax. Don't use up too many of the supplies while I'm gone."

David nodded and Richard left the backyard and walked to the forest across the road with his flashlight on. He walked into the forest and loaded his Python. He then disappeared into the forest.

Carol noticed Richard leaving and entered the house through the back door. She grabbed a flashlight and a knife, and exited through the front door of the house. She locked the door and closed it, before running out into the dark forest. She turned on her flashlight and looked around the dark forest, getting goosebumps as she lurked close to the trees.

After a few minutes, Richard walked into an open area in the forest where a bundle of sticks resembling crossbones lied in the ground. He pointed his flashlight at a roamer approaching him. He then pointed his revolver at the roamer and shot the roamer in the head. He saw another roamer coming and shot it in the head as well, causing it to drop into the grass a couple meters away from the sticks.

Her heart stopped as she looked around in the forest for the source of the gunshot. Carol heard the gunshot once again and walked to its direction, moving all of the branches out of her way. Another gunshot was fired and Carol dashed faster in its direction.

"What is Richard doing?" Carol whispered to herself.

A fourth gunshot was fired and Carol finally saw a ray of light ahead of her. The fifth gunshot was louder than the rest of the shots. Carol saw an empty area of the forest and moved quickly towards it, when she suddenly heard a roamer behind her. She took out her knife and moved close to the roamer.

Richard held his breath and pointed his revolver at his head. Richard then shook his head.

"Too cowardly."

Richard saw another roamer approaching. He shot the roamer, using up his last bullet. Another roamer approached from behind the dead roamer and growled as it walked closer to Richard. Richard aimed his gun at the roamer and pulled the trigger, but no gunshots were head. The clicking of the revolver persisted as Richard continued to pull the trigger again and again.

Carol took out her knife from the roamer's skull and looked back at the empty area. She saw Richard opening up his arms, allowing the roamer to come closer to him. She gasped and ran into the open area, shrieking as she tackled the roamer out of the way.

"What the hell?" gasped Richard.

Carol quickly stood up and grabbed her knife with both of her hands. She held the knife above her and moved it downwards, stabbing the roamer's skull with full force. Richard looked at her as she took out the knife and blew into a strand of her hair.

"Richard, behind you!" yelled Carol.

Richard turned around and saw another roamer approaching. He smacked the roamer with his Python and started to beat it up with the grip of the flashlight. He smacked it deeper into the roamer's skull as it continued to growl at the man, until it growled no longer.

"Richard! What the hell! Were you… going to kill yourself?"

"Not until you stepped in! Why were you following me?"

"You were acting strange and I was worried what was going to happen to you when you decided to head to the forest alone!"

"Why do you care?" asked Richard.

"How can I not care? You did so much for the group and even though we really didn't have a chance to repay you, we appreciate what you did for us! Now, I'm going to ask you again! Why did you try to kill yourself?"

"There was nothing to live for! But, that was before… you stepped in… Carol."

"Come on, let's go back with the others. No doubt they heard the gunshots, and they're probably worried about you now."

"I knew it. You're all about saving people, right?"

"I care about you, Richard. I don't like to see you like this. Now, let's go. I want you to be safe already."

"Alright, let's leave."

Lori looked around the backyard. She jogged to where David was as he stood up.

"Did you hear that?" asked Lori.

"That was probably Richard. Six gunshots from his revolver. No big deal. If he got himself into some trouble, he'll pull himself out of it."

"Alright, but if he doesn't come back in a few minutes, we're going to look for him."

Richard and Carol walked out of the forest and walked to the backyard through the driveway. David shoved a sliced peach into his mouth as Lori sighed, confronting Carol.

"Carol? Why'd you follow him?" asked Lori frantically. "You know how dangerous it is in the forest at night?"

"Yeah. That's why I accompanied him," replied Carol.

"Strange," said David, joining in. "I thought Richard didn't need anyone coming with him."

"He didn't. But I did. I wanted to come with him because, frankly, I was scared for him. Now that I followed him and saw what he was capable of, I think he really doesn't need anyone."

"I wouldn't say that," said Richard. "It was nice having someone accompany me in the loneliness of the forest. Plus, I would need you just in case I scrape myself or some shit."

"Well, everything's all figured out now, right?" said David, smacking his hands as he tossed the can to the ground. "Remember. Tomorrow, we should be in the outskirts of Boston."

The sun disappeared and appeared again within hours, spinning around the sky like the cars in the RV wheel, watching over the vehicles as they traveled on the road that led to Boston. However, there was nothing of importance in Boston for the group to take advantage of, so they decided that they would move around Boston and continue on I-95. This idea has been debated numerous times, with some group members arguing that Boston was bound to be loaded with supplies. The risk of coming in contact with a city herd was too high, so they decided to sacrifice the potential of good supplies so that they can live another day.

The group stopped at another store, only to find it empty. They continued to search for another store, when the fuel for Vanzilla ran out. The group stepped out of their respective vehicles and began to set up camp as it was around lunchtime. A cabin stood by the road a dozen meters away from the van, so Lisa decided to create a campfire near the cabin, using her glasses. Richard insisted in using his lighter, but David stressed the importance of saving his lighter.

Lori grabbed George and Bobby to help her find cars to siphon fuel from them. George carried the jerry can and tubes, while Lori and Bobby held their weapons to protect the three of them. Sergei and David began to prepare the food with Dana's help. The rest of the group sat in the grass or inside the cabin, waiting for their food and water to be heated.

"Leni! Can you watch the young ones?" asked Lori. "You know, Darcy, Lisa, and Lana?"

"Sure thing, Lori. Have fun!" replied Leni.

Leni walked over to Lana, Lisa, and Darcy, and kneeled down to the grass, joining their conversation.

"Hey guys! Whatcha' doing?"

"We were going to search the forest for some firewood," said Lana. "Want to come with?"

"Well, Lori told me I had to watch you guys. So, yeah! I'm coming!"

Darcy jumped up and cheered along with Leni as Lisa motioned the girls to follow her. They walked into the forest while the group were distracted by their activities.

The fire continued to crackle near the log where Lynn was sitting at. Wavehead walked over to the log and sat down next to Lynn, watching the flame moving along with the weak breeze.

"You look troubled," said Wavehead, shifting his lens. "Watchu' thinkin' about?"

"Just thinking about my family," replied Lynn. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling a little worried. We're runnin' outta supplies and that would mean that this group is gonna split."

"What do you mean?"

"With no more supplies, some of us are gonna leave the group. We're not all tryna go to Houlton. To spare you some of the supplies, me and D are thinking about leaving. You guys had done more than enough for us."

Lynn looked at Wavehead in his eyes and slowly opened her mouth.

"No! You can't leave! You're a valuable member of our group. You're part of our family! We've been through a lot!"

"Sounds like you've been doubting family for a while now," commented Wavehead.

There was a pause before Lynn began to speak.

"I was talking about my siblings. I don't want to be around them for too much because that's when shit hits the fan."

Wavehead fixed his glasses and raised his right index finger, ready to rebut what Lynn was saying, but she added on.

"I know, I know! I sound superstitious! It's part of who I am! But can you blame me? Look how unlucky I've been! Just look around and tell me bad luck doesn't exist!"

"No, I can't blame you. Me and D have been through a lot, back in Cleveland. The world was already shit, and it seemed like it was us against the world. We've been involved with the wrong people, but we knew when not to cross limits. But even when we tried being nice… well, shit happens, Lynn."

Lynn and Wavehead continued talking while Ronnie Anne sought a conversation with Tabby. Both girls walked away from Lincoln, Clyde, Rusty, and Zach to walk around the cabin. Both girls did not talk as Tabby was waiting for Ronnie Anne to start the conversation, and Ronnie Anne was trying to find the right words to say to her.

"Tabby, I've noticed that you've been talking to Lincoln a lot lately," said Ronnie Anne. "That might not mean anything since we're the only girls Lincoln talked to-"

"Actually, there's Haiku, Polly Pain, Giggles, Girl Jordan-" interrupted Tabby.

"I mean in this group," said Ronnie Anne.

"What about Carol Pingrey? Or Sam? Lincoln's been talking to Sam lately, but I think they were on friendly terms before already," said Tabby.

"Sam is dating Luna already! And Carol Pingrey is too old for him!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Tabby.

"I'm talking about you liking Lincoln!" hissed Ronnie Anne.

"Me liking Lincoln? What?" gasped Tabby. "Ronnie Anne? Are you jealous?"

Ronnie Anne growled as they turned at another corner outside of the cabin.

"No, I'm not jealous! I was just going to tell you that if you're going to date Lincoln or something, you BETTER NOT hurt him!"

She raised her right fist and shook it in the air.

"Or else I'll hurt you!"

"Okay! I get it! But… I don't like Lincoln like I did with Liam…"

Both girls turned at another corner around the cabin when they saw two teenagers embracing each other, with lips pressed against the other. Becky and D gasped as they turned towards both girls, each with their jaws hanging open. D began to sweat while Becky flushed.

"Woah!" giggled Tabby.

"What?" gasped Becky.

"You two were making out!" said Tabby.

"Yes… so?" said D.

"How long have you two been dating?" asked Ronnie Anne. "Or is this your first time smooching each other?"

"Shut up! It's only been for a couple weeks!" whispered Becky loudly.

"Can you guys go away now?" asked D.

"Yeah sure. We'll leave you two lovebirds alone," said Tabby. "But don't keep this thing a secret! It's too cute to be a secret!"

Both Tabby and Ronnie Anne walked away while Becky and D held each other's hands again.

The sunlight shone through many spots in the canopy of the forest, promising hope for the four survivors. However, Leni was scratching her arms since a couple mosquitos sucked her blood, and they did so for a couple minutes since Leni didn't want to kill them. Darcy was scratching her legs from the itchy sap of the poison ivy that it came in contact with. Lana was used to feeling sweaty, dirty, and itchy, so walking through the forest proved to be no trouble for her. Lisa took out her anti-mosquito spray and used it on herself, Darcy, and Leni. She then took a bottle of lotion and squirted a small amount into her palm.

"For your poison ivy itch," Lisa told Darcy. "Does this feel better?"

Darcy sighed in relief as Lisa rubbed the lotion around her legs. She nodded and smiled.

"Thank you, Lisa! But what is poison ivy?" asked Darcy.

"I've been wondering too!" said Leni.

"It's a mean, green thing that makes you itch 'till you bleed!" said Lana.

"Eww!" cried both Leni and Darcy.

"Sigh. The toxicodendron radicans, street name, poison ivy, causes itching upon contact with its urushiol, or oily sap, and will spread throughout the skin, should you scratch it with your nails. Luckily, that lotion is going to eradicate the oil from the skin, causing the body to reject it out through sweat. Simple invention by moi, yet I still can't find the cure for the necrosis influenza."

"Gee, Lisa, you make me learn something everyday," said Darcy. "I wish I can grow older faster so I can understand what you said."

"Me too," said Leni.

"Leni… you're already-" said Lisa before being interrupted by Lana.

"Lisa. Look! A tent! Let's see what's in there!"

"Lana! Wait! Stay!" exclaimed Lisa. "Why do I even bother trying with these immature kids? Sorry, Darcy, thank you for actually acting your age."

Lana, Lisa, Leni, and Darcy hopped over the low barbed wire that surrounded the tent and went inside it. Lana gasped with joy as she saw the pile of canned food, bottles of water, and plenty of medical supplies.

"We shouldn't be here. I already obtained firewood," said Lisa. "We have to return to the base before Lori, George, and Bobby return. They'll notice that we're missing and then they'll start to search for us."

"But Lisa! Look at all of this!" pointed out Lana.

"But nothing! None of this is ours!"

"Everything we took from the stores aren't ours! Finders keepers, Lisa!"

"That's not right! The stores have been abandoned and its supplies were rightfully available for the next survivor to come across them! The probability that its owner or owners were going to return for their supplies were slim to none! These supplies…! They HAVE an owner!"

"Whoever owns these supplies isn't here for a reason! Maybe the owner died! Got eaten by roamers, you never know!"

"We're not going to make such wild assumptions. It's immoral and unjust. Remember what we're trying to do! Live as human beings, not just survive!"

Lana started stuffing the water bottles and canned food into her bag. Lisa tightened her eyes and walked closer to Lana.

"How can we even live as human beings if we can't survive?" argued Lana. "We need this for the group! It's many of us versus one person! Do you want to save the life of one stranger or the lives of many people? People that we love!"

"We'll find supplies. Maybe we can wait for this person to return and ask him/her for the supplies?"

"What do you think he or she will say? No! Look, Lisa, if it makes you feel better, I'm not gonna take all of the supplies. Just enough to keep us alive for a day."

Lisa stared at Lana silently, giving her the eye. Lana raised her eyebrows and stopped looting the supplies.

"It's three days worth of food and water, Lisa! Let's just go so you can stop looking at me like that."

Lana, Leni, Lisa, and Darcy walked out of the tent only to see the owner of the supplies standing in front of the barbed wire. The young man aimed his pistol at the girls and walked closer.

"Drop my stuff," said the young man in a calm voice. "Didn't your parents tell you not to steal?"

Lana stared at the young man. Lisa urged her to drop the supplies, but Lana kept her eyes locked on the young man.

"Yeah," spoke the young man into his walkie-talkie. "A blonde teenage girl with a green dress. Small tan girl with dark hair. Small brunette girl with a green shirt. Small blonde girl with a red cap."

The young man looked around his small camp and attempted to pick up noises other than the tweeting of birds. But nothing else was heard, so the young man with a green t-shirt and a black watch approached Leni and turned her facing towards the small girls. Leni gasped as the young man shoved the barrel of the pistol at the back of her neck.

Leni lowered herself as Lana and Darcy watched the man with their eyes wide and teary. Lisa wanted to ask the young man if they could be left alone, but now he made it clear that they were going to be questioned.

"Where did you guys come from?" asked the young man.

Leni kept her head lowered and her eyes closed.

"Michigan!" gasped Leni. "We're from Royal Woods!"

"Well, you guys are a long way from home!" hissed the man. "Where were you guys an hour ago?"

"In the road! We were going to…, Lisa, what was it called again? Botson?"

"Boston," corrected Darcy, causing the young man to push Leni to the ground.

Leni whimpered as the dirt ravaged her hair. The young man pointed his gun at Darcy, instead of Lisa, who was going to say Boston as well. Lisa underestimated her friend's knowledge, just as the young man was underestimating her knowledge. Lana stood in front of Darcy and looked at the man with teary eyes.

"If we give you your stuff back, will you leave us alone?" asked Lana.

"No. I'd be crazy to trust you girls like that. You girls just tried to steal from me!"

"And you're going to kill us for that?" exclaimed Lana. "Please, we don't have any weapons! We're starving! We're dying of thirst! That's why we stole from you!"

The young man lowered his gun. He knelt down and looked at Lana and Darcy.

"What are your names?"

They looked at Lisa. She nodded her head, while reaching for something in her pockets.

"I'm Lana."

"And my name is Darcy."

"I'm… Leni."

"They call me Lisa. Can you please do something about the roamer behind you?"

The young man turned around, holding his pistol in the air, ready to kill the roamer, but the trees remained silent as the man observed before. Lisa took out a needle and stabbed it on the man's buttocks, through his ripped jeans. The man yelled until his voice died out. He lied on the dirt, unconscious with the needle still in his buttocks. Lisa pulled it out and dug a small hole.

"What was that?" asked Lana, sounding frightened.

"Poneratoxin," said Lisa. "The tip of the needle was loaded with that chemical."

"That chemical knocks people out?" asked Lana. "Cool!"

"Technically, the chemical just delivers an excruciating sting, and the pain knocked him out."

Lisa buried the needle in the dirt. She stood up and picked up the young man's pistol. She switched the safety on and carried it in her hands.

 **IV - Somber Night**

"Leni, carry this young man back to the base. Lana, don't take anymore of the other supplies. Darcy, take my hand. Let's go back."

The dark clouds hovered over the group. The campfire moved around, adding to the low amounts of sunlight. Lisa drank her water as Lori scolded her and Lana for taking advantage of Leni's naiveness. Bobby and George were filling up the tanks of the vehicles while they awkwardly stared at the Louds. Lori's voice then started trembling.

"You guys are going to give me headaches in the future. Worrying constantly for you guys is the last thing I wanted to… worry about!"

"You sound like Mom," said Lana.

"Wanna see her? Then don't run off somewhere without adult supervision!"

The young man groaned as he woke up, tied to a tree by a rope wrapped around his arms and chest. The man was sweating since the pain persisted in his buttocks but with less power. Lori, David, George, and Richard were standing above him, casting a shadow on the nervous man.

"Where am I?" asked the young man as he turned his head left and right, checking his surroundings. "Who are you guys?"

"I'm David. And this is Lori. He's George. That's Richard. Don't worry. You're still in the outskirts of Boston. I assume that's where you're from?"

"Yes! What am I doing tied up? What are you gonna do with me?"

"Hey," said Richard. "We're going to be doing the questioning here. I insist you shut the hell up."

"What's your name?" asked George.

"My name's Jake."

"What are you doing out here, Jake?" asked David.

"What do you mean? I'm just trying to survive like everyone else. Like you guys, right?"

"You got a group?" asked Richard. "I know your ass didn't survive out here for three months alone."

"Yeah, I got a group. What's it to you?"

"What were you going to do to my sisters?" asked Lori.

"Your sisters? You mean Leni? Lana? Lisa? Darcy? I aimed a gun to their heads."

Lori looked at David who turned towards Richard. Richard clenched his fist and uppercut Jake's stomach, causing him to groan mid-sentence.

"It was because they stole my shit! My water! My food! All that shit!"

The four of them shook their heads and proceeded to walk away.

"What you don't believe me? Look! Check her bag! Lana's bag! She's got my shit!"

"And that was a reason to threaten LITTLE girls with a pistol?" hissed David. "You're lucky to be alive right now. Might not be that way for longer."

"No, wait! I had to make sure! I had to make sure they weren't going to call you guys back to loot my camp! You gotta understand that shit's running dry these days! I had to call my guys so they could secure my camp! And was I so paranoid? Look where I'm at! Please, don't kill me!"

David, Lori, George, and Richard began walking away. Bobby, Luna, Becky, and Sergei guarded Jake while he remained tied up to the tree.

"I bet it was that little shit, Darcy, that stuck that shit up my ass!"

Richard returned to the tree and punched Jake again, in his jaw. Jake did not pass out, so Richard took out a towel and wrapped it around his mouth. Bobby then took a blindfold out and wrapped it around Jake's eyes. His world went black like the sky above him.

"What do we do with Jake?" asked Lori. "I think we should drive away from here and free him. We literally need to keep him away from our group."

"With what fuel?" rebutted George. "I think the best thing we can do is keep Jake prisoner and exchange him to his group for supplies that we desperately need."

"He's too dangerous," argued Richard. "It'll end up the same exact way it did with Gus back at the bridge in New York. We should kill him. Make it quick but painless."

The group clamored against each other inside the cabin. Lincoln and Clyde agreed with Lori while Luan and Benny knew that George had the best idea. Lynn and Dana found themselves agreeing with Richard, believing that no stranger could be trusted, especially those who threatened the lives of their loved ones. Hours were passing inside the hot cabin, and in those hours, the campfire died out and Becky, Sergei, and Luna entered the cabin to see what the commotion was about.

"It's better safe than sorry!" yelled Lynn.

"But we're dying!" cried out Benny. "We have almost nothing to eat or drink!"

"We can't use him as a bartering tool!" shouted Clyde. "We have to do the right thing!"

"Dumping him miles away from his group is not the right thing!" exclaimed Luan.

"Guys! I'm making the final decision," said David. "That's how it works. I say we follow George's idea."

Some of the group members groaned while others chattered among themselves. There was talk about being able to enjoy breakfast and dinner together in the same day. Bobby heard the commotion but did not enter the cabin. He decided to stay and watch Jake, protecting him from the roamers, rather than protecting the group from him. Richard stormed out of the cabin, catching Carol's attention again. However, she did not want to upset Richard, so decided to stay inside the cabin, knowing that Bobby was outside. David followed Richard out of the cabin.

Richard jogged towards Jake and took out his blindfold.

"Look at me in the eyes. Whatever's going to happen to you in the future, I guarantee you won't be alive to see it. You're up to something, and believe me, justice will find you."

Richard turned around and faced David.

"Do whatever you gotta do, but you'll regret it, man."

Richard then walked away. Bobby was stunned and wanted to ask what his problem was, but David had the stern look in his face when tension was high. He took out the towel from Jake's mouth.

"Listen, Jake. We're going to keep you alive and we'll return you to your group, but you gotta work with us. We need your group to give us some of their shit so we can guarantee your safe return. Said it yourself, there's not a whole lotta supplies in this area."

"Can you at least tell me where I am? I need to tell my group where I'm at."

"You're in the western part of the Blue Hills Reservation."

"Ah, I see. Not too far from my camp then. Can I get my walkie-talkie?"

"Tomorrow. It's been a long day. Bobby, I want you to keep watch until… the sun begins to set. We'll bring him inside the RV by then."

"I got it, sir," said Bobby.

David walked back into the cabin. Bobby was left alone with Jake under the dark skies.

"So, Bobby, right?" said Jake.

"Sup?" Bobby said hesitantly.

"I saw the way Darcy clung onto you. She feels very safe around you. I also saw the look on your face when I screamed her name. You looked very serious and worried. A father's worry. I can assume Darcy is your daughter?"

"You can say that," replied Bobby as he held Lori's golf club to beat a roamer coming out of the woods. "Why is it important?"

"I just wanted to comment on how young you are. You look a year younger than me. I'm twenty, by the way."

"Well, I'm actually two years younger than you if it's August. Lori and I adopted Darcy. Her parents are missing, so we just took her with us. We're actually trying to find her parents, although I believe they died."

"In this world, for sure they did! I got a piece of advice for you," said Jake. "Never let her go. And Lori's your girlfriend? Never let her go, either."

"The truth is, Lori can do fine on her own. She's proven time to time that she can outlive this world. I only wish I can tell that to her father."

Bobby swung the golf club again at another roamer approaching the two young men. Jake looked around and saw an increasing amount of roamers coming out from the woods.

"Hey, let me help you out with the dead ones," said Jake. "There are more dead ones coming, and I want us to stay alive."

"Alright."

Bobby quickly tied a rope around Jake's wrists so that his hands are tied together in front of him. He placed the golf club in between his hands and allowed him to palm it. He then took out his knife and cut the rope that tied him into the tree. Jake stood up and ran towards a roamer, whacking it in the head. He beat it over and over, and looked back at Bobby who inserted his knife into a roamer's eye.

"Have you ever told Lori and Darcy how much you loved them recently?" asked Jake.

Bobby paused. He realized that he hadn't been able to in a while. He never even thought about telling Darcy how much he loved her, like the daughter he never had.

Suddenly, Jake whacked Bobby from behind his skull, causing him to fall down unconscious in the floor. His head was bleeding, but his skull was still intact, since Jake's tied hands couldn't provide him too much strength.

Richard walked out of the cabin, noticing Jake loose from his spot by the tree. Jake dropped the golf club and ran into the woods. Richard grew furious and sped after him, going inside the dimly lit woods. David and Lori came out of the cabin noticing Bobby lying in the ground. Lori gasped as a roamer knelt down to sink its teeth into the young man.

"NO!" yelled Lori, taking out a pistol.

She fired the pistol at the roamer, killing it before it got the chance to bite Lori's love of her life. Lori ran towards Bobby, sighing in relief when she noticed that he was still breathing.

The branches in the woods whipped and snapped. Jake jumped over the barbed wire and quickly grabbed his walkie-talkie with his tied hands before leaving his camp. Richard ran into the barbed wire, stabbing his legs and causing him to trip.

"AHH! Fuck!" yelled Richard. "Come here, you bastard."

Jake panted as he continued running while turning on his walkie-talkie.

"I'm running… to the base. I'm leaving… the west section… of the woods. Oh, what a somber night… if I don't make it out alive! If I don't… kill the little girl! The smart one! The one that knocked me out… with a needle!"

Richard continued to chase Jake despite his bleeding leg. Richard held his Python in his left hand, trying to see where Jake went. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, and noticed branches and twigs snapping and shuffling in the woods a couple meters ahead of him. He continued to run ahead in the woods.

"Help! If I don't make it out alive… get justice for me! First, the little girl! Then… the blond man chasing me! Then… the leader! Oh, fuck!"

Jake fell down into a ditch in the woods. His wrists pressed against the stone in the ground, leading it to its dislocation. He yelled as he rolled onto his back. Looking around for a hiding spot, Jake tried to stand up, but found himself unable to do so. Hearing the snapping of nearby branches, he sweated more intensely and panted heavier.

Richard noticed the ditch in the ground and stopped before he fell to it. He noticed Jake lying in the ditch as helpless as a turtle lying on its shell. He lowered himself into the ditch, standing above Jake. Everything was quiet except Jake's breaths.

"Please! You gotta let me live! I was stupid! I was stupid! Please-"

Richard lifted his Python and shot Jake in the chest. The smoke from the barrel lingered in front of Richard's face before flying away into the wind. The young man's lifeless eyes stared back at him, blood pouring out of his mouth and out of his chest. Richard climbed up from the ditch and walked away into the forest.

"How did this happen?" asked Carol as she pressed a bandage against Bobby's head. "Does this hurt?"

"Yeah, ouch. I think Jake swung the golf club on my head," replied Bobby.

"And I think I gotta swing it again to you as well!" said Lori. "Why would you let him loose?"

"I tied his hands up with a rope! I thought he was going to help me take out the roamers!"

"Well, you thought wrong!" yelled Lori. "Jesus, Bobby, you can't just give a weapon to a prisoner! That's literally stupid!"

Bobby swallowed hard as he turned away from his girlfriend. Richard walked into the cabin. David approached the cabin door and closed it. Lori gasped softly as she rubbed Bobby's head.

"I'm sorry, Boo-Boo Bear! It's just… I'm afraid to lose you. I can't lose you."

"I'm sorry too, babe. I promise I won't do anything stupid like that, again."

Bobby and Lori hugged each other as Carol, with the rest of the group, approached Richard.

"What happened to Jake?" asked David.

"He escaped. But not before I shot him once. He can't be too far off from here."

"Should we look for him?" asked George. "I would feel a lot safer knowing he's back with us."

"Nah," responded Richard. "Chances are, he ran back to his group. And in that case, we need to leave immediately."

Suddenly, a knock was heard in the door. The group looked surprised, taking out their weapons and preparing themselves for an attack. David slowly turned the door knob, and was met with a friendly smile.

"Sorry, were you guys busy?" asked the man in the doormat, holding a police baton.

"Who the hell are you?" asked David.

"I'm Bret. Wow, I never seen a group so large! Usually we find groups of three or five, but there's gotta be at least two dozen of you guys! Of course, we still have the largest group in the world."

"Yeah. Twenty-eight of us. You're only a group of three."

"My group's back in Boston. Although, it's not really a group. We're more like a community. There's a hella lot more people in our community."

"Really? You guys have lots of supplies as well? My group and I aren't faring so well these days."

Bret tied his long hair into a man bun while looking around the cabin. He smacked the leaves off of his green tank top, similar to Lori's 'tank top'.

"You guys are very low on supplies. We have lots of supplies back in our community. Boston has lots of supplies, and it doesn't seem to be running out any time soon."

"That's great!" remarked David. "Do you think we can come with you?"

"Sure, but first, have you seen a young man around this area? His name's Jake and he's got a green t-shirt, ripped jeans, a black watch. He's part of our community, although he was more of the rebellious kind."

"I think we did see him. We encountered him in this cabin, but he ran away from us. He ran away in that direction," pointed out David.

Bret looked back and saw where David was pointing at.

"That's the direction where our community is! Hey… umm, do you guys mind if you help us look for Jake? We're going to walk back to our community and we would like you guys to join us. Would you like to be part of our community?"

"What a very tempting offer, but I'm sorry to tell you that I gotta decline it. Our group's got a different destination in mind, and all we really need is fuel for our vehicles, food, and water. We could help you find Jake, though."

"Oh, that's alright! I'm assuming you're all not coming with us back to our community then!"

"That's right," said Richard. "Some of us gotta stay."

"In that case… Jayden! Watch over the ones who stay! We don't want Jake attacking them all of a sudden!"

Bret and his right-hand man, Mike, walked towards the woods. David, George, Lori, Becky, Dana, Leni, Luan, Benny, Lincoln, and Lisa followed the men. David quickly ran back to Richard.

"You're coming. Just in case."

Lori ran back to Bobby as well.

"You gotta come," whispered Lori. "Don't you want to see this new community?"

"Yeah. We're taking my sister and Darcy with us?"

"Yes. I can already taste the delicious warm meal they have over there!"

Richard, Bobby, Ronnie Anne, and Darcy followed Bret and Mike into the woods. Jayden watched over Sergei, Carol, D, Wavehead, Luna, Sam, Lynn, Vonda, Clyde, Rusty, Tabby, Zach, Lana, and Lily.

"So, you and the rest of your community are from Boston?" asked Lori.

"Yes. I never got your names," replied Bret.

"I'm Lori. This is my boyfriend, Bobby, and his sister, Ronnie Anne, and our adopted daughter, Darcy."

"Adopted?" questioned Bret. "Before or after the GIE?"

"After. So that term really was used throughout the nation."

"Yeah. Especially by the rogue military. You," said Bret, looking at David, "what's your name?"

"I'm David Jones. This is my buddy, Richard."

"You guys are in the military?"

"We were in the military. I'm a former Marine. He was Army."

"This was years ago, I'm assuming, right? I don't think you guys are associated with the soldiers that handled this whole situation?"

Mike slashed the branches in front of the group with his machete, along with Becky and Dana. David and Lori looked at each other and proceeded to ask him about the one man that is haunting their post-apocalyptic lives.

"Do you know who General Quentin Black is?" asked David.

"I don't have the slightest clue who you're talking about. But I do know who Major Herbert Brown is. He's the commander that controlled the Boston Safe-Zone before he bombed that shit down. Fortunately, he didn't bomb the one building we were hiding in. We got out, and we were able to create the community that we love and value. From the rubble of the buildings, we prospered."

"So, we're in for a walk, right?" asked David.

"We got a van close by. It'll fit all of you. Don't worry."

Luna and Sam looked closely at Jayden, who was sitting at the top of the RV with a cigarette.

"Hey, dude!" called Luna. "Can you do us children a favor and put that smoke down?"

"What's it to you?" said Jayden, with a very deep and raspy voice.

"That shit is not good for our lungs, bro!" yelled Sam. "Especially for the kids!"

"Your campfire is more dangerous than my smoke! Now, leave me the fuck alone and let me do my job!"

"That's not true!" said Luna. "Lisa knows how to make smokeless fire! She wouldn't be a genius if she couldn't do that!"

"So, Lisa's the genius, huh? This whole time, I thought Darcy was the smart one," said Jayden as he was coming down from the RV.

"What the hell are you smoking to make that conclusion?" asked Luna.

"Step back before you start disrespecting me, bitch," hissed the man. "Be thankful that I'm protecting your asses in here! Now, go cook me something or whatever you fucking bitches are good at. This world wasn't made for you to insult me like that."

Jayden climbed up the RV, with the smoke still in his mouth. Luna clenched her fist and walked towards the RV, but Sam grabbed her shoulders and shook her head. Jayden took out the cigarette from his mouth and flicked it at Luna's face, stinging her cheeks for a split second.

"That's it! Come down here, you bloody smoke fucker!" yelled Luna.

Luna shoved Sam's hands away from her shoulders and ran to the ladder of the RV. Jayden jumped down from the RV.

"What the fuck did you say to me bitch?"

Luna swung her fist at his face, causing him to be knocked back to the RV. He touched his bleeding lips and smirked. He lunged towards Luna and punched her in the chest then her face. Luna fell to the ground as Jayden continued delivering blows to her body. She kicked him in his torso and then punched his jaw.

Sam, Sergei, and D attempted to remove Luna and Jayden from each other. Sam and D pulled Luna back while Sergei grabbed Jayden. However, Jayden shoved Sergei away and pulled out his pistol, aiming it at Luna.

"Get on your knees, bitch. Want to be the first victim that bad?"

A flash of light flew across the dark sky as the first thunder boomed in the somber night. A light flickered in the forest as Mike and Bret walked towards it. Richard took out his knife from his pockets and held it tightly as they walked into the source of light.

Three small campfires surrounded a large bundle of sticks, charcoal, and dry leaves. The stones surrounding it were sharp, with a spike pointing towards the firewood. There were nine people standing in a straight line with their guns pointed at the group. Mike and Bret pulled out their pistols and pointed it point-blank at David and Richard. Mike smacked Richard's knife out of his hands and into the ground.

"Welcome to our community," snickered Bret. "Everyone drop your weapons, or we will kill you. We won't hesitate, so do it, NOW!"

Lori and the others removed their guns from their person and dropped it to the ground below them. Bret's group took their weapons and grabbed each person by their wrist until they each surrounded the would-be campfire. Lori knelt down with Leni to her right and Bobby to her left. Another thunder roared across the sky.

A couple gunshots were fired near Lori. The bullets hit the tree behind Leni, causing her to duck to the ground. She whimpered as she kept her head down in the ground.

"Hey, leave her the fuck alone!" yelled David.

"You're the leader, right, David?" said Bret. "Go ahead guys, beat the shit outta him. But don't kill him, yet, he needs to see this."

Mike and the others began to pummel David to the ground, hitting him in the jaw, chest, arms, ribs, abdomen, and every spot where David could bleed from. He groaned as his dog tags were yanked off from his neck. Bret shot above Luan, causing her to shriek and duck to the ground. The next lightning was even brighter and the thunder that followed it shook the earth.

"Stop that!" yelled Lori.

Lori reached into her pockets and took out her box cutter. She dropped her lighter into the ground, where its shiny luster showed a false promise. Bret swung his baton at Lori's arms, smacking the small knife away from her hands. He then thrusted the baton into her chest, knocking all the wind from her. He then spotted the small object in the ground and smiled.

"Just what we needed," chuckled Bret as he picked up the lighter in the ground. "Exactly what we needed! Get back, Lori!"

Mike dragged Lori back to her spot in the ground. Bret then called over his men and women.

"Looters! Enough of the torture and let us go!" yelled Lori.

"I like that name," smirked Bret. "Looters! Stop beating their leader up!"

The Boston Looters walked away from David as he lied in the ground, groaning and covered in bruises.

"Point a gun at this one, then this one…" ordered Bret.

One of the Looters pointed their rifle at Bobby's head, causing Lori's heart to sink. Another Looter aimed their gun at Luan's head. And another at Leni's head. And another at Benny's forehead. The other Looters faced the survivors in the other side of the circle. Another flash of light thundered across the sky. Bret walked towards a certain unlikely survivor.

"What a somber night if Jake died. And this is justice for Jake. There will always be justice in the somber nights for any of our people."

Lisa held Darcy's right hand as Bret pulled her away from her left hand. Lisa struggled to speak against Bret as he forced her to release her close friend. Bobby gulped as the Looter inched closer to him with the barrel aimed at his forehead. Lori's heart sunk even deeper as she felt chills crawl up her spine.

"No!" yelled Lori. "Please! Not her! Bret! Put her down!"

Darcy flapped her arms and legs as she struggled to set herself free from Bret, but it was no use. Bret lit up the lighter, the same lighter with the slow and peaceful flame, and tossed it into the bundle of sticks, creating a large raging inferno. Bret grabbed Darcy's arms, lifted her, her legs moving back and forth, and tossed her into the violent flames. Darcy cried out in agony as her body caught fire in the brutal flames. The little girl cried out for help, help from Lisa, Lori, Bobby, David, from her parents, from anyone. The survivors watched with their jaws left hanging open, as the bloodcurdling scream continued to haunt their ears, the burning flesh running up their nose, the embers prickling their skin, the soot clogging their throats, and the red sight reflecting off their pupils. Lisa closed her eyes and allowed a flow of tears to escape her tear ducts. Another thunder boomed across the sky.

Lori watched the flames devour the girl that she loved and took as her own daughter. Her desperation was crying out to Lori's own desperation as fury, such as the one that consumed Darcy, engulfed the teenage girl. She didn't want to follow Missy's word anymore. She was pushed to the edge in this act of sheer brutality and any hopes of preserving her humanity died along with Darcy's scream.

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 ** _Don't forget to follow the story and add it to your favorites if you enjoyed... don't forget to leave a review on how you feel about this chapter... Until next time, no further words left..._**


	12. Walking in the Midst of Fire

**_Hello and welcome back! Mr. Potassium here with another chapter. You're probably feeling anxious about what happens next after the last chapter so let's get right into it! Don't forget to follow and favorite!_**

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-Day 5-

Alarms and sirens scattered throughout the entire town as the sun fell down to the earth. The sky had a tang of orange and pink pigment scattered across the horizon. Streetlamps flickered on and off in the sidewalk. Windows in every home went opaque and the air conditioners no longer blew air. As usual, gunshots were fired, along with the shouting of protesters.

The stadium was locked down by the National Guard and by local police forces. Every roamer that escaped from the gates of the stadiums were shot down by law enforcement. However, not all those who escaped were roamers.

The protesters continued to shout at the riot police, sometimes throwing stones at them. A police officer hollered at the protesters, ordering them to go somewhere safe. The truth was, in the eyes of the protesters, there were no safe places except their dark homes. Meredith Hilda couldn't stand dark homes, especially with a niece that she barely interacted with, unless she counts the amount of times she had conversations with her while holding a bottle of liquor.

A helicopter landed in an empty parking lot outside of the hospital near Palmer Field. The chief of police of Ann Arbor awaited near the gates of the parking lot, which also served as the entrance to the hospital. A couple rogue soldiers came out of the helicopter, scanning the surrounding area. The chief gulped as he saw General Quentin Black step out of the helicopter.

"How are you, Chief Adams?" greeted the general. "You know what it's time for, am I correct?"

"Yes," said the chief, shivering as he thought about what he was about to be ordered to do. "But, I believe she's protesting with the others. We don't have to storm inside their homes and slaughter everyone. I can't do that to innocent women and children."

"You understand that the Meredith and Vonda aren't innocent?" insisted Black. "But to save you guys from storming inside each individual home, you and your guys are going to be doing something different."

"As long as my family is guaranteed safe passage to Nova Scotia, I'll do anything you say," said Chief Adams.

"And that's why you and your family will enjoy a hot meal in Nova Scotia. But you won't be calling it that anymore. When the whole world goes to shit, and the strong make it out alive, it should be known as Nova Terra."

"Nova Terra?"

"New Earth. New Land. What I want you to do is order your men in blue to shoot down the protesters. Sacrifice the lives that would no doubt suffer in the new world to take out the one threat that would destroy the future that we have planned. We got Tim and his daughter in Detroit. Quirino's forces should handle Sherry."

Chief Adams grabbed his badge and sighed. General Black looked around the hospital and spotted dozens of people trying to get inside the gate. The general looked at his men and nodded his head while motioning his index finger and middle finger across his neck. The rogue soldiers raised their weapons and sprayed bullets through the gates. Adams' jaw widened and he held his breath as the people were slaughtered outside the gates.

"People will suffer a worse fate in New York today," said General Black. "Quirino's forces will storm New York some time after Operation Dust Zone. It will be hell over there. This mission is for the greater good of this world, don't forget that."

Chief Adams softly lowered his head and raised it again. General Black continued to stare at him.

"Well? Are you going to follow orders?"

"Right, the order," gulped Adams.

Adams nervously pulled out his walkie-talkie. He turned it on as he eyed the bleeding bodies near the gates.

"This is Chief of Police Ferdinand Adams. To all riot control forces, I order you to eliminate any threat you encounter in the containment of the infected by any means necessary. The infection causes its victims to become aggressive and that is enough I can tell you about the protesters. This is an order."

The rogue soldiers stormed inside the hospital. Gunshots went off. General Black walked back into the helicopter, holding his hand out for the chief. Adams climbed onto the helicopter and both men awaited the soldiers' return. The gunshot stopped and the rogue soldiers climbed back into the helicopter.

Meredith Hilda held a liquor bottle with a cloth and a lighter. The protesters were becoming violent and turning into rioters. The riot police unleashed tear gas on the crowd, which resulted into the lighting of hundreds of bottles. The Molotovs were tossed into the gas, causing a streak of flame to spark within the tear gas. Suddenly, bullets flew away from the gas and towards the rioters, striking many of them. The riot police focused their attention away from the stadium in which the roamers were now escaping from.

More Molotovs were thrown across the air, setting cars, trees, and buildings ablaze. The police moved towards the fleeing rioters in a thunderous motion, shooting anyone they see. A frightened driver raised his hands as an officer walked to his car. The officer raised his rifle at the windshield and pulled the trigger. Many pieces of glass shattered as the riot police shot their guns at the windows of stores and houses near the stadium.

Meredith sobbed as the tear gas attacked her lungs and eyes. Her upper left limb was missing and the rest of her body was painted with blood. She let out her last breath, apologizing to Tim and Vonda. The fire engulfed the many bodies that lied in near the stadium.

The roamers came out of the trail of gas, hungering for the souls that ended them. The officers shot the roamers' bodies, but they failed to hit their heads, resulting in the officers' gruesome deaths. Their screams matched those of the rioters that fell near the stadium.

The red sky reflected the anger of the rioters and the blazing streak that consumed central Ann Arbor. General Black, Chief Adams, and the rest of the rogue soldiers flew out of the chaos that they created. Adams looked away from the burning town while Black stared at it.

"You understand that I don't enjoy seeing this, right?" said Adams.

"I don't enjoy seeing the world burn, either, if I have to be honest with you," replied Black. "The last thing I wanted was a world on fire. But this is only a microcosm of what was. The world was already on fire before. And according to a buddy of mine, we were walking in the midst of it."

 **Chapter 12: Walking in the Midst of Fire**

 **I - The Fire**

-Present Day-

"No, I won't kneel," spat Luna. "Your group won't be happy about what you're doing."

"You don't know shit about my group," said Jayden. "Get on your knees!"

"I wouldn't hold that shit on me if I were you. You're asking for death right now."

"Luna, what are you doing?" gasped Sam.

Lynn held Rusty, Zach, Tabby, and Clyde back as they watched the scene unfold before them. Carol stood behind them, holding a small revolver, while Lana held her heavy wrench tightly.

"I need you guys to walk behind the cabin. I think shit's about to go down," said Lynn.

"I can cover you," said Wavehead.

"No, I need you and D to protect the others."

"Okay, got it."

Lynn grabbed her bow and drew and arrow from her quiver. Before she took a step towards the RV, Clyde grabbed her shoulder.

"Stay safe," whispered Clyde.

"You too, Clyde. I'll be fine," smiled Lynn.

"I would listen to your girlfriend," said Jayden. "I'm giving you one last chance before I pump some lead into you."

"You need to chill with that. Put that shit away and fight me with your hands, pussy!"

Jayden lowered his pistol and shot it. Luna yelped while falling to the ground on her knees. Blood poured from beneath her left shin as she placed her left palm in the ground, her head low, and her arms on her right knee.

"Come on! Who's next!" yelled Jayden.

"Luna!" yelled Sam, as she looked up at Jayden. "Why'd you do that?"

Jayden aimed his pistol at Sam.

"Looks like you want to be next."

"No, no, I'm next," said Sergei. "Leave them alone. They don't deserve death."

"You're saying you do?"

"I just want you to settle down. We all need to calm down. Your group and my group are going to return some point later. They won't be happy to find out that we did this. It would drive a wedge between us and your people back at the community."

"Community? You gullible fucks! There is no community! Your group are being sent to trap to end their pitiful lives!"

Luna gasped as tears of pain fell from her eyes. Sam held her tightly, whimpering as Jayden moved his pistol towards Sergei.

"Why? What did we ever do to you guys?"

"It's not that you guys did anything to us. It's that we need all the supplies that we can get. Even if we have to kill other people for it! You see, there was a point in time when we had nothing! Not even a bottle of water to feed the many of us! There used to be more of us, but… shit happens!"

"We have nothing as well. Maybe some shit that will last us for a few days, but then that is it. We are all desperate, but we wouldn't kill for some supplies!"

"You would kill anyone who defies you! Like Jake! If I were to lower my gun, you guys would kill me!"

Lynn pulled the string back in her bow and aimed it at Jayden. As she released the arrow, Jayden ducked and shot his gun at Lynn. She tackled the door to the cabin and ran inside, dodging the bullets.

"Son of a bitch!" growled Jayden as he took out a magazine for his pistol. "Looks like I gotta hold one of y'all at gunpoint to teach this bitch a lesson."

Sergei grabbed Jayden's right arm and pulled it backwards with immense force, snapping Jayden's arm and rendering it useless. He let out a strong yell before smacking Sergei with his gun. He grabbed Sergei's neck with his left hand and choked him. Sergei fell to the ground with Jayden on top of him.

Suddenly, a spike went through Jayden's chest as blood poured out of it and his mouth. Sergei moved out of the way, as Jayden fell flat into the ground. Sam pulled out the ice pick away from Jayden's chest and out his spine, creating a gaping gash in his back. Sam dropped her ice pick and covered her mouth, gasping at what she had done.

Lynn came out of the cabin with the string of her bow drawn backwards. She pulled the string forward as she grabbed her arrow. Luna looked at Sam with her jaws left open. Sergei smiled and sighed in relief. Luna then smiled as well.

"Thank you, my love," gasped Luna as she fell to the ground.

Carol came out from behind the cabin, along with the other kids, running to Luna. She turned Luna over and saw a bullet hole in her shin. Lynn walked over to Jayden's body and spat on it, while Sam began to sob.

"Is she going to be okay?" whimpered Sam. "Please tell me she will!"

"She will be okay. She will be. I just need to bring her inside the cabin," said Carol. "You guys need to rescue the others! Go!"

"Right! The rest of the group!" exclaimed Sergei. "They're walking into a death trap!"

Sergei ran inside the cabin and grabbed his rifle. Carol and Lynn brought Luna inside the cabin, while D and Wavehead grabbed a couple magazines for their pistols from the van. Sam walked inside the cabin with hopes of assisting Carol with stabilizing her girlfriend.

Sergei, Lynn, Wavehead, and D dashed into the forest, following the groups' trails that led them into the big campfire. The kids dashed inside the cabin, closing the door. Jayden's corpse remained outside in the grass, as thunder boomed across the sky.

Lincoln looked quietly into the campfire. The crackling sounds of the embers filled the silence in the gaps from one thunder to another. He turned to look at Lori, who was distraught by what she saw. Bret continued walking around a circle. Lori couldn't stand looking at Bret's shoes, so she lied her head in the grass whimpering.

Ronnie Anne looked at her sniffling brother, who cried for the daughter that he always wanted. She felt a large sting in her heart, almost as if Darcy was her own daughter as well. However, she knew that what she felt couldn't match Bobby's pain. Still, watching the fire swallow Darcy's corpse felt too uneasy for anyone to bear. Even David turned his eyes away from the fire.

"I bet you guys want to shove a knife through my skull," said Bret.

"No," said Lori. "I feel like doing something much worse to you. Like slitting your throat."

Bret smirked slightly while placing his hands on his neck and rubbing it.

"Well, I understand how you feel. I wish I could do the same thing with Major Brown. He was the one who killed my mother with a grenade launcher back in Boston. Mike knows it too. After all… he's my brother. But you guys aren't too concerned about that, right?"

"You burned a four-year-old girl alive. Why?" puffed David.

"Fire is one of the most beautiful thing that nature has to offer. It provides heat. And heat provides life. But life leads to death, and it only makes sense to die by something that would provide life. Not following me here, yet?"

The group remained silent. Bret continued with his story.

"Look, it doesn't have to be fire. I could've drowned her. But I didn't because fire has life. It moves and seeks to engulf, burn something. Or someone. I can see why Major Brown used fire to kill his enemies. Still doesn't make what he did right. But I understand it. And what I did was right. I hope you guys understand."

"How was it right?" asked Bobby. "What did this girl ever do to you?"

"Jake contacted us earlier, telling us that she knocked him out. Pretty smart girl. Everything that happened after was because of Darcy. And that's why we tossed her into the fire. Justice."

"You're sick," said Becky. "Sick pyromaniacs. That's what you guys are."

"You should've seen the dead ones burning up in flames to haunt us as we fought them off. Beautiful. We are just like them, now and in the afterlife. Walking in the midst of fire. Just like Darcy. Just like you guys in a couple minutes. You guys aren't following me, right?"

"We are," said Richard. "I can see that you guys are batshit murderers."

"It's funny that you mention that," said Bret. "Jake said he was running away from something while having his hands tied up. He mentioned a tall, blond man with hair in his jaw. We later found him lying in a ditch with a bullet hole in his chest. You can imagine our anger after we saw that, right?"

"He attacked a member of our group. Of course, I went after him. I don't feel ashamed about it."

"Even when he was lying helpless on a ditch? Even as one of the dead ones, he couldn't climb out of the ditch. We had to help him up."

"One of the dead ones?" wondered Richard. "He got bit?"

"He must have," replied Bret. "Otherwise, he wouldn't look like this."

Mike and the other Looters grabbed Roamer Jake from the rope around his wrist, bringing him in close to the group like a dog. The bullet hole was apparent in his chest and his watch still ticked. Bret held out his hands and pointed at the zombified Jake.

"Look at that! Another act of justice has to be done. Where do you want to get bit?"

Richard stood up, but the Looters grabbed his shoulders and forced him down to the ground. David eyed Roamer Jake and realized that Richard told the truth except with one detail. He claimed that Jake got away. And that was a lie. A lie that would end up biting Richard back.

Roamer Jake reminded Lori of Lucy and her tragic death. Luan and Benny saw an exact scenario involving Lucy with this as well. The unstable nature of roamers meant that even if Bret wanted the roamer to kill Richard, there is a chance that they could lose control of it and allow the roamer to bite another survivor. Since Luan and Benny knelt close to Richard, they braced themselves for the teeth of the wild roamer.

Lightning and thunder joined in a unifying sound as it caused the sky to flash in a split second, shaking the earth. The wind shook the trees around and tiny raindrops touched the large campfire. More raindrops formed a drizzle.

"Keep that fucking monster away from me!" shouted Richard.

A bullet flew through the air and struck the chest of the Looter to Richard's right. Another bullet struck the Looter to his left, creating a hole through his shirt and in his chest. Both Looters dropped to the ground. A burst of bullets erased the face of the Looter behind David and the limbs of another Looter behind Becky and Dana. The Looters aimed their weapons behind Lori and fired into the trees.

David grabbed Mike, covering his throat, and shoved his knife in his lower spine. Roamer Jake was released, growling towards Luan, but Richard grabbed it by the rope around his wrist.

"I gotta make you useful," said Richard, while turning Roamer Jake around.

A Looter stood behind Lincoln, with his rifle aimed at the trees in front of them. Richard shoved the roamer to the Looter. Roamer Jake sunk its teeth into the back of the Looter's neck, biting his flesh off. He screamed in agony, while Roamer Jake sunk its nails into the Looter's arms and pressing him as they both fell to the ground.

Lincoln and Ronnie Anne crawled towards Bobby. Benny grabbed his straight-edged katana and stood up. A Looter turned around to the other Looter's screams, and dived into the tip of a katana. Benny shoved the katana in and out, killing his first victim ever since the apocalypse started.

The other Looters looked at Benny and raised their weapons, but one of the Looters was shot in the head, causing him to the drop next to a small campfire. The drizzle dropped more raindrops on the group as the other Looters faced the trees behind David and Richard. Another bullet struck a Looter's head, and another Looter was shot in the abdomen and then the neck. He gasped as he fell to the ground, blood washing the ground below the group.

Lori grabbed her box cutter and shoved the box cutter inside of Bret's right eye socket. He yelled at the top of his lungs as blood leaked out of his eye socket. Lori yelled as she twisted the small knife inside his eye, causing it to squirt blood and aqueous fluid. Bret's voice grew more agonized as he was paralyzed with pain. Lori removed the box cutter.

David tossed Mike to the ground and stomped him in the chest. He stomped him again and again, mostly in the face. The sound of ribs cracking and Mike's face being bruised rang throughout the dying Looters' ears.

Lori wrapped her arms around Bret, pressing his arms against his ribs as he groaned as a result of his missing eyeball. Lori clenched the box cutter tightly and pressed it against the right side of Bret's throat. She dragged the box cutter across his throat, with blood squirting out like a packet of ketchup as Bret's yells turned into gasping. Lori removed the box cutter by ripping it out of his throat. She then shoved Bret into the large campfire as the rain began to pick up. Bret's body twitched as the fire consumed him, serving a different kind of justice with the same punishment.

David continued stomping on Mike's head until a crack in his skull was heard. His brain squirted blood as David made one last powerful stomp. David looked around as an arrow flew across the camp and into Roamer Jake's head. The roamer dropped to the ground with the arrow stuck in its head.

Sergei propped out of the tree behind Lori. Wavehead and D came from behind David and Richard while Lynn revealed herself behind Leni and Carol. They all looked at Lori, horrified and aghast. Lori blinked slowly as she wiped her bloody hands on her shorts. Her face was stained with blood as well though she ignored it. She dropped the box cutter, still containing pieces of Bret's flesh. She then lied on the floor and released her tears as the sky rained on the dying campfire.

Millions of raindrops rained over Boston where the group decided they weren't going. The group turned on their flashlight and saw a couple roamers heading to the camp. Lynn and Wavehead made it their job to protect the group from the roamers. David and Richard walked over to the smoldering campfire, picking guns along the way. Becky, Dana, Benny, and Luan rummaged through the Looters' backpacks, taking them along with them. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stood up and helped Leni up to her feet. Shocked by what occurred, Leni held Lincoln close to her.

Lisa held out her hands for Lincoln to grab since her glowing glasses were stained from the drops of tears and rain. Lisa flicked her glasses, causing the lens to fade into transparency. Ronnie Anne helped Bobby up as he continued to stare at where the campfire used to be. Lynn walked over to Lori and offered to help her up. However, Lori stood up on her own and walked away from the camp, her hands shaking and her breaths rapid.

"So I got two of them," D told Wavehead. "And you got one of the others."

Both boys walked back to the cabin with the rest of the group following them. The rain diluted the blood on Lori's face, though it was still obvious that something bloody occurred in the Looters' camp.

David looked at his RV and saw Jayden's corpse lying in the grass with a gaping hole in his back. He faced the sky and closed his eyes, letting the rain wash off the blood in his face.

Richard walked over to his corpse and grabbed his lifeless arms. Richard pulled mostly with his left hand as his right hand lacked a thumb to grip the arms properly. He dragged the body into the forest, hidden from sight and smell.

"Luna, Sam. I have to be honest with you guys. I don't even know if she'll be able to walk again with that leg," said Carol, eyeing the wounded girl. "I need Lisa's input on the situation– oh they're back!"

Carol opened the cabin door and allowed the group to come inside. Lori rushed towards Luna, giving her a quick hug. Luna's eyes expanded.

"Lori, you have red gunk on your face!" gasped Luna.

Lori walked back towards Carol and wrapped her hands around her. This surprised Carol, but she hugged her friend back, knowing that she needed some kind of comfort.

"Thank you for saving her," whispered Lori. "You've done it again."

"It's my job… but Lori! What happened out there?" asked Carol.

Lori released Carol and held Bobby tightly. Tabby walked downstairs into the living room, holding Lily. The toddler was cooing and making baby noises, holding Rafo, the stuffed giraffe. Bobby's tears fell from his eyes once again as Lori whimpered harder into his shoulders. Becky rubbed her arms as she walked upstairs. Dana and D followed her. Lisa flicked her glasses and handed them to Carol.

"Twist the lens counterclockwise to go backwards. Twist them clockwise to go forward," whispered Lisa. "You'll see what happens."

Carol placed the glasses on, raising her eyes as she watched a silent-film type of recording of the group kneeling down. The fire blazed in the one-way lens, causing her to cover her mouth with her hands. She twisted the lens clockwise and watched the scene unfold before her. She gasped, now seeing her friend differently, as she watched Lori push Bret into the fire. She took off the glasses, now looking at the survivors staring out the window or lying in the floor. Lisa was gone.

The candle inside the cabin continued flickering, with the silence that was associated with the somber nights that they each knew about very well.

 **II - Looking Back**

The RV moved in the road, leaving the outskirts of Boston. Lynn was sharpening her arrows along with Vonda. Vonda tapped on Lynn's shoulders and pointed out of the back of the RV window at a sign. The sign said, 'Entering Lynn'.

"More like 'Leaving Lynn'," said Lynn.

Both girls softly chuckled, and that was the most laughter that anyone in the group made for the day.

Becky and D held each other's hand while napping, while Dana nervously tapped on the window of the RV. She didn't want to admit it, but after the incident yesterday, she was terrified of one of her closest friends, Lori. Dana thought she had lost her humanity the day they wiped out the Piranhas in Hudson, but she thought wrong.

Lisa tapped on Clyde's shoulder, waking him up. Clyde rubbed his eyes and put his glasses back on his face.

"What is it, Lisa?" yawned Clyde.

"I've been pondering about this for quite some time," said Lisa. "Do you wish me to construct a prosthetic leg for you? It would be more convenient for you and crucial for your survival in this world. But I get it if you don't want me to."

"Lisa, yes you could. You should. These crutches bother me and I feel like a burden to everyone in the group."

"Okay, Clyde. I won't fail you this time."

"Lisa, you have never failed me. You saved my life. Don't beat yourself up for something greater that you couldn't achieve. Some things aren't within your control."

"I understand, Clyde. Thank you."

Lisa went back to her seat and reached into her backpack. She took out a notepad and a pen, and began to sketch in it. Lana chewed on a beef jerky while watching what Lisa was drawing. She scratched her head and squinted at the designs, units, and numbers in the notepad. What she understood was the image that Lisa put on the sheet of paper. It was an image of a mechanical leg. It wasn't just a prosthetic leg. Lisa was going for something greater, for something that she could achieve.

"Isn't this the most satisfactory design your eyes have ever laid on?" gasped Lisa.

"Yeah… what is that?" asked Lana. "I thought you were going to make a plastic leg or something."

"This is going to be unlike anything you ever found in a dumpster. This will be a top notch bionic leg. Want to help me build it?"

Lana nodded her head. She tore off another piece of beef jerky with her teeth and looked down at Lisa's backpack. There were tons of notebook, but one stood out. It was titled by Lisa, 'How To Construct a Society'. The RV bumped on a small rock in the road, causing the notebooks to jump and shuffle. For a split second, Lana saw mostly empty pages in the notebook, leading her to sigh in defeat.

David looked ahead in the road, with small bandages in his face, while thinking about striking a conversation with Richard. He did, and Richard knew what David wanted to talk about.

"Bret and his group… they mentioned something about you shooting Jake while he was lying helpless in a ditch," said David. "There was a hole in his chest, but not one in his back."

Richard remained silent while looking out the windshield. David continued talking.

"You've been behaving sorta strange these past few weeks. Is there something you're not coughing up? Something's wrong and I can tell. It's all this tension that you're giving off in the air."

Richard looked down at his map. He blinked once before letting his eyes wander to his side of the window.

"I can understand that what happened back in New York was hectic–"

"I killed that young man. Son of a bitch was only two years older than Bobby. He was just lying in a ditch with a broken wrist, begging me for mercy. I thought that by shooting him, I was going to save our group, but I didn't think about the consequences…. I can't shake the image of the campfire outta my head."

"I see now," said David. "It ain't your fault, man. Shit happens that we can't control. That's just how life works."

The RV, Vanzilla, and the other van continued moving in the road, passing by the roamers in the side of the road.

Another day passed when the three vehicles left Massachusetts, leaving the terrible incident that happened the day before yesterday in that state. Lori sat behind George, who was driving her father's van, shivering unless she was by Bobby's side.

Lynn sat in the back of the RV again, next to Vonda, thinking about the fate of all the survivors in the group. She was hit with the realization that, maybe, just maybe, she wasn't bad luck after all.

"I'm stupid, right?" asked Lynn. "I thought that by staying away from the people closest to me, they would be safer. The truth is… we would be safer if we all stick together."

"Yeah, that's true," said Vonda. "I feel safe with you guys."

Lynn smiled. Vonda opened her arms and hugged Lynn.

"So, does this mean you're not going to avoid your family?" asked Vonda.

"Yeah. Anyone in this group could die tomorrow or the next day. I need to be with my family for as long as possible."

The RV, Vanzilla, and the other van stopped on a lakeside in New Hampshire by a nearby forest, with the passengers wondering what the day had in store for them.

David and Richard entered the cottage by the lake and found fishing gear and equipment. Lori and Luan nodded at each other, knowing that they could fish for food.

"There's a small paddle boat over there," said Benny, pointing at a small boardwalk a few meters away.

"Then, it's settled," said David. "We're going to fish."

Luna walked inside the RV with a wooden splint in her left leg, using Lori's old makeshift cane to get around. She looked for painkillers as Sam held her right hand. Carol assisted Luna in looking for painkillers, by searching in the cabinet above the sofa.

"Here you go. I would recommend taking small doses so you don't become dependent on these," said Carol, holding a bottle of oxycodone.

"Thanks, dude. How much is a small dose?" asked Luna.

"Just one tablet should do for now. If it gets worse, tell me."

Luna and Sam left the RV, while Carol remained inside. She lied in the sofa and sighed, pressing her hands against her face. She stood up and placed the bottle of oxycodone back into the cabinet. However, she hesitated to close the cabinet. She looked around and bit her lower lips. She closed the cabinet and her eyes, letting out a sigh.

Lynn headed into the forest with Vonda, both carrying their bow and arrows, when she realized she wanted to bring Lincoln with her.

"Hold up, Von," said Lynn. "Hey, Lincoln! Bring a knife! You're going hunting with us!"

Lincoln grabbed a knife from the small box in the back of the van. He looked at Lori, Luan, David, and Richard on a paddle boat in the lake. Luan and Benny fished, while Lori instructed David how to use a fishing rod. Lincoln shut the back door of the van and dashed into the forest, following Lynn.

"You see that rabbit?" whispered Lynn. "You're going to sneak up to it… and pin it down! Then, you stab it with your knife!"

"Okay…" whispered back Lincoln. "That seems savage, but we do need food."

Lincoln snuck by the bushes near the rabbit. The small critter chewed on a small leaf, but paused to look around, hearing something. It went back to eating the leaf, allowing Lincoln to sneak closer to the rabbit. A branch poked Lincoln in the face and a bush caused Lincoln to trip. He fell on a bunch of twigs in the ground, prickling him. The rabbit stood up and hopped a few feet away from the bushes.

"I can't do it," whispered Lincoln. "It's too cruel. I can't imagine how I would feel like if I was the rabbit."

The rabbit stared at Lincoln. Lynn sighed, then released the arrow in her bow. The arrow struck the rabbit and stuck itself into the dirt.

"You need to learn how to maneuver around the forest better, Linc. It's how you can get better at this."

"That's not fair! You guys have a bow and arrows! I have this small knife!"

"Hand me your knife," said Lynn. "I'll show you how it's done."

Lynn held the small knife and looked around for another rabbit. She jumped from bush to bush, scouting for a rabbit. After a minute, she found a white cottontail rabbit near a tree. Her footsteps moved fast but quiet, and in a matter of a few seconds she was near the rabbit. The rabbit raised its head up, twitching its ears, but then it lowered it again. The rabbit hopped once away from the tree. Lynn popped out from behind the tree and lunged towards the rabbit, grabbing it with her left hand. She then tossed the knife into the ground and placed her right hand on the top of its head. With a quick twist, Lynn snapped the rabbit's neck and tossed it at Lincoln.

Lincoln caught the dead rabbit and shuddered, dropping it to the ground. Lynn picked up the knife and handed it back to Lincoln.

"Like what you saw? Let me train you," said Lynn.

"Can you train me as well?" asked Vonda. "That was… neat."

Lynn nodded and walked deeper into the forest. Vonda jogged after her. Lincoln followed Vonda.

"Lincoln!" exclaimed Vonda. "Don't forget to pick up that rabbit! Can't just leave it there!"

"Yeah, Linc. Don't leave Bun-bun there," said Lynn.

"Lynn! Some things should just remain private!" exclaimed Lincoln.

"Who's Bun-bun?" asked Vonda.

Lincoln picked up the dead rabbit and looked at Vonda.

"Don't ask."

Luan snuggled up on Benny's shoulders while holding the fishing rod still. Lori set a net down in the water and pulled it up. She sighed upon seeing that she caught algae leaves.

The line tugged on Luan's fishing pole, leading her to stand on the paddle boat. Benny smiled as Luan turned the reel back. She quickly launched the hook into the air, and pulled the hook to the top of the line. She pulled out a pumpkinseed from the hook and held it by its head.

"You caught a fish!" gasped Benny.

"Yeah!" gasped Luan back. "What fish is this? Lori?"

"I don't know," said Lori flatly. "We should get going. There isn't a lot of fish here."

Luan looked at Benny and frowned. She sat down in her seat and lied her head back on Benny's shoulders. David grabbed the paddles and began to paddle them back into the cottage.

Carol bit her fingers and scratched her head. She rubbed her palms together and looked at the cabinet once again.

"Alright, just a little won't hurt."

She opened the cabinet and took out the bottle of oxycodone. The bottle opened and she placed a few pills into her palm. She swallowed them and closed the bottle.

The RV door opened and the light switch flicked. Richard looked at Carol and opened his mouth.

"No!" stuttered Carol. "No, no, no, this isn't what it looks like! Well, it kinda is, but hear me out!"

Richard cleared his throat and allowed Carol to explain herself.

"You see, I'm hurt! I have this huge headache that won't go away! Oh my god, these work! I don't feel… the headache."

"You cured your headache with… that?" asked Richard. "What happened to the aspirin?"

"The what?"

Richard walked to the cabinet and shuffled through it. He took out a bottle of aspirin and swiped away the bottle that Carol held.

"Oxycodone? Carol… I thought you were done with this."

Carol looked down in shame. Richard walked back to the RV door and closed it. Carol prepared herself for the yell of her lifetime. But Richard kept his voice low.

"Carol, what happened? Tell me this is your first time relapsing."

Carol nodded and kept looking at Richard's boots.

"What happened? Carol, look me in the eyes."

She raised her head and frowned. But her eyes locked onto Richard's.

"I just want you to know that you can tell me anything. Whenever something's wrong, you can always come to me. Is that clear?"

"Yeah," said Carol as she started to lower her head again.

Richard placed his hands on Carol's chin.

"Look at me. I care about you. I'm sorry if it looks like I don't give a damn about anybody, but I do."

Carol was speechless. Richard placed the bottle back into the cabinet.

"I care about you too, Richard. I really do. I thought– you really care about what I have in my mind?"

Richard nodded.

"It's about what happened the day before yesterday. I never seen something like that before. I never knew people could be that cruel. And I never knew that one of my closest friends could be… so broken… and turn so savage!"

Carol wrapped her arms around Richard and let out a deep breath.

"It's not easy seeing something like that. The images…"

"I get it," said Richard. "A buddy of mine joined the Army a while back, though he didn't seem like the tough kinda guy. It surprised me, but as soon as I saw how he did in boot camp…"

He chuckled.

"...damn, he was ready. This was the little guy I knew back in high school? Nah, something happened. He pumped some iron in the gym, or whatever he did. We made it through training together. We got our gear and everything, and I thought he was going to outlive me. But it didn't matter what I thought. It didn't matter."

Carol looked at the sofa as she kept her head on Richard's chest. Richard continued talking as he stared ahead.

"In the deserts of Iraq, I watched my buddy get torn in half, his legs missing and everything. Blood squirted into the sand and flesh hung everywhere around him. He triggered an IED. And just to think about it, it could've been me… just a couple steps ahead of the others… and I would've been done for. But because I lived, I had to protect myself and his lifeless corpse from the son of bitches that were responsible for him. Even now, the image is crystal clear."

"What'd you do about it?" said Carol softly.

"I continued fighting. My devotion for this country wasn't going to die when my buddy died. It gets less ugly over time."

Richard walked back, leading Carol to release her arms on him. He placed his finger under Carol's chin.

"Don't dig yourself into a deeper hole."

Richard grabbed his map and walked out of the RV, turning off the lights. Carol stood in the dim RV, with the curtains closed, but a shed of light peered through the windows. She softly touched her chin and saw her smile lift itself.

Sergei hummed as he fixed the mirrors in the van. He looked out the windshield and saw Lynn, Vonda, and Lincoln come out of the forest with a couple squirrels, rabbits, and possums in their hands. He then looked at Benny carrying a bucket to the cooler in the middle of the lakeside, where he dropped the fish they caught. Lori, David, and Richard inspected the map and tried to choose what road would be favorable to them.

Distracted by all these activities, Sergei was unaware of how close Carol was until she opened the passenger door. His breath stopped for a second, recovering as soon as he noticed Carol's blonde hair.

"We're about to go, right?" asked Carol.

"Go where? Oh, you mean back in the road. Yeah."

Sergei looked at Carol.

"You seem a little… eh, what's the word for it? Content."

"I had some helpful advice," said Carol. "You know, I didn't think it was possible for me to get over Bobby, but… here I am, moving on from him."

"Didn't you like the kid for about a year or so? What changed?"

Carol lifted her shoulders and smiled.

"You're acting a little odd. Are you on drugs again?"

Carol's smile faded away.

"Painkillers."

Sergei sighed.

"No!" exclaimed Carol. "It's not what you– I'm not relapsing! I'm not abusing drugs!"

"How would I know you're not lying to me?"

"You could go inside the RV and check the cabinet. All the drugs are in there, with no pills missing other than the ones I took and the ones I gave to Luna."

"Whatever. Fine, I believe you."

"I was hurting a lot! You would be too if you saw a four-year-old girl burn in flames and one of your best friends kill someone savagely!"

"Sorry, I had no idea," apologized Sergei.

"It's alright. Richard helped me through it. But… do you think it's wrong to feel an attraction towards an older man?"

"Just because he's nice to you, doesn't mean he's into you. His wife just died a month ago! Look, I ain't saying it's wrong, but you gotta think about why you feel this way towards him. I don't want you falling for people who might not feel the same way. Just like Bobby."

David and Richard signaled Sergei to start his car. All the survivors walked back to their respective vehicles, with the exception of Luna and Sam, since Luna has to recover in the RV while Sam stayed with her. Carol looked at Richard, bit her lips, and frowned.

"You're right. It's just the painkillers making me feel a little… lovey-dovey. Let's just forget about this."

"Can do," said Sergei, as he started the van.

The roamers walked out of the quiet city where the group headed. The roamers lifted their arms and growled at the vehicles passing by, following them back into the city. The sun remained in the sky, though it's descent warned of the somber night that lied ahead in a couple hours.

 **III - Greater Good**

Richard looked down at the map and moved his finger upwards, He looked ahead in the road and noticed a figure moving in the distance. He tapped on David's shoulder softly.

"Look…"

"Yeah, I know. I see it. It looks like someone."

"What do you see?" asked Becky.

"That looks like a person," said Dana,

"Huh, another brother," remarked D.

A teenage boy jumped up and down, waving his hands at the vehicles. The sleeves to his raglan button-down shirt was pulled up. A small rope tied around the right leg of his khaki joggers, holding a small knife. The teen's sneakers were neatly tied unlike his messy, short, and curly hair.

"Help! Please help!" cried out the teen. "Hey, over here! Help!"

"Should we stop?" asked Richard.

Dana gasped softly.

"Of course we should! We can't just ignore him!"

"Sure we can," said Richard. "I don't want us to take any more damn chances. Better safe than sorry."

"He could be right," said David as the RV approached the kid.

David did not press on the brakes. Vonda stood up from the booth table and close to the seats. Lynn followed her.

"He's just a kid!" said Vonda. "Just like us! And he's alone! We can't just assume he's dangerous."

The teen stopped waving his arms around and turned back, facing a roamer. He pulled out his knife from the rope tied around his right leg and swung it at the roamer. It dropped to the ground along with the teen. He pulled the knife out of the roamer's skull and remained in the ground. Another roamer approached him.

"Fine," said David.

He pressed the brakes of the RV, and slowed the vehicle down. The two other vehicles behind him followed suit and eventually, the RV stopped beside the teen.

Vonda came out of the RV and shot an arrow at the roamer, striking it in its head. The roamer dropped close to the teen as he shuddered and moved away. Vonda quickly jogged to the teen and held out her hand. The teen smiled and grabbed her hand, standing up.

"Thanks," said the teen. "I'm so glad you guys came here. I really need your help. My uncle–"

"Wait, hold on," said David. "Who are you?"

"My name's Preston. I'm 16 years old. I'm just some kid who needs help rescuing his uncle."

"Where's the rest of your group?" asked David.

"It's… just me and my uncle. Please, I need your help!"

"George, search him. See if he has any weapons."

"Come on, seriously?"

Preston raised his hands and allowed George to pat him down. Bobby stepped forward.

"Are we not going to listen to him? He clearly has something to say!"

"Yeah, I do! My uncle's trapped inside a barbershop by the demons! We were just tryin' to go to the hospital before we realized it was filled with demons!"

George pulled out the teen's backpack. He pulled out a Boy Scouts handbook, a long rope, two water bottles, a flashlight, a couple batteries, and more everyday items. He then pulled out the Bible and other religious texts.

"Please handle those gently."

George placed it back into the backpack and placed the other items inside as well.

"He's clear," said George.

"Thanks George," said David before facing Preston. "Demons? Are you talking about the roamers? The undead?"

Preston nodded.

"I beg you guys to help me kill the demons tryin' to kill my uncle!

"Yeah, let's go!" said Vonda. "David!"

"Alright. Everyone, let's go! Preston, lead the way."

Preston ran deeper into the city, followed by the rest of the group. He felt invincible as the group killed off the roamers approaching him. Arrows flew through the air, knives swung around, and other bladed weapons slashed the monsters.

"The barbershop is right around the corner!" said Preston.

"Over here!" yelled Richard.

Sam thrust her ice pick at another roamer's skull, triggering a memory of Jayden. She backed away from the corpse and headed back with Luna. Lori, Luan, Benny, and Lincoln protected Clyde and Luna as they limped to the barbershop. Preston slowed down and allowed the group to witness the pack of roamers crowded outside of the barbershop.

"Alright, Richard and George, take the left! Sergei and Benny, you guys are taking the right! Lori and I are taking the middle! The rest of you, watch our six!"

The roamers approached the group. Benny stabbed the closest one, while Lori chopped another one. A man inside the shop watched the massacre outside and held on tight to his small knife. With one roamer left attempting to break inside the shop, David pulled out his pistol and shot the roamer in its skull. Its brains splattered in the window of the shop and slid down, leaving a bloody mark.

The group knocked on the door of the barbershop. The man inside the shop, hid behind a counter and looked around for his nephew. Preston walked by the window and nodded his head. The man quickly ran to the door and unlocked the door, allowing David to come in.

"Thank you. Thank you. May the Lord bless you."

"Are you alright, Uncle Jeff?"

"Yes. God must have sent you guys because that door wasn't going to hold forever."

"Yeah, let's save the lecture for later! We have to go, now!" exclaimed Preston. "Remember? Noise attracts the demons!"

"We're not going anywhere," said David. "I need to know who you two are before we let you guys run off."

"But the monsters!" exclaimed the man.

"Exactly. You might want to cooperate with me as fast as you can."

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

"What's your name?"

"Jeffrey. Jeffrey Salas."

George patted down the man. He tapped the pocket in his white flannel shirt and the pockets in his dress pants. He removed the knife from the man's hand. The man rubbed his short, curly hair and sighed.

"Do you have a camp?"

"No. There's a church, though."

"Where is it?"

"It's a mile in the northwest direction."

"What are you doing here?" asked David.

"Umm… my nephew and I were looking for medical supplies to take back to the church."

"What about food, water, all that kind of stuff?"

"We have that. You want to come with us? You can continue questioning me while I lead you guys there. I'll give you some of my supplies for saving me."

"I'm not too sure. The last time my group and I decided to follow two people somewhere, a little girl was murdered," said David.

Lori rubbed her arms while Bobby held Ronnie Anne's hand tighter.

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Jeffrey.

"You guys don't trust us, right? I mean, you don't have to come with us," said Preston.

"I just have one more question," said David. "Do you know who General Quentin Black is?"

"I'm afraid not," replied Jeffrey.

David looked back at his group and nodded. He then stepped out of the exit of the shop, allowing Preston and Jeffrey to leave. The group looked through the window and searched for nearby roamers.

"Did you guys come here by foot?" asked George.

Preston nodded.

"I was kinda hoping that you would bring us to the church. We'll show you where it is!"

"Well, I'm not even sure if we're…"

"We're coming with them," said David. "I hope you're not lying about the supplies. Go this way."

"Thanks. Can I get all of your names?" asked Jeffrey.

The RV, Vanzilla, and the other van came to a stop near a flat building with a white spire, sitting in the outskirts of Portsmouth. Jeffrey, Preston, and the others stepped outside of the vehicles and watched the church with wonder.

"Here we are," said Jeffrey. "The Lord's house."

"Are you like a priest or something?" asked Leni.

"Nah," answered Preston. "My uncle's an Elder."

"Elder?" replied Leni, now looking at Preston. "He doesn't even look that old!"

Preston chuckled as his uncle grew a grin in his face. Lori couldn't help but look at her sister flatly.

"Leni, it means that he does missionary work. Well, he USED to."

"Well, Sister Lori. The mission doesn't stop, even in this world of sin that God is testing us in."

"You're… still doing missionary work? In this hellish world?"

"Now, it might feel like Hell, but believe me Lori," said Jeffrey as he opened the door to the church, "Jesus will protect us just like he did with the three men in the furnace. In a way we're walking in the midst of fire. That reference comes from Daniel 3:25. I don't expect you to know about that, but I won't stop preaching the word of the Lord and his son."

Lori stopped in her tracks. Bret's voice repeated in her head with the sound of the crackling fire in the background. She wanted to say something to Jeffrey, but she choked.

The group walked inside. There was a hallway that led to a giant room with wooden seats in neat rows. Many lamps hung in the wall near the seats. The podium stood facing the seats in the room. A cross hung in the middle of the church. There were hymns and Bibles lying in a shelf near the windows.

Lori passed by a room with seats facing an empty baptistry. The walls were white and held paintings of Jesus Christ, the afterlife, and other religious aspects of life.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask," said Jeffrey. "The boy. What happened to his leg?"

"You're talking about Clyde?" asked David. "I don't believe he wants to talk about it."

"It's fine. I'll explain," said Clyde. "It happened while we were in New York. We encountered a herd of roamers. We tried running away from them and we did, but not without consequence. A couple of us went inside a store and we were trapped… kinda like you were, Elder Jeffrey. However, the roamers broke inside and I was bit. We ran upstairs in the store where we were safer. A belt was put around my leg and she amputated my leg off. The details after that were fuzzy since I wasn't exactly conscious to experience it."

"Who was she?" asked Jeffrey.

"It was me," said Lynn. "I chopped off his leg to save his life. I don't know how, but I just… did."

"Christ must have given you strength. Both of you. It's not easy surviving in this world, but if you have faith, then you'll make it through."

"Well, I wished Christ would've given me more strength to save my little sister that day," said Lynn.

An awkward silence filled the church. Preston looked at his uncle who struggled to speak. But he was able to get a couple words out.

"I'm sorry. Sometimes, the Lord works in mysterious ways. I'm sure it was hard burying her."

"Not just her, ELDER. It was a couple others. We lost more people than we can count with our hands. Like his fathers."

Jeffrey looked at Clyde. He looked away from the Elder.

"His fathers?"

"Show us where your food and water is," said David. "We'll be glad to give you our medical supplies."

Preston walked inside the kitchen of the church where dozens of cans lied in a table, stacked on top of each other like a pyramid. He flicked a lighter and lit a lamp to light up the room. A large table stood in the middle of the room, with many chairs around it. Luna sat in one of the chairs while Sam sat in the other.

"Thank you for saving my uncle. Help yourselves to the food," said Preston.

"Now that you good people are here," said Jeffrey, "you mind helping us with scavenging the rest of the city? Our food is not going to last you all for a long time."

"We gotta be somewhere," said Richard. "We got a mission to do."

"A mission? I suppose it doesn't involve spreading the word of Christ?"

David looked at Jeffrey, keeping a stern glare at him.

"You… mentioned the name General Quentin Black before. I assume this man is somehow involved in your mission?"

"You're assuming right," said David. "We're going to Houlton, a town in Maine. We are traveling there to hunt down this man and rescue our family. This man leads an army of rogue soldiers, slaughtering families and capturing people, with the purpose of subjecting them to horrible experiments and doing whatever other shit they–"

"This is the Lord's house. Sorry, just… try to refrain the use of that language."

"No offense, Elder Jeffrey, but do you think the Lord would give a SHIT about whatever I say if he let all of hell loose in this world? You think he wouldn't have allowed a four-year-old to burn alive while we all, ALL OF US, watched? Countless of innocent people died in the hands of one man and there was nothing done about that!"

"Is that one man, God or the General?" asked Jeffrey.

"Who do you think I'm talking about?" asked David.

Some of the group members exited the kitchen and walked into the hallways.

"Do you mind if we stay here overnight?" asked David. "Again, no offense, Elder."

"It's… alright. There's a bedroom upstairs for Sister Luna and Brother Clyde."

David nodded. Jeffrey and Preston walked away from the hallways and into an office upstairs.

"Looks like I have a lot of work to do," said Jeffrey.

"You sure do, Uncle Jeff. Does this mean we're leaving the church?"

Jeffrey nodded.

The roamers walked back into the quiet city, following the noise of the gunshot. Despite the darkness in the sky, the roamers were able to stay in their path to nowhere. And as the light dawned on the sky, the corpses of the roamers lied in the ground. There also remained the corpse of a man, with a bite mark on his left arm. A small knife lied in his hand.

"Do you think we can come with you?" asked Jeffrey. "We can't stay here any longer."

"No," said David.

He placed his shades on and his hat back into his backpack. His stubble held more patches of hair. Jeffrey looked at his nephew and scratched his head.

"You're not taking us?" asked Preston. "We can't stay–"

"We don't have the supplies. You pacifists clearly don't want to get involved with what we want to do in Maine. Preston would make a great addition to our group. You, on the other hand, Jeffrey, can't even fight off a couple roamers. I'm guessing your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, won't allow that, huh?"

"Well, that's not entirely true. If you want me to kill people for your own selfish desires, then I'm afraid you're right. Premeditated murder is a sin, a sin that Christ won't forgive so easily. But if you think Christ won't allow me to kill the demons, then you're awfully wrong. Those things move, but they have no breath in them. They aren't people. Not anymore. Wanderers without a soul."

Jeffrey grabbed his nephew's shoulders and patted them.

"I can give your people hope."

"From you? I doubt they want to hear you," said Richard.

"What about your families in Houlton? They're going to need to see the light of God after everything they witnessed."

Bobby stood next to David and motioned him to follow him. They walked to the corner of the church.

"It's true," whispered Bobby. "It's not about the word of God or whatever. It's his optimism and uplifting spirit that none of the people in our group have."

"He doesn't know how it is… the life in the outside. How do we know that optimism doesn't die the moment he steps into hell?"

"It's a very quiet church, guys," said Jeffrey. "I think suffering an oppressive life in Cuba would've killed my optimism. The boat ride to Key West. A tormented march to Miami. Christ led me through it all."

"This guy is clearly not your normal religious man," argued Bobby. "He knows his stuff, plus he's got a nephew who was a Boy Scout!"

"You should listen to my boyfriend," said Lori. "Or if you're looking for my insight… I feel like we should let 'em into the group."

David softly nodded his head and looked at Richard. Richard crossed his arms and left the church. David then walked to Jeffrey.

"Fine, you're in, but if you hurt anyone in the group… well, we'll see if the 'Lord' saves you."

Jeffrey rubbed his head and gulped. Preston let out a sigh and walked back upstairs in the church. His uncle followed him as the group packed up to leave.

The group returned back to the I-95 highway where they encountered clutters of cars. Preston watched the group implement Lincoln's Traffic Removal Method with great success.

The New Hampshire Turnpike was no more. The wheels in the RV, Vanzilla, and the other van were now driving in the pavement of the Maine Turnpike.

"We're here," said David. "The last part of our journey. Welcome to Maine, everyone."

Unenthusiastic cheering filled the vehicles. Jeffrey and Preston admired the city of Portsmouth for the last time as they headed for Houlton.

The longer they were in the seats in the RV, the more they learned about Black's actions in Michigan. The Elder and the Boy Scout learned about the slayings of Clyde's fathers, Tim Crowley's murder, the Detroit Massacre, the bombing of Detroit, and Operation Exodus. They also learned who Sherry Crowley was and the men and women she led. They learned about all their close ones that were lost to the apocalypse, starting from Sam's parents to Darcy.

"He wanted us to keep running to Detroit," said Sam. "My father stayed back to save my mother from the debris and… the roamers got him. Got them both, actually. The next few days were hard. But the hardest part was when my brother, Simon, ran away with the roamers on his tail. And all I could do was watch. He ran into an alley… and that was the last time I ever saw him."

Sam gripped Luna's hands in a gentle manner. Both girls smiled at each other.

"At least I have her," said Sam. "She's the most wonderful girl in the world. I… know you won't feel so comfortable about this but–"

"Don't worry about it," said Jeffrey. "The Lord says to love thy neighbors. Who am I to judge?"

"I thought– wow. Thank you for being so accepting," said Sam.

The RV continued heading northward in the road. A few birds flew across a utility pole.

"It's bullshit, I tell you," said Richard. "I believe that it's determination that creates those favorable outcomes. Anything other than determination is just a lucky coincidence."

"According to Luna, a younger sister of hers was shot in the head, but she lived, fortunately. You want to tell her that it wasn't the work of the Lord, a miracle that she lived?"

"It was a rather fortunate result that she survived that encounter," said Lisa, "and I wouldn't have it any other way, but it was not a miracle that she lived. Luan had the willpower to stay alive. Carol worked hard to keep her respiratory systems up and running."

"There will be moment in time when you are in desperate need of divine intervention, and poof! The Lord cooks up a miracle for you."

"I'm in desperate need of fuel," said David, keeping his eyes on the road. "Think the Lord will cook up a miracle for us?"

"If the Lord deems the moment fit, he'll provide the miracle for you," said Jeffrey.

The road curved to the right, revealing a lonely gas station. Next to the gas station stood a gas tanker truck.

"I'll be damned," said David. "Looks like we got ourselves some fuel."

Jeffrey and Preston smiled. David parked the RV next to the gas station.

"Pfft. Probably completely diluted," said Lisa.

Gasoline poured out of the pump and into the jerry can as Lisa extracted the fuel from the container. The can overfilled, leading Sergei to lift the pump and pour it into the RV fuel tank. Upon Lisa's command, Sergei moved the pump to Vanzilla, and then to the other van.

"Well, that's all the fuel that was left in the truck," said Lisa. "It was enough to fill the tanks in our three vehicles."

"Finally," commented Lana. "We don't have to run on fumes anymore."

After the group members ate their lunch, the three vehicles were back on the road again. For a while, Richard and Lisa remained silent, until later in the evening.

"We need food and water," said Richard. "We need that more than fuel. How come we didn't get any more in the road?"

"I think a miracle a day is enough," said Jeffrey.

"No, that was not a miracle," said Lisa. "This was a relatively empty area. Of course, no one was going to get the fuel from the truck."

Jeffrey took out the Bible from his backpack and began flipping pages while responding to Lisa.

"If the Lord deems it fit, he will provide you with food and water."

The RV slowed down. Richard walked back to the front of the RV, followed by Jeffrey and Lisa.

"What's going on, David? I thought we weren't supposed to stop until– damn."

"Damn, indeed," whispered David to himself.

The low sunlight showed a truck in the side of the road with an open container in the rear side. Inside it were a few MRE's, a dozen water bottles, and a packet of salt.

"There's no one inside," said David, lighting the driver's seat with his flashlight. "Someone must have been in a rush to leave."

"There's a house over there," pointed out Benny. "Think we can sleep for the night over there?"

"We'll see," said David. "Take all the supplies inside the vehicles! Then, we'll check out the house!"

Luan and Benny stormed inside the house, swords in their hands. The house showed no signs of life, as everything remained intact. David and George scanned the area with their flashlights, finding nothing but unkempt books and tables.

George walked into the kitchen, pointing his flashlight at a refrigerator. He found a note stamped into the metal box with a magnet, reading, "Meet me in Portland. Safeguard there. Protected by Maine State Guard."

"It's clear here!" exclaimed George.

The night was quiet with most of the survivors sleeping on the floor of the living room. Jeffrey walked outside and noticed Richard sitting on top of the RV.

"I was looking for you," said Jeffrey. "I want to ask you something. Do you believe in miracles now? It's the Lord's way–"

"Shut the hell up," grumbled Richard.

He stood up from his seat on the roof of the RV and climbed down. He pulled out his Python and checked his bullets. Jeffrey took a step back while sweat ran down his palms.

"Don't worry," said Richard. "I ain't gonna kill you. Yet."

Jeffrey continued looking at Richard, shaking as he fixed his collar.

"Yet?" asked Jeffrey.

"You're up to something. There's no way that we were lucky enough to run into supplies of food and water and fuel. You're definitely hiding something."

"It's God creating miracles. I have nothing to do with anything!"

"I'll find out what you're hiding. If it's anything that I don't like…"

Richard cocked his revolver.

"...I'll kill you. Now, go back to your room. Get some sleep. We still have many miles ahead of us."

Jeffrey gulped and immediately turned around. He walked back inside the house while Richard climbed up the RV. He pulled out a picture of his former wife, tearing up as he rubbed its polished texture. He cupped his hands together and sighed.

The sun beamed on the three vehicles as they paused in the middle of the road for lunch. David opened up a can of peaches, stuffing them into his mouth as the group set up a poor version of a picnic.

"The next time precipitation occurs," informed Lisa, "it is necessary to use our water bottles to store the tiny raindrops. We'll be able to boil and drink the water."

Lisa sat down and was nudged in the shoulders. Lana offered her half of a chocolate chip cookie. Lisa grabbed it and munched it quietly, wiping the tears away from her face.

"Spiders?" chuckled Preston. "Out of everything in this terrifying world, and your biggest fear are spiders?"

"What? They crawl around weird and have hairy bodies!" giggled Leni. "But seriously, don't get me near one of those things."

Luan patted her own shirt and skirt. Benny couldn't help but try to figure out what Luan was doing.

"What are you looking for?" asked Benny.

"My fake spider," replied Luan. "I just want to lift the mood for a little, but… nevermind. I don't have it. I left it back in Detroit."

"No, I wouldn't kill it," said Leni. "I would just ask one of my siblings to take it out of the house! My brother says I would never kill a fly!"

"Oh, is that right?" asked Preston.

"Yeah. You wouldn't believe how innocent she is," said Lincoln.

Their voices faded away as Jeffrey looked into the distance. A hand in his shoulder snapped him back to reality. He looked at the hand and then at the person standing above him.

"Hello, Sister Lori. What can I help you with?"

"The other day, you said something about walking around in fire. Then you mentioned Daniel 3:25. Were you talking about Hell?"

"No. That is a very interesting interpretation of it, though," replied Jeffrey. "Why the intriguing question?"

"It's just… I wanted to be sure what you were talking about. When my group and I were captured by a group of looters near Boston, the leader said something about his group. He mentioned something about walking in the midst of fire and how we were going to go through the same fate. He mentioned how Darcy– the little girl that we told you about– walked in the fire. Was he… by any chance… quoting 3:25?"

"Not exactly. I believe that Hell will be a cold and lonely place, rather than a burning inferno," answered Jeffrey. "Would you like me to read Daniel 3:25 for you?"

Lori sniffled and nodded. Jeffrey opened his backpack and took out the Bible, flipping pages. He stopped close to the middle of the scripture and laid his finger on the text.

"He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of fire, and they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

"I… don't understand," said Lori.

"Should I start from the beginning?" asked Jeffrey.

"Yes, please."

"Alright, I'm going to start from 3:1," said Jeffrey as he moved a few pages back. "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold…"

Later, in the night, the vehicles were parked near a diner, where the group decided to stay for the night. Lori and Jeffrey sat across each other in one of the tables by the window. The diner was dark, although it was safe since the group found no roamers inside.

"That sounds like BS, Elder," said Lori. "I mean, come on, all I have to do is confess my sins to the Lord, repent, and all is forgiven? That sounds… too easy."

"I would not say that. It is easy for those who truly feel remorse for their sins."

"What about murder?" asked Lori. "I have killed to protect my family… will God forgive that?"

"If you never enjoyed the bloodshed, then I have high hopes for you."

"I don't know if I can do it. I can't pray. I don't know why I have to."

"You are thinking about Darcy, am I correct?" asked Jeffrey.

Lori covered her face with her hands as her elbows stood on the table. She nodded.

"This might not mean much to you, but I believe that she's in a better place. I believe all children who die at a young age go to the best part of the afterlife. She died a very painful death and that is a tragedy. However, it is also an act of mercy, as she no longer has to grow up in this world where death is a normal event to see."

"But I do! I have to grow up in this world without her. She was like my daughter!"

"She's with God now. Your siblings are in this world with you, and they are alive because, according to you, you protected them. I'm not saying you shouldn't weep for the fallen, but you should be thoughtful of those who are still with you."

"I see," said Lori. "I have eight siblings with me. And I have other people I care about. Thanks, Elder. Thank you for reminding me of who I have. Maybe praying won't be so bad. It's the least I can do for you."

Jeffrey smiled.

"I will leave you alone for a little. Come outside when you are done."

"Wait! I don't know how to confess and repent!"

"Let me show you, then," said Jeffrey.

Jeffrey moved Lori's hands and held them together. He then asked Lori to close her eyes. He continued to tell her how he repented. After a couple minutes, Jeffrey left the diner and Lori remained inside, sitting in a table. Thousands of stars lit up the clear night sky.

 **IV - Demon Inside**

The sun shone on the roamer-infested city of Portland. Some of the streets were crowded with roamers. The lack of bombed buildings and fencing indicated that this city was not turned into a rogue-controlled Safe-Zone. For the group, this city was another Cleveland. However, there were military equipment lying around.

The three vehicles were parked outside of a tall apartment building, near the outskirts of the city. After reading the map and inspecting the supplies, the group had no options left and knew they had to scavenge the city for more food and water. But first, they needed shelter.

Inside the buildings, dozens of roamers lurked in the hallways. A roamer turned around upon hearing the creaking of the wooden floor, only to be bludgeoned by Lynn's baseball bat. She, along with Vonda, Becky, D, Dana, and Wavehead dashed through the hallways of the first floor. They each opened a door slowly and held their weapons up before entering the room. Becky and Wavehead had a roamer inside their room. Becky chopped through the roamer's head with her machete while Wavehead stabbed the other roamer's head through its left eye.

In the second floor, Lori and George led their small group through the hallway by the windows, taking out all the roamers in their way. Lincoln, Sam, Lana, and Ronnie Anne sprinted to the doors, closing them before any of the roamers inside escaped.

Luan and Benny led Bobby, Carol, Zach, Rusty, and Tabby in the third floor, clearing out the rooms one by one. With swift cuts, stabs, and slashes, the small group went in and out of the rooms.

David and Richard covered each other's side while they stabbed one roamer after another. Their bodies dropped to the ground, creating a pool of dried blood in the carpet flooring. After clearing the hallways, they saw Lynn and her group move upstairs to clear out the fifth floor. David and Richard went inside a room to clear it out.

Sergei whistled as he watched over Luna, Clyde, Lana, Lisa, Leni, Lily, Preston, and Jeffrey inside the RV. Suddenly, there were three knocks in the door, and Lori entered, with roamer blood in her hands.

"It's clear now."

Lana and Lisa walked through the hallways of the first floor, watching the group place the bodies inside a room. A window was shattered open, with a baseball bat lying next to it.

Sam and Lori were carrying Luna upstairs to the first floor where she would reside in a room with Sam, Luan, and Benny. Bobby and Sergei carried Clyde upstairs to the room that Lincoln claimed. Upon arriving, he noticed his friend was lying flat in the bed, exhausted from killing the roamers.

Leni, Lily, Lori, Bobby, and Ronnie Anne slept in the same room in the middle of the afternoon. David, George, Richard, Sergei, and Carol slept in their own rooms. Jeffrey and Preston stuck together in a room. Becky, Dana, Wavehead, and D stayed in one room, although Wavehead and D were going to go sleep in their own rooms.

"Hey, Linc, mind if we stay in your room?" asked Lynn. "It's not easy sleeping alone or without Lucy."

"Same goes for me," said Lana. "Sleeping alone reminds me of Lola."

"It's not my room, but yeah, I'm sure Clyde will be more than happy to let you guys sleep here," said Lincoln.

"You don't even have to ask!" said Clyde. "Of course you guys can stay here!"

"Thank you, Clyde," whispered Lynn as she lightly punched him in his shoulder.

After a few hours, with daylight still remaining strong in the sky, some of the group members were outside of a department store. Richard knocked and looked through the transparent doors, noticing a lack of roamers.

"This is a good sign," said Richard. "However, we don't know how many there are in the upper floors. Like in the apartment, I want us to follow the same plan. However, we're going to split into two groups. I'll take Becky, Dana, Wavehead, D, and Lynn since we worked well together last time. George, you'll take the rest."

Sam, Preston, Luan, Benny, and Vonda stood close to George. Both groups walked inside the store and saw blood stains in the wall with bodies in the floor, near the entrance. The bodies were of roamers, some with bullet holes in their heads, others with stab wounds. There were two bodies in the floor with a camouflage uniform. Upon closer inspection, Richard realized that these weren't Army uniforms.

"I think this was some kinda militia. It looks like National Guard, but not quite."

"I think it's the Maine State Guard," said Preston. "A couple of them were in Portsmouth when the epidemic became widespread."

"Wonder what happened here," said George. "Must have been some kinda roamer attack, 'cause these bodies are decayed."

"George. You and your group are going to loot the upper floors. Food, water, medicine, batteries, all the good stuff, take it. My group and I are going to stay down in the lower floors." Let's go!"

The upper floors were filled with toys, books, and other objects that the group didn't need, while the lower floors consisted of clothing in every rack and shelf. However, the group were able to find supplies in some of the rooms.

Sam placed a couple batteries into her backpack while some of the others filled their backpacks with bags of MREs. Richard saw a body in the floor with a decapitated arm. He wondered what gruesome fate occurred to him to lead him to cut off his arm.

"Hey, these are good, right?" asked D, holding a few bags of MREs in the air.

"Those are perfect," said Richard. "They last very long. Take 'em."

"There's a lotta ammo lying around," said Dana. "Do we take them?"

"Yes," replied Richard. "We're running low. Try not to take the guns. We already have a lot. They'll add unnecessary weight. Take the suppressors, though. We need those."

Benny unbuttoned the top buttons of his shirt, while moving through the room. He stumbled on a few boxes, causing the toys inside them to fall into the floor. George and the rest of the group looked at him, as he reached his legs over the toys. Benny put on a sheepish smile.

"Sorry."

A low rumbling was heard below the group. Benny looked at the floor, unable to pinpoint where the noise was coming from. Vonda raised her bow as she looked around. George turned on his walkie-talkie.

"Richard. Do you hear that?"

"I do. It's coming from upstairs."

"I thought it was coming from downstairs."

Richard looked around. George's group were walking around the room, trying to figure out what the noise was. Luan then stopped dead on her tracks.

"Crap! Over there!" shrieked Luan.

A dozen roamers were crawling up a second stairwell, wide enough to allow ten roamers to crawl up at one time. They growled as they picked themselves up, now going after the group upstairs.

"There's a hidden stairwell!" yelled George into the walkie-talkie. "They're coming by the dozens!"

Richard and Lynn ran to the bottom right corner of the room. They found a giant stairwell with roamers crawling up the steps.

"Shit!" yelped Lynn.

Richard took out his knife. Lynn shot two roamers with her arrows, leaving the roamers flat on their stomachs. Dana, Becky, D, and Wavehead approached the stairwell.

"Damn!" gasped Wavehead. "What– how did these roamers get here?"

"You, go upstairs and help the others fight off the roamers!" ordered Richard. "The rest of you go with him! I'll keep these roamers distracted!"

Dana and Wavehead headed for the stairwell in the middle. Lynn, Becky, and D stood besides Richard.

"We're staying," said Becky.

"You're gonna get help from us, whether you want it or not!" exclaimed D.

"I'm also staying behind to help you out!" said Lynn.

"No, Lynn! Becky and D are enough! You help the others! Help them escape!"

"But-"

"Go!"

Lynn dashed away, running away from the hidden stairwell. Richard lunged towards a roamer that stood up. He stabbed it, much like D and Becky.

"Here's the plan. Take out the roamers climbing up those steps. That'll–"

Richard stabbed another roamer's brain by sticking his knife inside its eyeball.

"That'll block those roamers from crawling upstairs! We'll then head downstairs and get the fuck outta Dodge!"

"Got it!" exclaimed Becky.

Luan and Benny were slicing the roamers near the box of toys. Luan turned back and saw Lynn shoot an arrow at one of the roamers near her. Benny tugged her arms and they both ran back to the group.

"We gotta run up the roof!" yelled George. "There's gotta be a fire escape!"

Vonda and Lynn stood near the middle of the room, shooting their arrows at the roamers. They moved forward slowly, keeping up their relentless firing. Sam, Dana, Wavehead, Luan, Benny, and Preston moved to the stairwell in the middle of the room.

"Girls! Let's go!" yelled George.

Vonda and Lynn picked up their arrows, placing them back into their quivers as fast as they could. The roamers approached closer, causing the girls to ditch the remaining arrows in the floor. Both girls ran into the middle stairwell with the others.

The door to the roof busted open. Dana, Wavehead, Sam, Benny, Luan, Vonda, and Lynn bursted out of the narrow stairwell and into the roof. George kicked one of the roamers down the stairwell and ran back up to the roof. He closed the door and ran around the roof.

"Look for the fire escape!" yelled George.

"Found it!" exclaimed Dana. "It's over here!"

Dana and Wavehead proceeded to climb down first. George raised his pistol and aimed it at the door as Sam and Preston climbed down. Luan and Benny sheathed their swords and walked down the narrow fire escape to the alley. Lynn and Vonda followed them, then followed by George, who went down last.

The survivors hopped off the fire escape into the alley, capturing the attention of four roamers. Dana, Wavehead, Sam, and Preston each stabbed one roamer as the others ran ahead to Vanzilla.

The roamers in the streets chased the survivors as they ran to the front of the department store, where Vanzilla was parked. George shot some of the roamers near the van while the others cleared out the roamers in the street. Preston quickly stabbed the roamers in the sidewalk, allowing the survivors to enter the van.

George entered the van in the driver's seat while the others went into the back seats. Vonda climbed inside and motioned Lynn to come in.

"Hurry, Lynn!" yelled Vonda.

Lynn ran to the van, remained outside, and closed the door. She bumped on the window, smiled at the passengers, and dashed away from the vehicles.

"Lynn! No!" exclaimed Luan.

The roamers smashed against the windows and George pressed on the gas pedals. The roamers almost surrounded the vehicle before the van drove ahead in the street.

"No, stop! What about Lynn!" cried out Luan. "We gotta go ba–"

"We can't go back," said George. "She made a choice. We gotta trust her for now."

Richard, D, and Becky took out their guns. D and Becky shot their Glock 17s at the approaching roamers from the stairwells. The three survivors ran to the middle of the room, only to encounter more roamers in the stairwell. The roamers poured into the room, surrounding the racks of clothing.

D slipped on a few bullet casings, dropping to the floor. Richard grabbed his arms and picked him up. He then unleashed a couple bullets into the groups of roamers in the middle of the room. D rapidly fired his pistol at the roamers near the bottom corners of the room.

"Becky! Watch out!" exclaimed D.

Becky turned around and saw a roamer lunge towards her. D tackled the roamer away from her and bashed its skull with the grip of his pistol. Becky shot a roamer closing in on her, until she realized there were too many roamers to face alone. She backed away from the group of roamers, moving towards the window of the room.

"Derrick! Over here!" yelled Becky.

A roamer grabbed onto D's right arm and clawed his nails down his arms. D yelled as he swung the gun at its head, knocking it out of the way. D ran back with Richard and Becky.

"Shit!" D said, looking at the bleeding scratches in his arm.

Becky stood behind him, speechless. She shook her head and trembled.

"No, don't worry," said D. "It's just a scratch. Lisa can treat it. Just– let's focus on finding a way outta here."

Richard held his Python in his left hand, aiming at the roamers but refusing to shoot.

"We're trapped!" shouted Becky. "Wait…"

Becky aimed her gun at one of the large window panes in the side of the department store and fired it. Thousands of cracks filled the glass, which Becky smashed with her gun.

"Good idea!" exclaimed D. "Richard, we gotta jump now!"

"That looks kinda high," said Becky. "Oh well. Here goes nothing!"

Becky jumped out of the window and into the alley, bracing her legs for impact. Her left foot slipped upon landing in the pavement, causing her to fall on her wrist. She yelled as her left hand bent backwards. Her left ankle twisted and caused an immense sharp pain on her foot. Her pupils dilated as she felt the intense sting of multiple shards of glass digging into her skin.

"Becky!" yelled D. "Are you alright?"

Richard looked down at the alley. Becky lied still, closing her eyes as she struggled to ignore the pain running through her nerves. Richard saw a few roamers approaching her from the street behind the department store. He aimed carefully at the roamers.

D shot the roamers one by one as they approached the window-side of the room. After hearing the clicks in his gun, he tossed the gun to the ground and took out his knife. He lunged towards the roamers in the left side of the room then the right.

Richard took a deep breath and shot the revolver. It struck one of the roamers in the head, killing it. Becky slowly crawled away, inch by inch. With two bullets left in the chamber, Richard aimed carefully at another roamer. He shot his revolver again and killed the roamer.

D continued fighting off the roamers until there was no escape. The two survivors were seconds away from being chomped by the roamers.

Richard fired off his last shot at the roamer, before taking a closer look at the alley. He underestimated the number of roamers heading towards Becky.

"We gotta jump now!" exclaimed D. "How do I–"

Richard grabbed D's shoulder and shoved him into the missing window. He yelled as he fell down to the pavement of the alley. Multiple pops were heard from D's body as blood poured out of his back. He lied still in the alley, softly groaning.

Richard crouched to the ground and jumped into the alley. He landed safely on both of his feet, almost stumbling into the ground. Becky slowly turned her head over to where D landed.

"Did– did I hear Derrick?" moaned Becky, before seeing D lying in the ground. "Derrick!"

Richard quickly grabbed Becky and lifted her a foot above the ground, moving her away from the pieces of glass in the floor. Soon after, bodies dropped to the ground like raindrops, some crushing the roamers that were about to devour D. The roamers fell one by one to the ground, until the roamers lost their attention on the survivors in the alley.

Some of the roamers picked themselves up and groaned looking around in the air. They dropped to the floor again and sunk their mouth onto D's body. Blood squirted out of his chest as the roamers ripped pieces of his flesh for consumption. D's hands twitched, moving softly in the air.

Becky gasped quickly while keeping her mouth open. Richard grabbed her gun that lied a few feet away from her. He raised the gun and aimed at D's head. He pulled the trigger, launching a bullet into D's head. Richard quickly picked up D's backpack that lied a few inches away from Becky. He then turned around and faced Becky, noticing how helpless and useless she was.

"Should I?" Richard whispered to himself.

An arrow flew across the alley, striking a roamer that walked towards Becky. Lynn came out of the street in front of the department store.

"Come on! I'll cover you!" yelled Lynn.

Richard placed his arms below Becky's back and stood up. Tears fell into Richard's arms as he ran into the street. Vanzilla did not sit where Richard remembered it last sitting at. Lynn shot her arrows at many roamers in the street, clearing a path for Richard.

Richard hopped over a burned wheel in the road. He walked behind empty vehicles. Lynn continued slaughtering the roamers ahead of her and Richard continued to follow her. Time seemed to slow down with every roamer that Lynn slaughtered. Richard let out a small tear from his eye as he continued to run to the apartment building.

The doors opened in the apartment building. Dana stood up and opened up her hands as she ran to the doors. Lynn walked inside the building and closed the doors.

"It's clear outside," panted Lynn.

Richard set Becky down to a couch near the counter. Carol and Lisa ran down the stairs with their medical kits. Carol looked at Becky, who had her eyes closed. Richard watched her lips move. He turned to Lisa who took out a few tools from the kit. Carol pulled out the red shards from Becky's skin as Lisa removed Becky's shoes. She inspected the foot as Becky groaned.

Richard turned towards Wavehead. He looked around the room, looking for D. He looked at Becky for answers, to which she could only respond with tears. Wavehead removed his glasses and covered his eyes with his left arm. Dana and Lynn patted him in the shoulders as he sat down on the floor next to the couch.

Richard walked towards the stairwell. Jeffrey stopped him in his tracks with David following him.

"What happened out there?" asked Jeffrey.

"Just another day in hell," replied Richard. "Where was our miracle when we needed one?"

David looked at Richard. He looked down and looked at his hands.

"The boy, Derrick, suffered an accident. I shot him to put him outta his misery."

Richard walked upstairs. Preston was left speechless. David walked back with the group near the counter.

The flashlight shone through the dark hallway as Carol walked to Richard's room. She knocked softly before coming in. She saw Richard standing by the window near his bed.

"Hey," whispered Carol. "I thought you might be a little hungry, so I brought you a bag of cookies."

Richard turned around and looked at Carol. He walked close to her.

"Is Becky alright?" whispered Richard.

"Yeah, she's going to be fine. She just had a dislocated wrist and a sprained ankle. She'll recover in a matter of days. Though, I'm not sure if she's going to be emotionally alright."

Richard turned back to the window. Carol looked at his eyes and tried to figure out what he was looking at. His eyes met the department building, though Carol wasn't too sure if Richard was able to see that.

"What's wrong? Have you been staring out the window the last few hours?"

"Yeah. I can't stop looking back at the store. I feel… lost."

"Remember when you said I can talk to you about anything? You're not the only one who's going to be there for someone. I'm here."

Richard looked away from the window.

"I don't feel like myself these days. I… killed Derrick. And for what?"

"Becky told me you did it to put him out of his misery."

"Before that! I– in the head of the moment, shoved him outta the store before the roamers got us. He fell to the pavement and I heard them. His bones cracking…. I should've let him jumped on his own. But he was too afraid. And I–"

"Did what you had to do," said Carol. "Had he stayed, he would've died. You had to do something. You tried to save his life."

Carol lifted Richard's hands and held them close to her chest.

"At least you put him out of his misery. You're not losing yourself. You're only trying to look out for the others. Like David. Like Lori. I know…"

Carol leaned placed her hands in Richard's chest and leaned close to him.

"...because you were always there for me."

Richard looked at Carol's intense stare at him. They both closed their eyes as they pressed their lips against each other's. Richard held Carol's back as they walked close to the door. Richard turned around with his lips still locked onto Carol's. He kicked back the door and locked it with his left hand. Then, Richard lifted Carol and placed her into his bed as he lied on top of her. The bag of cookies sat on the flickering battery-powered lamp on the nightstand next to the bed.

* * *

Lincoln awoke to Lynn staring out the window.

"What happened, Lynn? Something wrong?"

"I think so."

Lynn looked at Clyde and Lana sleeping peacefully in their mattresses. She motioned Lincoln to come closer.

"What is it?" whispered Lincoln.

"I'm not sure how to say this, but… I think there's something going on with Richard. In a bad way. As in, he's a dangerous man."

"Why? What do you mean?"

"I'll explain the details later, but long story short, I think he killed D on purpose. He didn't put him out of his misery, Lincoln."

Lynn held Lincoln's shoulder and looked at him in his eyes as she trembled softly.

"He murdered him."

* * *

 ** _Oh, we're so close to Houlton! The journey's ending soon, but the action is not. Follow for the notification when the next chapter comes to find out what happens after. Don't forget to leave a review! Goodbye and have a nice day!_**

 ** _P.S. the show The Walking Dead doesn't exist in this universe, but the comics version of it does._**


	13. Last Miles

**_Hey, MrPotassiumK here. I want to address one of the questions that I was asked by retrofreak35 about why Luan became a more serious character. I answered him by PM, but in case any of you had the same question, I can give you an answer._**

 ** _The answer is: Life is not normal for Luan, or for anyone in that matter. She's frightened by this terrifying world and because she sees death and tragedy everywhere she goes, she can't help but feel deeply saddened. Once this becomes "normal" for her, she'll return to her old habits of making poorly-timed jokes._**

 ** _Thanks for the question. I hope I can answer more, so if you have any, leave them in the reviews or PM me. I'll respond and hopefully, you get an answer!_**

 ** _Hope you enjoy this chapter!_**

* * *

-Day 99-

Lori stood in front of two roamers. The wooden floor has been stained. And she knew it. She made a warning. A warning that should've been shared among the other children.

The group murmurmed among themselves outside of the cabin. Before Lori went outside though, she checked inside the cabin. The radios were still intact and the candle still flickered softly. She then saw two tapes on the table, lying next to a cassette player.

Although Lori was done studying the roamers, Bobby and Sergei still held them, as the two monsters growled and chomped the air around them.

Lori motioned Sergei and Bobby to come outside. Sergei and Bobby turned around and pushed both roamers away from Lori. The three of them fled from the cabin and closed the door.

Lori gulped as she picked on her nails. Bobby hugged Lori, reassuring her, but something about Lori's expression told Bobby that she wanted to be left alone at the moment. Bobby and Sergei walked back with the group.

George came back to the rest of the group as he came out from the woods with David next to him. David's had a bruise in his left eye, multiple cuts in his face, and blood running down his forehead, lips, and knuckles.

Lori's eyes widened as she studied David. She didn't say anything as she could assume correctly what happened to him. There were more important matters at hand. She approached David.

"Did you know they were infected?"

 **Chapter 13: Last Miles**

 **I - The Revelation**

-Four Days Earlier-

"Lori, you gotta believe me!" said Lynn. "I saw Richard push D off the store! I think."

"Bobby, what time is it?" yawned Lori.

"Six… thirty."

Bobby yawned along with Lori from across the room as she stretched her arms. She rubbed her hair as she blinked at the rising sun. Leni remained asleep.

"Lynn. I literally did not listen to a damn word you said. Why are you up so early?"

Ronnie Anne arose from her bed and blinked at Lincoln. He waved his hands softly. Ronnie Anne smiled and waved back before going back to bed.

"I need to tell you something! Something very important!" exclaimed Lynn.

"Can it wait?" asked Lori.

"No! I have to–"

Lincoln tapped on Lynn's shoulders.

"What use is it to tell her now? She's too tired to do anything!"

"But–"

"We can wait. Richard isn't going anywhere."

"Fine," grumbled Lynn. "We'll be back at eight. But it's urgent, okay?"

The hour hand moved slowly as the minute hand in Bobby's watch moved quickly. Using a mouthful of water from her water bottle, Lori rinsed her mouth. She put on her blue tank top and her brown cargo shorts. Then, she combed her hair to the sides of her face, realizing how long it is. She equipped her gun belt and placed her hatchet in it, next to the empty holster. She held Lily on her arms and gave her to Bobby.

Lynn and Lincoln entered her room. Lori stood in the room with her arms crossed, looking out the window. She turned around.

"What is it that you needed to tell me?" asked Lori.

"I needed to tell you something about Richard," said Lynn, closing the door. "He's dangerous. I would know because I saw him kill D. With my own eyes."

Lincoln looked around the room and noticed that Ronnie Anne and Bobby's bed was empty. He also noticed that Leni slept unbothered by any noise in the room.

"After clearing out the streets, I tried to run back inside the department store. But then… I had a feeling in my gut. My gut was telling me not to enter the store. I continued to beat the crap out of the roamers outside of the store and that's when I heard the gunshots. I ran back to this building, but I stopped halfway into my run…"

"Why'd you run here?" asked Lori.

"I had to make sure that they– Richard, Becky, and D– had to make sure they could get here safely."

"Then what happened?"

"I ran back. Only this time, I went to the alley of the department store. That's where the gunshots were coming from. That's where I saw Becky in the ground. A couple roamers tried to take a bite at her, but they were shot by… Richard, I think. Then…"

Lori looked at Lynn as she held her breath. Lincoln looked at Lynn as if he was hearing this for the first time again.

"Then, he shoved D out of the store with his own hands. He must've broke his bones 'cause he wasn't able to move outta their way… outta the roamers' way."

"What, the roamers devoured him?" said Lori.

Lynn nodded.

"Richard jumped down. He grabbed Becky's gun and shot him in the head. Now, this might be a hunch or whatever, but… it looked like he was going to shoot Becky as well. He was thinking about it. If he was going to do it… I guess you could say I saved Becky."

Lori sat down at her bed and placed her hands together. She sighed and looked at Lynn.

"Are you sure Richard pushed D?"

"Yes. Lori, what are you going to do? Are you going to take George's handcuffs and lock him up in the RV? Interrogate him? If you do, ask him–"

"No, no, no. I'm not doing any of that. I'm going to tell David. Let him handle it," said Lori as she stood up.

"What? Why? We can't waste time!" argued Lynn.

Leni moved around the bed and blinked. Lori grabbed both Lynn and Lincoln's shoulders, moving them near the other bed.

"I can't do any of that. I'm not the leader. I haven't been for two months."

"But, David trusts you to make these kinds of decisions! You could do it!"

"Alright, I understand, shush. I'm not going to do it because I don't want to carry that responsibility! Doing that… it would just create a lot of stress that I don't need."

"You don't have a damn clue how to handle this, right?" asked Lynn.

"Shut up," said Lori, looking at her younger sister dead in her eyes. "It doesn't matter if I knew what to do or not. I'm not going to do anything."

"Then, I'll get him myself," replied Lynn, clenching her fist. "I can't believe how much of a pussy you became."

Lori stomped her right foot in the ground, causing Lynn to flinch. She stared down at her younger sister with fire in her eyes.

"You're not going anywhere, Lynn. Get this through your fucking head! I want you guys alive! Whatever I do will have consequences! God forbid I piss Richard off and he goes after you guys!"

Leni stood up and yawned. She then walked to the bathroom. Lynn rubbed her arms as she looked at the carpet in the floor.

"All I want to do is… see Mom and Dad again," said Lori. "The more they lose– I can't do that to them. We're almost there and I won't risk anything to ruin that opportunity!"

Lynn looked at Lori and struggled to speak. However, she was able to whisper two words.

"I'm sorry."

As Lori made her way out of the room, she paused and looked at Lincoln and Lynn.

"Stay here and watch Leni."

The bags in the RV were kicked and smacked as Vonda stumbled around. Grasping her head, she struggled to find a place to sit, despite a sofa and a booth table sitting where it has always sat.

With a yelp and a fall, Vonda groaned as she placed her back against the RV wall.

"Get outta here!" she yelled.

She looked around and saw no one. She groaned again as she pressed her head. Her arm felt tugged by an invisible force, so she closed her eyes and panted.

"What's the matter? Afraid of seeing me again?" said the voice in her head. "How can you even live with yourself?"

Vonda clenched her fist and stood up.

"Get the fuck outta my head!"

She walked to the closet next to the booth table and opened it. A blue vest hung in the back. She grabbed it and threw it across the RV.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" she cried out.

She walked over to the RV and grabbed the vest, tossing it to the window. However, she heard a muffled clatter as it hit it. She grabbed the vest and noticed that one of the pockets were unopened.

She opened the pocket and reached into it, touching a sturdy item. When she took out her hands from the pocket, a cassette tape sat between her palm and fingers. It was labeled, 'FOR YOU, V'.

She reached into her backpack and took out her cassette player. The clicking of the tape was followed by the click of a button.

"Hello there, my daughter," said the soft voice in the cassette player. "I'm surprised you're hearing this. Didn't think you would want to listen to my voice again. If you're listening, either I'm gone or I have died, but nevertheless, I have something important to tell you…"

David set the can of peaches down and grabbed his can opener. The tool ripped open the lid. Lori stood next to him.

"...and that's what Lynn proposed. Of course I can't do that, but you can. What do you think?"

"I think you should get some breakfast," replied David.

"You… don't believe Lynn."

"I've seen how Richard acted before. He's broken. He's aggressive. He's lost. But he's not a traitor."

"You don't believe my younger sister?"

"Everything probably happened fast. Lynn could've imagined that Richard pushed Derrick. It happens, Lori."

"So we're just going to assume she's wrong? What if she's right?"

"Even if Richard did push Derrick, there's gotta be a reason. He doesn't do things without a reason. I know him."

"How well do you truly know him?" asked Lori.

"I'll talk to him. Now, go on downstairs. Get yourself some breakfast. Long day ahead of us."

"Always is."

Lori left the room. David followed her and softly closed the door. He headed towards the stairwells.

The light swept over the teen's eyelids like sand. As she opened them, the light caused her blue iris to sparkle. She blinked twice as her eyelids opened at a snail's pace. Her eyes rolled over to the left.

Carol yawned and placed her arms on Richard's chest. She looked up and met his eyes. She smiled and snuggled her head against him.

"That was SO inappropriate," giggled Carol.

"Well," whispered Richard in a husky voice, "you're a big girl now. You can handle it."

"Shut up!"

Carol continued to giggle. Richard sighed as he wrapped his left arm around Carol's bare sides.

"I feel so happy, right now, is that normal?" asked Carol. "Should I feel bad?"

"No. It's times like these that make this life worth livin'," said Richard.

"Good. 'Cause I was thinking–"

A knock on the door.

Carol's eyelids completely opened as she hid under the blankets. Richard stood up and grabbed a robe from the closet.

"Not there! Here!" whispered Richard loudly.

"Right!" Carol whispered back.

Carol struggled to place her white T-shirt on as she ran into the closet. Richard closed the closet and tightened his rope. He walked towards the door and paused. He turned around and noticed Carol's clothes lying in the floor next to the bed. He grabbed the skirt, socks, bra, panties, shoes, and shirt and placed them under his bed.

Another knock on the door.

Richard walked to the door, unlocked it, and opened it.

"What is it?" asked Richard.

"Good morning," greeted David. "Do you smell that?"

"Yeah. It was fucking humid yesterday. Sorry, I took a while to answer. Had to cover myself somehow."

"It's alright. I was just going to ask you how the run in the department store went. There's been some discussion going on, and I still don't have the full story. Mind telling me what happened yesterday?"

"Now's not such a great time," muttered Richard. "Let's talk about it later. I–"

"No, no. I get it. It's just… I'm a little anxious about finding out what happened to Derrick. Later's fine though. Later's fine."

"Anything else?" asked Richard.

"Breakfast is ready. Come down when you're hungry."

"Right."

David left and Richard closed the door. He locked it and opened the closet. Carol looked out timidly.

"He's gone," said Richard. "It's just the two of us now."

Carol's smile grew.

"Where are my clothes? I'm kinda hungry."

"Under the bed. I'll get 'em for you."

The patio in the middle of the apartment building served as the dining area where food was distributed to most of the group members. Leni, Lynn, and Lincoln came down to the patio. Jeffrey and Preston came down as well. However, Becky, Dana, Wavehead, and Lisa chose to remain upstairs.

"Hello, Leni!" exclaimed Preston.

"Hey, Preston! Sit with me by the flowers!"

As Preston and Leni wandered off, Carol walked into the patio, rubbing her stomach. She didn't wear her usual purple shirt. Instead, she kept her white T-shirt on, with more clothing underneath than there was minutes ago.

Jeffrey tapped David in the shoulder.

"Sorry, I do not mean to disturb you. I just needed to warn you that there are large swarms of demons outside of the department store. That means–"

"They'll come here, sooner or later," said David. "Alright, thanks for the info. I'll check it out later."

"Are you sure you want to wait until later?" asked Jeffrey. "I insist you go see what's happening now."

David set his can down as Vonda walked into the patio. Her foot scurried to the table like a small mouse as she held the cassette tape.

"Everyone. You all need to hear this."

David and Jeffrey walked closer to the table as the girl inserted the cassette tape into the cassette player.

Lori gasped and clenched her left chest as she heard the voice in the audio recording.

"That's… your mother," said Lori. "I don't wanna hear this."

"Trust me. You do," said Vonda.

"...there's a way to decipher the tapes. Go to Medway. It's about 40 or so miles southeast from Houlton. There's a man who knows your father well… he'll decipher the tapes for you. He'll also tell you everything you need to know about General Black and K.H.A.N. I know about the families in there… hope you save them in time… I wish everyone good luck…"

Vonda looked at David.

"She must've figured out that I really didn't hear all the cassette tapes."

David placed his can down and rubbed his chin. Lori looked at him while holding Bobby's hands.

"We're leaving Portland as soon as possible," said David.

"What about the supplies?" asked Richard as he came into the patio.

"Elder," said David. "Show me the swarm outside."

The roamers infested the street in front of the department store. They growled together and formed small, but many, groups. David walked away from the window while Jeffrey's eyes remained glued on the swarms.

"God bless their souls," said Jeffrey.

"Come on, Jeffrey. Let's go downstairs."

"Brother David. What happened to Elder?"

"You actually take that seriously?" asked David.

"Well, yes. You don't have to call me that, but it is a sign of… mutual respect."

"Respect is earned, Jeffrey."

Tabby leaned on a wall in the patio, eyeing Lincoln. Ronnie Anne looked at the purple streak in her hair until her eyes met Tabby's face.

"Now, that I think about it," said Tabby, "Lincoln is kinda cute."

"Woah!" exclaimed Rusty. "You like Lincoln?"

"Shut up! I only said he was cute!" growled Tabby.

"You know you don't have to be afraid of me," said Ronnie Anne. "I don't like Lincoln anymore. Go ahead. Tell him."

Rusty and Zach snickered. Tabby grabbed Ronnie Anne's arm and walked to corner of the patio.

"I'm not afraid of you, idiot!" said Tabby. "The boys will never stop teasing me if I ever tell them I like Linky."

"Linky?"

"Ahh! Lincoln! Look, Ronnie Anne! It's not that I'm crushing on him. I just feel… lonely."

"We all do. Well, except my brother and Lori. And Benny and Luan. And Luna and Sam. Oh! Poor Becky."

"Becky?" said Tabby, scratching her head. "Oh my god, where is she? I completely forgot that she and D were a thing!"

"No one knows either!" added Ronnie Anne.

David walked into the patio with Jeffrey. Tabby and Ronnie Anne walked back to Rusty and Zach. Both girls were breathing rapidly as they eyed the boys.

"Attention everyone!" said David. "I don't mean to alarm anyone, but there is a potential threat in this city. That means we can't scavenge for anything."

"We knew it was going to happen," said Lynn.

She tried her best to keep her eyes away from Richard. She blinked quickly at him before looking at David.

"The amount of roamers in this place. It's so damn high. Can't risk another victim."

"Exactly," replied David. "Get ready! We're rolling out at O-Nine-Hundred!"

The engine in Vanzilla grumbled. Becky wrapped her arms around Dana and Wavehead as she limped towards the RV. The AC in all three vehicles continued blowing cool air.

David walked to the counter with his backpack and passed through a small opening. He laid his backpack down on the carpet and dug his hand into the bag. His hands held an M1911 as he pulled it out the bag. He dug into the bag again and pulled out a tall, wide, empty can. He placed the pistol in the can and covered it with the ripped lid. He placed the can inside a drawer behind the counter and closed it.

George read a small note before Vonda entered Vanzilla.

"We're a man empty in the RV," said the girl. "Just wanted to see… if you wanted to come."

"Yeah. Just give me a minute."

Vonda nodded and closed the door. George finished reading the note and sighed. He rubbed his face and looked at Vonda, wiping the sweat on his forehead. He placed the note back in his pocket before noticing that someone was staring at him. The shadow faded away from the RV window as Vonda entered, making George feel uneasy.

"Nice to have you here," David told George. "I don't think I said it enough."

"Are we ready to roll out?" asked Richard.

"Yeah, just waiting for…"

"We're here, we're here!" exclaimed Rusty.

"Calm down, Rusty, they never leave without us!" said Zach.

"Late. Again," sighed Tabby.

Luna watched Carol start the van as she stayed in the backseat of the van. She looked at her leg and struggled to move it. Sam turned around while in the passenger seat.

"Lisa doesn't want you to strain yourself. We'll know, sooner or later, if you can walk," said Sam.

"Rad. I'm looking forward to knowing if I can take walks with you," said Luna.

"Would this make you feel better?" asked Carol as she inserted a CD into the car radio.

"Don't worry about a thing… 'Cause every little thing gonna be alright…"

Luna closed her eyes and smiled.

"This is perfect," sighed Luna.

The RV, Vanzilla, and the other van went back on the road, moving away from the apartment building. The roamers near the department store scattered around, moving towards the unknown sound that roared in the distance.

The north star shone brightly like a firefly in the sky. Looking at the other stars, Richard saw an image of Missy. The breeze reminded him of sitting next to the fan while he and Missy watched Breaking Bad together.

"Hey. You better be awake up there," said David, climbing up the RV.

"Can't even remember when was the last time I slept well."

Richard lifted his back from the RV roof and moved towards the lawn chair. David stood next to him, looking at the stars with him.

"Despite sleeping on soft mattresses," said David, "some of us couldn't sleep. I– it's normal, nowadays, I suppose. Can't imagine what kinda night terrors the little ones get."

Richard continued to watch the night sky. David turned towards him before finding himself staring at the stars again.

"I can tell something's wrong. You look like you got a bullet up your ass that you just can't take out."

Richard's smile slowly grew.

"These past few days… feels like we're not getting outta this."

Richard looked away from the stars. He faced David.

"I'm lost. I mean– there's nothing waiting for me at Houlton. What do I do? I can survive, but how do I keep living?"

"The group cares about you. Think about them. You saved most of their lives."

Richard nodded his head. He looked back at the stars.

"You… what did you come up here for? Worried about me?"

"I wanted to talk more about what happened yesterday. You seem to be carrying heavy weight."

Richard stood up and looked at David.

"If you're talking about what I did to D, you gotta know I did that for him."

David moved a pace backwards.

"I know. I just wanted to know the full details about how Derrick allowed himself to be consumed. I heard he was pushed from the store."

"Who'd you hear that from?" asked Richard, moving his head closer to David. "Becky?"

"No. Not a word from her since yesterday. I think she's too distraught to say anything."

"Who said I pushed D?" whispered Richard.

"It doesn't matter. That's all I heard from the group."

"Whoever it is, that person's right," said Richard, turning around. "I did push D to the alleyway."

Richard took a seat, looking at the night sky again.

"The roamers… they had us surrounded. Becky jumped through a window and ended up spraining her ankle or some shit."

"She also sprained her wrist," added David.

"D wanted to jump, but I guess he was too scared or some shit that he refused to jump off. You see, just earlier, D was scratched by a roamer in his arm. Scratch went in deep."

"I think that's another way to get infected," said David.

"Exactly. I wanted to save him, David. I pushed him off so that the roamers wouldn't get him. Then, I jumped off so I could've saved D by slicing his arm off. But then… the van was gone."

"That's right. Lynn told them to go back to the apartment."

"And because of that, I couldn't save both Becky and D. I couldn't carry both of them, and so I tried to decide who I would save. But it hit me. D was already dead. The roamers were coming and he was infected. So I grabbed Becky's gun and… gave him a merciful death."

David looked away from Richard.

"I know," said Richard, "it sounds terrible, but you understand now, right?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. I won't hold it against you. It might've not been the best thing to do, but I understand that you did what you had to do. Like D would've said, shit happens."

David yawned and checked his watch.

"You want me to cover your shift?" asked David.

"Nah, I got it. Go to sleep."

David walked back inside a small house. Richard looked over to the next house and noticed Carol walking towards the RV. He stood up and climbed down the RV. They both entered the vehicle.

Richard closed the door and turned on his flashlight. Carol tiptoed and grabbed Richard's shoulders and kissed him.

"Feeling tired?" asked Carol.

"Eh, just a little."

"I saw you and David talking. Whatcha talk about?"

"What happened yesterday. I told him what I did to D. He understood. Though, something feels strange."

"What's that?"

"Someone's threatening me. I noticed it when the van was gone yesterday, leaving Becky and I behind. Then, someone's watching me, and they told David what I did."

"Couldn't be me. I was with you all night. No way I told–"

"No, I have someone else in mind," said Richard. "Lynn. She's got something against me. I'll find out what it is."

 **II - Secrets Unfolded**

-Three Days Later-

After being surrounded by trees for miles, the three vehicles finally arrived near a small town by a river. The eerie streets during sunset felt too lonely and quiet for the group. The vehicles moved around, in search of a shelter.

"What about that one over there?" pointed out Vonda.

A long, short building stood in the edge of town, next to the river, to the right of a wide road. A neon sign stood outside of the building, its powered-off letters saying, 'MEDWAY MOTEL'. The motel was two stories tall, with an upper and lower section of rooms. It also had a large parking spot, which the group took advantage of.

The RV, Vanzilla, and the other van parked outside of the motel, alongside other empty vehicles like a red car and a white truck.

"Let's check if it needs some clearing," said David, taking out his knife.

Lori nodded. She pointed at Lynn, Benny, Luan, and Sergei, motioning them to come with her. David picked Richard, George, and Jeffrey to come with him.

"You need to pull your weight around here," David told Jeffrey. "It's one way to earn my respect."

Lori looked around inside a motel room. David walked inside another. And the other survivors entered the other rooms.

"Something's strange," said George.

"They're all empty," said Jeffrey.

The concrete in the parking lot cracked after a shot went off. Jeffrey clenched his chest as he covered his head with his other hand. George pointed his gun upwards.

"Hell yeah, they're empty," said the shooter. "Cause I cleared them. Drop your weapons."

"Drop yours first," said David.

The man with the combat helmet and bulletproof vest looked around. He noticed David pointing his gun at him and Richard ready to shoot his revolver. He then noticed their dog tags.

"I'm going to ask you a question," said the man. "If you don't answer, I will shoot you!"

"We got questions too," responded Richard.

"Are you guys involved with Quentin Black?"

David and Richard looked at each other. The man shifted his strands of hair away from his eyes, licked his lips, and kept his mouth slightly open. His light-brown cargo pants matched the color of his Ruger 10/20.

"How do you know him?" asked David.

"Answer the damn question!"

"No! Now I got a question for you."

"I'm not done," said the man as he looked at the three vehicles. "What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for a man. Sherry– I don't know if you know her– she told us that there's a man who would decipher some tapes for us."

"Yeah. There is. He lives in a cabin some hundred meters away from here."

David motioned his group to lower their weapons. The man pointed his gun downwards and placed it around his chest. He hopped down from the roof to the walkway in the second floor.

"How do y'all know Sherry?" asked the man.

"It's her mother…" George said, pointing at Vonda.

"That's Vonda? She's much older."

"We got a lotta questions for you," said David.

"Before I can answer them honestly, I gotta know if I can trust you guys," said the man.

"We really don't have the time for that."

"You don't have time to answer three questions?"

"Go."

Lori and Luan took a look at the man.

"How many roamers have you killed?" asked the man.

"What, you want me to give an exact number?" asked David.

"Just take a guess."

"I don't know. It's gotta be around a hundred or so."

Benny and Lynn stood next to each other, listening to the man.

"How many people have you killed?" asked the man.

"Before or during the apocalypse?" asked David.

"Both."

"I'm not too sure. It's gotta be at least 30 or so. But I know why I killed–"

"Bup-bup. Shush," said the man. "Why?"

"At first, it was my duty to protect my country. Now, it's my duty to protect my group. I told that to Sherry and her gang. They didn't listen."

"You're alright in my book," said the man as he held out his hand. "My name is William Brooker. But you can call me Bill."

David shook Bill's hand.

"I'm David Jones. This is Richard Bolts. She's Lori Loud and he over there is George Cane."

"George Cane? You're the guy Tim mentioned. You hunted his wife, didn't you?"

"They were separated," said George.

"But not divorced," said the man. "What happened to her?"

"We'll talk about that later," said George.

"You mentioned General Black," said David. "Know something about him?"

"Heh. I don't just know something about him," said Bill. "I study him. Him and his rogue soldiers."

"So, you know what he's doing in Houlton?"

Bill nodded as he walked down the stairs. He set foot on the parking lot and began walking near the RV, followed by the rest of the group in the motel.

"I wanna ask why you know anything about Black but I could take a guess," said Bill as he walked towards Vonda. "You're the daughter of a man who Black has a deep hatred for. Wanna tie up loose ends? Strange. I don't see Tim–"

"No, not exactly," interrupted David. "There was a safe-zone in Detroit where their families sought refuge. Until one day–"

"Black and his army slaughtered them," said Bill. "Then some of their family members were captured, then sent off to Houlton. I know about Operation Exodus."

"Is that what it's called?"

Bill nodded his head.

"Why don't you come with me to the cabin? You can keep asking me questions. Leave your vehicles here, it's not too far."

Lily slept by Leni's chest. Clyde sat on top of Lynn's shoulder, enjoying the piggyback ride while holding his crutches.

"It took you guys some time to get here," said Bill.

"Well, we ran into many obstacles in the road," said David. "The Piranhas, gangs of marauders, herds."

Becky limped slightly as she walked alongside Dana and Wavehead.

"...there were poison canisters in the road," continued David. "Think the rogues were creating obstacles in the road?"

"Nah, that was most likely Benito Quirino, another big player in this grand scheme that K.H.A.N. has," said Bill.

"I know about him," said George. "Some Cuban cartel leader that Sherry did business with. Known for cutting heads and limbs off with a machete."

"What was he doing in New York?" asked Lori.

"Probably searching for Sherry," said Bill. "Black's nemesis is Tim Crowley. Quirino's nemesis is Sherry Crowley."

George wiped a sweat drop that fell to his cheek. Vonda and Benny looked at each other while the group made a left turn in the road.

"It's so empty here… did you clear out all the roamers?" asked Lori.

"Yeah," replied Bill. "There might be one or two that pass by every now and then, so never let your guard down around this place."

"Do the rogues know you're here?" asked David.

"If they did, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"I hear it being brought up often," said Lori, "but no one talks too much about it. What the hell is K.H.A.N.?"

"That tape needs some deciphering too, huh? Tim describes it."

"So, who's this guy that deciphers the tape?" asked David.

Bill stopped in the middle of the road. His fingers remained together and they all pointed towards a winding road to the right of the main road.

"Is that your last question?" asked Bill.

"No. You seem to know a lot about Black. I have more questions," said David.

Bill was ahead of the group. Lori and David spotted the cabin ahead in the road. A bike lied flat in the ground in the yard. A gray car filled with supplies stood in the driveway, picking up dust.

"The guy that deciphers the cassette tapes… is me," revealed Bill as he opened the door to his cabin. "It's just me in this town."

David and Lori walked inside the cabin, looking around, finding numerous radios and wires on tables and desks.

"What is this?" asked Vonda as she walked inside the cabin.

"Radios," answered Bill. "Some connected to any nearby channels. But this is the most important one."

Bill walked over to the right corner of the room and pulled back a chair. He tapped on a green radio with small antennas sitting on a wooden table.

"Military radio. I can access the channels that Black uses to communicate with his team."

"We're like 50 miles away from Houlton!" said Lori.

"Some radios are just that powerful," said Bill. "I'm lucky that this bad boy can capture their voices just clear enough for me to understand what they say. Just another thing I like about Medway."

The Louds pushed their way to the radio.

"So you know what's happening to our family in Houlton?" asked Luan.

"What's going on?" asked Lincoln. "What are they doing to the people they captured?"

"Please tell me they're okay!" exclaimed Leni.

"One question at a time!" stated Bill. "Yes, I know what's happening to the hostages over there!"

"Well, tell us!" exclaimed Lori.

"You sure? You might not like what you hear…. Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to."

"Just tell us!" said Lori. "I have to know!"

"Fine, I'm withholding some details. But it's nothing good. Black and his guys are just guarding the place. They move around the families and keep them alive while some scientists experiment on them."

"Oh god…" sighed Lori.

"The necrosis influenza… they're testing different strains on them."

"What– are they trying to create a cure or something?" asked Lisa.

"That's an intelligent observation for a little girl like you. But no. I doubt it. It seems to me that they're trying to make different variations of the flu. Mutations… they could be making different kinds of roamers. My studies aren't too conclusive but it seems to me like they want to build an army of roamers."

"That's strange," said David. "They're already an army. Why would they need an army of the undead?"

"That's what I asked myself. But maybe it's not for them. It's probably for the organization they're working for, K.H.A.N.! But I don't know! I need to keep studying them!"

David and Lori looked at each other. Lori nodded her head.

"Look, Bill, we would let you study Black and the rogues, but…"

David looked back at the group.

"We're on a mission. We gotta rescue our people and put an end to Black. I'm sorry."

"No. I'm sorry, but no, don't do that! This information… it's too far valuable! I gotta find out more about their intentions!"

"You pretty much described it," said David.

"What about K.H.A.N.?"

"What about them," hissed Richard. "You ain't tell us shit about them! For all we know, it could just be an ideology! A fantasy! A made-up thing!"

"I'm telling you guys, right now. K.H.A.N. is no made-up thing," said Bill.

"Well, what are you doing about it?" exclaimed Richard. "Sitting on your ass by the radio, hoping that you'll save the world with just information? You gotta get up and actually do something!"

Bill sat on the wooden chair, setting his rifle aside. He turned on the radio. However, only static came out of the radio.

"What is this thing hooked up with?" asked George.

"Car battery."

Bill switched from channel to channel, clicking buttons, and rotating tuning knobs. However, only the crackling noise of static came out of the radio.

"Are you bullshitting us?" asked Richard.

"No, it's just… no activity."

Bill stood up, moving his hair away from his eyes.

"Alright, I'll be fine with you guys risking your life to put an end to the rogues. If you make it out alive… bring me this…"

Bill opened up a drawer and set it to the group. It was a blueprint of a large antenna.

"It would help. With this, maybe I can hear as far as Nova Scotia."

"Alright," said David. "You're going to stay here, then?"

"Yeah. One more thing. If you can, keep General Black alive. Let him retreat to wherever he needs to go. He's pivotal–"

"Hell no!" exclaimed Lynn. "After everything he's done! The world would be a better place without him!"

Lori looked at Bill with her arms crossed.

"Black murdered the parents of that boy over there. He murdered people who were against him, including Tim Crowley. He's responsible for hundreds of deaths."

"What? Tim?" uttered Bill.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Lynn. "What, you thought her father was still alive? Why do you think he's not here with us?"

"How was he killed?" asked Bill.

"He ordered some rogues to hunt him down," said Lincoln. "He called him a 'terrorist'. Then, he announced it to us."

Vonda rubbed her arm and leaned on George while she looked down at the floor.

"Oh, and another thing, William Brooker," added Lynn as he took a tape from her bag. "Vonda! Do you have the recorder?"

The cassette tape recorder was passed from group member to group member until it reached Lynn. Lori watched her with wonder, until she realized why he called Bill by his full name.

"Hello. My name is Gerald Brooker. I am 48 years old and a retired NSA agent. I hope… that gives me some credibility…"

"My god…" gasped Bill. "That's… my brother."

"Yeah. You know what happened to him?" asked Lynn.

"Alright, Lynn," whispered Lincoln. "Don't push it too hard."

"He was shot!" exclaimed Lynn. "In the fuckin' skull! Left to rot in a basement! Feeling sorry for General Black now? Are you?"

David took off his shades and looked at Lynn with wide eyes. Bill closed his eyes and sat back in his wooden chair.

"Alright, Lynn," whispered Lori. "You went too far."

Bill turned on the radio again and was met with static. He continued rotating the tuning knob, encountering more static filling the silence in the room.

"Bill…" said David.

"I don't need all of you here!" exclaimed Bill. "Some of you– go back to the motel. All the rooms are empty."

Sergei turned around.

"If we cannot help him, we shouldn't be here."

Some of the group members left the cabin. Lynn handed the cassette tape recorder back to Vonda. David, Richard, George, Lori, Vonda, and Lisa stayed in the cabin.

"You're a long way from home, Vonda," said Bill. "I'm sorry about what happened to your father. He was a close friend and I know how important he was to all of us. But if Tim's gone… then where's Sherry?"

"She's gone too," replied Vonda.

"I'm sorry for–"

"No. No, she deserved it. Do you have any idea what she did to our group? Six more of us would've been here if she didn't get involved in my life."

"Like we told you," said George. "her gang of Piranhas proved to a tough obstacle for all of us. They attacked us constantly… until we fought back. We were willing to give her mother a second chance… something we regret doing."

"I'm assuming she was killed by one of you?" asked Bill.

"Yeah. Capital punishment. I didn't enjoy doing it, but it had to be done for the safety of the group."

"You know… she wasn't always a bad person," admitted Bill. "A corrupted soul. You know she served in the Coast Guard before–"

"Yeah. I know," said George. "It's a shame what she did with her skills."

"So, who told you guys I was able to decipher the other cassette tapes?"

George's mouth slowly opened, but nothing came out. Vonda looked down.

"My mother. She might've been a terrible person and a terrible mother, but she did tell me some stuff that I needed to know about this world."

"Interesting. Where are the cassette tapes?" asked Bill, while heading to his bedroom.

Vonda removed her backpack. She opened the zipper and took out two tapes. After placing it under her arm, she took out two more tapes. Bill walked back to the radio room, holding a device that resembled a heavy laptop and a small kit with tiny screwdrivers. Vonda placed her backpack down and handed the tapes to Bill. She then left the cassette player in the table next to the military radio.

"Hmm. Overpopulation. Who is General Black? Infection of the Dead. K.H.A.N. Quite the tapes you have here. Powerful, powerful information. I'm gonna go tinker with them for a little. You can go back to the motel. It's going to take a while."

 **III - Three Questions**

Becky lied in her room in the lower section alone. Tabby and Ronnie Anne walked next room and peeked through the window, as Dana and Wavehead talked to each other.

"They're both here," said Tabby.

"What do you think they're talking about?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Probably about Becky. Ronnie Anne, you do realize we have to tell them, right?"

"Why?"

"They gotta know how to comfort her! She's been giving everyone the silent treatment!"

Ronnie Anne nodded. Tabby knocked on the door, expecting an answer and receiving one. Both girls walked in as Dana closed the door while Wavehead sat on the bed.

"Hey. What do you girls need?" asked Dana.

"We need to tell you something," said Tabby. "Something about Becky."

"Really?" asked Wavehead. "This should be interesting."

"Yeah, especially since she's not telling us anything," said Dana.

"Did you guys know Becky and D were together?" revealed Ronnie Anne.

"Yeah, we were fighting along with them," said Wavehead. "That's 'till they told us to go save ourselves."

"I'm not talking about that."

"She means that they were together-together," said Tabby. "Like two people who like each other a lot. You know, kissin' and stuff."

"How do you two know that?" asked Dana. "We always suspected it, but…"

"We saw them making out behind the cabin near Boston," said Ronnie Anne. "We told them to tell you guys, but it looks like they never did."

"Well, that explains a lot," said Wavehead.

"Thank you, Tabby and Ronnie Anne," said Dana. "Very helpful. Let's go Wesley."

Both Dana and Wavehead walked out of the room. Tabby and Ronnie Anne looked at each other and smiled.

"Fist bump?" asked Tabby.

"Sure. Oh, look. Lori and the others are back."

David, Lori, George, Richard, Vonda, and Lisa walked back to the vehicles. Many of the group members chose their rooms and began to rest, to which Lori took notice of. Just as Tabby and Ronnie Anne prepared to leave Dana's room, Lincoln walked to the parking lot.

"Hey, guys! Did Bill say anything important?"

"No," replied Lori. "But he is going to decipher the tapes for us. I don't think he'll be finished by tonight. Looks like we just have to leave him alone for the night.

"So cute," smirked Tabby, looking at Lincoln then at Ronnie Anne.

Ronnie Anne puffed and stood up, walking away from the window as Lincoln and Lori walked by Dana's room.

"Remember, lock your doors!" shouted Lori.

As soon as Lori, Lincoln, Vonda, George, Richard, and David went inside their rooms, Tabby and Ronnie Anne exited Dana's room, heading to their separate rooms.

A roamer limped on the main road, hundreds of yards away from where the group walked. The direction it headed was towards the motel, where all the group members slept, all but Richard.

An arrow flew through the air as if it were a bullet moving towards a roamer's skull. The air drag has barely touched the arrow until a split second later, pulling it closer to the ground. The arrowhead pointed at a small critter in the ground. Wind has yet to act on the arrow as it was timed precisely to avoid additional drag. The arrow stuck itself on a squirrel, providing meat for the group. Vonda lowered her bow and still frowned.

She picked up the squirrel, removed the arrow, and placed it inside a bag she hung from her belt near her left pocket. The arrow barely dripped blood as she held it in her right hand.

The running water of the river muffled the footsteps and heavy breaths of the teenage girl. It also masked another pair of footsteps.

A deer sipped the water in the river, unaware of being stalked by a teenage huntress. Vonda took a few paces back from a bush she was hiding at, drew her bow, and aimed the bow at the deer. The deer lifted its head, looking around for any raptorial predators.

In a moment, another arrow flew through the air, striking the deer near its neck. The deer dashed away, leaving a trail of blood as the arrow remained stuck in its chest.

Vonda popped out of the bushes and followed the blood trail, running adjacent to the river. The deer was out of sight, but not out of hearing. Scrunching leaves and broken twigs meant a deer nearby. However, the noises of the deer died down as Vonda continued her pursuit on the deer, but she heard another noise.

Vonda turned around, lifted her bow, and aimed at the person responsible for the loud footsteps.

"Woah, Vonda, watch it!" gasped George.

Vonda lowered her bow.

"Ugh, have you been following me?"

George grabbed his knee and took a deep breath, nodding.

"For how long?" exclaimed Vonda.

"I was going hunting too then I found you."

"Bullshit. With that tiny gun you have?"

George sighed.

"I saw you outside in the parking lot through my window. By the time I went out, you went into the woods behind the motel. I looked around then I heard someone climbing trees. That's when I saw you."

Vonda continued to follow the blood trail. George walked behind her.

"Wh-Why would you follow me?"

"I have to make sure you're safe out here. You can't be alone. It's not safe!"

Vonda moved a branch out of her face. George ducked as he moved through the thick bushes.

"I know how to handle myself. I don't need anyone! Especially you, George! This is routine. You're just getting in the way!"

As Vonda uncovered a group of bushes, a roamer growled at her, dropping the deer meat to the ground. She yelped and thrusted her bow at the roamer, pushing it back. Vonda grabbed one of her arrows, however, the roamer lunged at her again, preventing her from drawing the bow. Both the girl and the roamer rolled in the ground, with Vonda smacking the roamer's face again and again. However, all it did was aggravate the roamer until it was ready to sink its teeth into the girl.

As Vonda held the bow at the roamer's neck, George grabbed the monster and lifted it away from the girl. Noticing an arrow in the ground, he pushed the roamer to a tree and picked up the arrow. He launched the arrow at the roamer's left eye, pushing the tip out of its skull and to the bark of the tree.

Vonda panted as she lied on the ground, her abdomen moving up and down. She moved the hair covering her face out of the way, and allowed herself to see the clouds in the air.

George held out his hand for Vonda. She grabbed his hand and stood up, looking at the roamer in the tree.

George removed the arrow from the tree, causing the roamer to drop to the ground. He then held it out for Vonda.

"Here you go."

Vonda grabbed the arrow and looked at the deer.

"Sorry. I guess you were right," muttered Vonda.

"No, I trusted you," said George. "I just… got worried a little."

"I would've probably done the same. I worry a lot about you."

"You do? Why?"

"It's the way you've been acting lately. You seem detached… like you're hiding something."

Vonda stood above the deer. The deer's eyes were slightly closed. She drew her bow and shot an arrow at the deer's head, ending its suffering.

"There goes our lunch," said Vonda.

George placed his hand on Vonda's shoulder.

"As a matter of fact, there is something that I was hiding. Remember back in Albany, when your mother took you away?"

Vonda didn't say word. Yet George understood her answer.

"We interrogated this Piranha," continued George. "Bruna was her name. We interrogated her in the old headquarters. When I went to retrieve a pen and paper for her, I found a note in Sherry's office. Like a personal note for herself."

Vonda sat on the grass. George took out a note from his pocket and handed it to her.

"Read it out loud, okay?" said George.

Vonda took the note and began reading it.

"Hey, Tim. Sorry for cancelling the honeymoon. Duty calls. Promise it will be over soon. And when it is, we'll enjoy our happy, married lives. We'll have a kid like we always wanted to. I didn't think of a name for our child if it's a boy, but if it's a girl, then I got the perfect name… Vonda. How does that sound… my love? I really hope you love that name. Love, your happily wedded wife, Sherry."

Vonda looked ahead at the fallen deer. George looked at Vonda.

"Lately, you seem to not get your mother out of your head. I feel somewhat responsible for that, and that's why I have been feeling distant this past month, and I'm sorry about that."

"But…" said Vonda, unable to finish.

"You say she deserves to die. But in your heart, you think otherwise. You cared about her. Not a lot… but you wanted her to live. That's a good heart there."

"How do I make her go away?" asked Vonda.

"Don't feel responsible. Don't try to convince yourself that she deserved death, whether she did or didn't. Convince yourself that you tried your best to save her. Convince yourself that she is responsible for her fate. You tried saving her Vee, and that's all that matters."

Vonda stood up. As George picked himself up, Vonda wrapped her arms around him. He smiled and hugged her back.

"Thanks, George."

Vonda wiped a tear from her eye.

"I like that name," giggled Vonda. "Vee."

"Alright, Vee. Let's get back to the motel."

Vonda pulled the arrow out of the deer's head and placed it back in her quiver. George led her out of the woods leaving the deer and the roamer in the ground.

Outside the motel in the main road near the parking lot, Bill walked with his rifle. He wore his helmet and bulletproof vest again and held a pair of binoculars around his neck. He paused and looked ahead in the road, employing his binoculars. After identifying the two survivors ahead of him, he removed his binoculars and waited for them to come closer.

"What's going on?" asked George.

"Wake up your group," said Bill. "We're going back to my cabin."

"Why, what happened?" Vonda asked, holding George's arms tighter.

"I tinkered with two of your tapes. They're back in the cabin."

"It's going to take a while before they all get ready to head somewhere," said George. "If you're staying here, you better get settled in."

"No, it's alright. I'll just be back in the cabin, taking a small nap."

Vonda grumbled as Bill refused to reveal any information from the tapes. He walked back to his cabin, with George and Vonda walking to the motel, knocking on the doors.

Some nearby animals were disturbed by Bill's snoring. The door handle of the front door of the cabin joggled, waking up its resident.

The door opened with David standing outside.

"That was faster than I expected," commented Bill.

"You said you were done with two of the tapes?" asked David.

Bill rubbed his eyes and nodded. He stood by the door as everyone entered.

Bill looked at Lynn as she passed by, both making eye contact for a second. He then shifted his eyes towards Richard who glared at Lynn. Richard then looked at Bill for two seconds with angry eyes.

"I can play these now?" asked Vonda while she held a tape.

"Yeah. Which one is that?" asked Bill.

"Who is General Black. Question mark."

"Go ahead. I'll be in the table. Gonna try to get this piece of junk to stop playing static."

The group gathered around Vonda as she popped in the cassette tape into the player. She pressed the play button and increased the volume.

"Hello. Tim Crowley here. I've got more than ten thousand of you hearing me right now, and this'll probably be the only time you'll be hearing about this. I'm going to talk about General Quentin Black once more. I know I talked about him in previous episodes of Tim Tells The Truth, but now I go into full detail about who he is and what his intentions are. Born on April 21st, 1961, in Detroit, Michigan…"

Bill turned the tuning knob but did not get the results he wanted.

"...he selected people based on their desires or sometimes against their will in order to strengthen his own rogue army. At the moment, he remains the most powerful military officer employed by the K.H.A.N…."

Bill headed in his room. He walked out of his room and out of the cabin with his tool box.

"...why is he doing this you ask? Well it's not money that motivates him. He's got no family to protect. And power is not going to mean anything in a world of the undead. He's got a messiah complex and believes in an ideology that the world should be saved by a new world order. He wants to save the rogues and their families and spare us the 'wrath' of our own actions…"

Bill climbed on top of the cabin and removed one of the three antennas.

"...I think I just signed my own death warrant with this tape. But if it saved the life of one person, then that's all that matters. Thank you for your time."

David crossed his arms.

"Play the other tape."

Vonda removed the tape and inserted the other tinkered tape into the cassette player.

"Hello. Tim here. I'm going to delve into a very, very risky topic. I don't have much time so I'm going to explain it as quickly and as detailed as possible. The K.H.A.N. The Krissen Heikkinen Associated Nation. Though, my buddies and I call it the Krissen Heikkinen Apocalyptic Nation. First things first. The leader's name is Krissen Heikkinen, a Finnish-Russian revolutionary leader– which is quite an understatement. Her right-hand man goes by the name Ivanovich, or The Son as I believe some people call him. She's got some big players as well. People like Benito Quirino…"

Lily cooed as Bobby held her.

"...Salah al-Din Mossad…"

Lynn leaned closer to Lincoln and Clyde.

"...and of course the one and only– General Black."

Luan and Luna looked at Lori and Leni. They both shifted awkwardly.

"They created the necrosis influenza or the IOTD, Infection of the Dead that is, and they'll use it pretty soon. I won't be surprised if they use it in this decade. Let's see… today is December 3, 2012…"

Bill walked back into the cabin and headed to his table.

"...some ideology that overpopulation will consume the Earth. I'll actually talk about that later in another episode. However, the most important thing is that you have to watch out for certain places like Cuba…"

The radio turned on, but static noise still played. Bill grumbled as he turned the tuning knob.

"...just remember that name. K.H.A.N. Remember that name."

The cassette tape finished playing. Everyone in the room were unable to say a word. Some group members felt uncomfortable while others were puzzled.

The static noise in the radio crackled and an indistinguishable voice spoke. Bill's eyes opened as he gasped. The group turned around and looked at Bill, who sat in the table with his notebook out.

"The radio's workin'?" asked Wavehead.

Bill responded affirmatively. He raised the volume in the radio and watched as the group gathered around the corner of the room. The voice in the radio spoke again, with static interrupting every few seconds.

"...TS-88 is deceased. I repeat… is deceased. No reanimation. Results… inconclusive. Take it to the Wasteland."

Lynn scratched her head. Lisa rubbed her chin. Bill turned the tuning knob slightly. Another voice in the radio spoke.

"Bring TS-89 to Unit B. Insert it in the chambers."

Another voice spoke. The group leaned closer to the radio.

"Hey! Please! Don't take me back there again! Hey! I beg you! Don't!"

Bill looked at the group. Almost everyone in the group couldn't identify the voice.

Rusty's jaw opened.

"That– was that my dad?"

"Yeah, that kinda does sound like him," said Zach.

Leni trembled as she held Lori's right hand. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne stood close to each other, finding comfort in each other's arms. Jeffrey closed his eyes and prayed silently.

There were multiple voices in the radio. They all cried for help or screamed in agony.

"Bill!" exclaimed Lori. "What are they doing to Rusty's dad and the others?"

"Like I told you. Experiments."

"But what! What experiments?" cried Luna.

Bill didn't respond. He stared at his radio, then stood up and turned around. Trembling, he walked to the front door of the cabin. With the help of her crutches, Luna limped towards him.

"Bill?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

Bill walked out of the cabin. David looked around.

"Excuse me. Excuse me guys," said David.

"Stay," said Richard. "I'll talk to him. You stay here and listen to the radio."

Richard dashed out of the cabin. David stayed next to George, listening to the radio. Lynn, Lincoln, and Carol looked at Richard as he jogged towards Bill. They both disappeared into the woods.

"Hey! Bill!" shouted Richard.

"What is it, umm, Richard?"

"You know what's going on with the people in Houlton, right?"

Bill continued to walk deeper into the woods. Richard followed him to a small pond.

"Bill! Bill!"

Richard tugged Bill's shoulders and faced him.

"Bill, I asked you a question. In fact, Luna also asked you a fucking question!"

"Do you have any loved ones in Houlton?" asked Bill.

Richard clenched his teeth and felt his heart sink.

"No. That doesn't matter asshole. Answer the damn question!"

"Fine! Fine…"

Bill paced back and forth near the pond. Then, he came to a stop.

"The rogue soldiers… and some scientists… they're doing all sorts of tests from medical to weaponry. Just by listening to the radio, I can tell they're doing horrible, horrible things to their captives. Injecting them with diseases, conducting surgery without anesthesia, forcing then to get bit by roamers, that's just some of the things I can remember."

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" asked Richard. "They need to hear about this."

"No! They can't! There are children in there. You can't tell them these kinds of things!"

"You can and you will!"

Bill cleared his throat as he looked at Richard's revolver.

"How many roamers have you killed?" asked Bill.

"Why are you asking me?" questioned Richard.

"Matter of trust. How many roamers have you killed?"

"I don't know. Fifty? A hundred?"

"How many people have you killed? And I don't mean the ones from your time in service."

"You're asking me the same questions that you asked David."

"Yes. Answer it," said Bill.

"Not a lot."

"Give me an estima–"

"15 people."

Bill swallowed hard before asking his next question.

"Why?"

"Same reason as David's. To protect my group. Except one of 'em. He was being devoured by roamers. Make that two of 'em."

Bill walked back to the cabin with Richard behind him. He tugged his vest and wiped the sweat off his face.

"Can you hear anything?" asked Lynn.

"No one is saying anything," said Lori. "Why don't we switch the channels?"

David sat on the chair and turned the tuning knob clockwise. The audio in the radio crackled and then another voice was heard.

"...move towards Town Road. You'll find two infected ones before you get to Main Street. Private Lukeman. You copy?"

"I copy, sir!"

"Good. I want you to patrol Church Street and School Street. Keep your eyes in the corner for any infected ones."

"Roger that."

Then another voice came out from the radio.

"I'll take it from here, Lieutenant Lead."

Lynn covered her mouth as Lori's eyes widened. David took off his shades and looked back at the group.

"That's–"

"Black," said Lori.

Some of the group members were confused. They never met a rogue soldier before, and therefore they never heard Black's voice. Vonda was an exception. Although, she never encountered a rogue soldier, she did hear Black's voice many times.

"Alright, General. Is there anything you want me to do, sir?"

"Yes, Lieutenant. I want you to patrol the gates near I-95."

"Roger that."

The radio went silent. Bill came back into the cabin with Richard. David stood up from the chair and the group allowed Bill to pass through them so he could sit in his chair. Lori pointed at the radio.

"We heard Black!" exclaimed Lori.

Bill paused before sitting in his chair. Richard walked close to Lori.

"You did?" responded Bill. "What did he say?"

"Nothing too important," replied Lori. "He ordered his lieutenant to secure the gates near I-95."

"Oh yes. I forgot to tell you about that. From what I heard in the radio, that is always secured by a group of rogue soldiers. That's gonna be a tough gate to get past by."

The radio remained silent. Bill grabbed a box of cereal and sat down in his chair.

"You all need to leave tomorrow," said Bill. "I can't have you guys stay here much longer."

"Why not?" asked Richard. "This place is secure. No roamers. No enemies."

"Yet," said Bill. "Food is going to go by fast with you guys here. Talkin' about you, Vonda. You hunt pretty well."

Vonda smiled and shrugged her shoulders. Bill continued talking.

"Thing is, I like being alone. I don't like the feeling of having to look over my shoulders for the rest of my life."

"Well, that's fine. You know about our mission," said David.

"That's good. Now, unless you have an antenna, try not to return after tomorrow. Vonda, I'll work on these last two tapes. They should be done by tonight. You all can leave now."

Preston and Jeffrey were the first ones to leave the cabin. Many of the small kids left first. The cabin got cooler with every person that left.

"Hey, David. Stay for a moment," said Bill.

"What is it?"

Lori and George stayed by the door of the cabin. David waved his hands at them, ordering them to leave. Bill closed the door and let out a pained sigh.

"Did you know why I asked you those three questions?" asked Bill.

"I guess it was to see if you can trust me. But I mean, there are better ways to find out if–"

"It's the easiest way to find out if you can let them inside your home. Or your group in your case."

"I see," said David.

"First question, how many roamers have you killed? You want to see how useful someone is. If they haven't killed a single roamer, then what use are they?"

David nodded.

"Second question, how many people have you killed? Now, I understand that your group is an exception since you had to face off against rogue soldiers and the Piranhas. You're bound to rack up kills, but not everyone else faces off against big groups. Not this early. A couple kills is fine but that's why you gotta ask–"

"Why."

"Yes. Killing someone out of mercy or to protect your family is something that you need to do to survive this world with your loved ones. If the kills can't be justified, then the person can't be trusted."

David nodded again.

"Now, their responses don't mean a damn thing if they're not honest. But that's why you gotta see how someone responds to the questions. If they lie, you can't trust them. And I bet you can tell when someone lies."

"That's pretty clever and very helpful. How'd you come up with these questions?" asked David.

"Oh, I didn't come up with them. Tim Crowley did. Thank him most of all. Good luck. See you tonight."

David put his shades back on and gave Bill a handshake. He left the cabin, leaving Bill alone for the next couple hours.

 **IV - Horror in the Woods**

"Why the hell do we have to go so soon?" yelled Richard. "We need time to plan how to go in and out. How many rogues there are. Where the families are being held captive. We need more time to gather supplies."

"You're talking about time we don't have!" exclaimed David. "Every day, the people in Houlton suffer! For the past three months, these people had to endure agonizing experiments just so they can fulfill Black's ideology! Are these people made to suffer? We can't afford to waste more time!"

David and Richard stood a few feet away from each other in one of their rooms inside the motel. George and Lori stood outside the door, trying to not look inside. However, they could hear both men arguing.

"Want to go inside?" asked Lori.

"I don't know," replied George. "I really don't feel like getting involved."

"How am I going to benefit from this?" asked Richard.

"Don't you give a damn about these people?" asked David. "They're suffering for God's sake!"

"Like you give a damn, David! I know the only reason why you want to go is to rescue your living wife who we don't even know if she's there!"

"That's not true!"

"Oh yeah, you know that is!"

"I'm the leader! My decision is final! We're going to Houlton tomorrow!"

"Fine! Fine."

Lori and George entered the room. Richard grumbled as he headed to leave the room.

"Out of my way," said Richard.

Lori and George closed the door softly. Richard walked out in the moonlit parking lot. The candle in the room flickered violently.

"That didn't sit too well with him, right?" said Lori.

"I don't know. He's just a little concerned about his future. It's true, this doesn't benefit him."

"It doesn't benefit me either," said George. "Yet, I don't want to see innocent people suffer."

"Why is that?" asked David. "Besides saving the people, why do you want to fight with us?"

"I'm young. I see a future with you guys. You guys are family."

David looked at the candle. He then walked towards the window and looked out into the parking lot. Richard was gone.

"Maybe that's why," whispered David. "Richard doesn't feel the same."

"Do we look for Richard?" asked Lori.

"Leave him alone for a little. He needs time to cool off. Like the other night."

"Yeah," said Lori. "Before he popped some bullets the other night."

Tabby, Ronnie Anne, Clyde, Rusty, and Zach were inside Clyde's room playing with a ball. Lynn and Lincoln knocked on the door, one carrying a bow and her arrows.

"I got the door," said Tabby. "'Sup Lincoln. 'Sup Lynn."

"What are you guys doing?" asked Lincoln.

"We're just throwing around this ball and catchin' it," said Rusty. "Wanna join?"

"There's no time to play with balls!" exclaimed Lynn. "A dangerous man is on the loose and nobody is doing anything!"

"Who are you talking about?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Richard," said Lincoln. "You see–"

"No, let me explain it!" interrupted Lynn.

"You sure? I thought I could explain it better, but if you really want to–"

"You know what? Nevermind. You can explain it better than I can."

"Okay. So guys. Remember when we were in Portland…?"

Richard walked into the woods with a flashlight. He crossed the main road and walked north, towards the cabin. However, he passed by the cabin and headed somewhere else.

After a few minutes of jogging, he found himself next to the pond where he confronted Bill earlier. He removed his revolver from his holster and allowed it to glimmer in the moonlight. He opened the cylinder, finding all six chambers full. Then he closed it and admired the pond once again.

"...and so then Richard decided to shoot D to 'take him out of his misery'. That's when Lynn arrived and saved the both of them."

"Don't forget he was about to shoot Becky too!" exclaimed Lynn.

"Lynn, you interrupted me like a hundred times!" grumbled Lincoln. "Maybe you should've explained it."

"Whatever, they got the point. Right?"

The former fifth-graders agreed.

"Well, what do you want us to do now?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"We should look for him and spy on him!" suggested Tabby. "If the adults won't do anything, then we'll take matters into our own hands!"

"Guys, isn't that a little dangerous?" asked Clyde.

"Yeah, Lori did tell us not to do anything to Richard," said Lincoln.

"What's more dangerous is that Luan, Benny, Wavehead, and Vonda are out there and Richard can harm them!" exclaimed Lynn. "Besides. No roamer for miles!"

"Let's go search for them and bring them back!" exclaimed Zach.

"Let's split up!" said Tabby. "I go with Ronnie Anne!"

"I'll go with Rusty!" said Lincoln.

"I'll take… Zach," sighed Lynn.

"What about me?" asked Clyde.

"You stay here," said Lincoln. "We have walkie-talkies. If Richard comes back, tell us. If Luan and the others come back, tell us."

"When the moon goes above that hill, that's when we come back!" said Rusty.

"Alright!" said Clyde. "Good luck, comrades! I expect you guys to have great success with this mission!"

Ronnie Anne, Tabby, Lincoln, Rusty, Lynn, and Zach left the motel room.

Lincoln and Rusty headed westward of the motel.

Ronnie Anne and Tabby headed northward of the motel.

Lynn and Zach ran northwestward of the motel.

The night was young and the moon remained under the hill.

Bill listened to the cassette player when he heard a knock on the door. He walked towards the door and opened it, nearly gasping at Richard's towering size.

"Where are the others?" asked Bill.

"Back in the motel," replied Richard. "Your concern should be with me, Bill."

Bill walked back to the table and sat next to his Ruger.

"Close the door. What do you want?"

"I need you to convince David to let us stay here longer. You don't understand how safe this place is. No roamer for miles in here."

"It's very isolated. You sure you want to stay here? The rest of your group don't seem to keen on that idea. I'M not too keen about that idea."

Richard pulled out his revolver. He looked at it, then looked at Bill.

"This is not about what you want. This is about what I need to establish a future. I got this woman in the group that I care about. A lot."

Bill squinted while his mouth remained open. He started breaking into sweats as he paced back carefully towards his rifle.

Clyde whistled the Flight of the Bumblebee as he waited for his friends to return. As he looked out the window, he saw the ray of a flashlight shine into the parking lot. He then saw Luan, Vonda, Benny, and Wavehead walking to the RV. Clyde activated his walkie-talkie.

"Comrade Lincoln? Luan and the others are back!"

"Okay! Rusty and I are coming back! The others should be back soon. The moon is rising!"

Zach shone the flashlight at the trees ahead of him, panting as he struggled to catch up to Lynn.

"Lynn! Please slow down!"

"No way, dweeb. You gotta catch up! We have no time to waste!"

"Can't we just take a break?" puffed Zach.

"Fine! The cabin should be over there. Rest over there! I'll be back in a few minutes!"

Zach walked to the cabin, holding his knees as he caught his breath. He heard a voice inside the cabin and saw movement through the curtains in the windows.

"Oh, maybe Bill knows where Richard is!" Zach said to himself.

"Her name is Carol Pingrey," said Richard. "She's beautiful. Intelligent. Kind."

"I don't think I know a Carol Pingrey," said Bill. "She's somewhere back in the motel, I assume?"

"Yeah. I'm sure you had people you cared–"

Zach opened the door and walked inside the cabin, keeping his eyes on the door handle.

"Sorry, Bill, I need to ask– oh."

Richard turned around and pointed his revolver at the floor. Bill grabbed his Ruger and slowly lifted it away from the chair. Zach trembled as he planted his foot outside of the cabin.

"Hey kid. What's your name again?" asked Richard.

"Zach. Zach Gurdle."

"What are you doing here?" asked Bill.

"I… was going to ask you some stuff about Tim Crowley. You know my friends and I have some theories ourselves to the K.H.A.N.'s ideology–"

"You need to leave Zach," said Bill. "Go back to the motel."

"No, no, he's fine here," said Richard. "Zach, after what happened to one of your friends, do you really want to go against the rogue soldiers in Houlton?"

"I guess not."

"I don't give a damn if you don't want to go fight the rogues," said Bill, pointing his rifle at Richard. "You're not taking this place. Final."

"I should just go," said Zach.

"Hey, Zach," said Bill, "Tim Crowley would've trusted you to take these tapes–"

Richard lifted his Python and shot Bill in the chest.

Zach flinched, holding on to the door covering half of his body. Bill lied on the floor groaning with his hands over the hole in his vest.

Richard lifted Bill's Ruger and placed it back in the corner. He then turned around and looked at the boy behind the door. He moved his hands towards his pockets and crouched to the ground.

"Zach. Who else knows that you're here?

The boy trembled. He looked at Bill lying in the ground groaning.

"Hey, Zach. Look at me."

Richard placed his Python in the floor. He then grabbed Zach's right shoulder.

"I'm not going to hurt you. Just tell me who knows you're here."

"J-J-Just Lynn. She's–"

Richard unsheathed his combat knife and stabbed Zach in his chest. Zach coughed blood as Richard leaned closer to him, pushing the knife deeper. His coughs transformed into gasps as he fell on his back, leading Richard to pull out the knife.

"I knew it," said Bill. "Whole reason I wouldn't give you this place… was 'cause I couldn't trust you. You're a dangerous man, Richard."

Richard walked over to Bill, dropping the knife near his hands.

"Go stop me then."

Bill grabbed the knife and picked himself up. Before he lunged at his attacker, Richard cocked his Python and pressed its trigger, shooting Bill in his throat.

Bill dropped to the ground with the bloody knife in his hand as Richard left the cabin.

Richard fled to the woods, as Lynn popped out from the opposite side. He saw a couple shrubs move where Richard was, but before she chased after him, David, Lori, Vonda, George, Tabby, and Ronnie Anne arrived.

"What happened?" asked Lori. "We were on our way here for the tapes, when we heard gunshots!"

"I don't know!" exclaimed Lynn. "Something got shot inside this cabin!"

"Where's Zach?" asked Tabby.

They all walked inside the cabin where they spotted two bodies in the ground, one of their own.

"There's… Zach," gulped Lynn.

"Check their vitals!" said David. "Bill has a vest on!"

Lori crouched to feel Zach's pulse. She shook her head and stood up. George walked over to Bill.

"Oh, I don't think he's alive. Look at his neck."

David looked at Bill's corpse. Most of the group were running in the woods after hearing the gunshots. David did not stop staring at Bill.

"Oh my god!" gasped Luan.

"What happened here?" asked Benny.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," said George.

David looked away from Bill and ran out of the cabin.

"David? Where are you going?" cried out Lori.

"Stay!" yelled David.

David ran into the woods, the same area where Lynn spotted the movement of shrubs and bushes. The rest of the group were arriving at the cabin when they saw David disappear into the woods. Lori and George looked outside, wondering why he left in such a hurry.

David pushed branches away from his face and ran about, trying to find where Richard went. He looked in the ground and found large footprints and small footprints, trying not to waste any more minutes.

Richard took light, soft steps as he walked around the pond, drying his hands from the pond water. He looked at the hill in the distance and saw the moon rising above it. An owl hooted hundreds of meters away to which Richard paid attention to. The hooting grew increasingly in volume as the owl flew closer to Richard. As he looked at the bird flying in the sky, he noticed the stars, still in the same location. He then heard the brush of two branches rubbing against each other.

David popped out of the bushes and tackled Richard to the ground, wrapping his arms against his. He kept his hand on Richard's head, shoving his face to the dirt.

Richard moved his hands to his holster as David continued pushing his head into the dirt. He removed his revolver from the holster, but David stomped on his arm, causing Richard to press the trigger as he yelled in pain.

The shot went off, scaring the owl and other birds away from the woods.

David fell as Richard pushed his legs away from his arm. He stood up along with Richard and lunged at him again. This time, however, Richard saw his face.

"David?"

Richard took David's tackle to his chest. He gasped and groaned as he smacked flat into a tree. He attempted to point his Python at his best friend, but David punched him in near his eye. He fired another shot, scaring David away.

David moved back as Richard placed his hands on his face. Richard grabbed the barrel of his revolver and swung it at his jaw.

"Fuck!" yelled David, covering his bleeding mouth with his hands.

Richard moved closer to David with a clenched fist. David quickly kicked Richard's left hand, making him drop the gun. He growled and swung his hands at David's cheeks.

David grabbed Richard's fists and then his throat. Richard then grabbed his throat as well, pressing against it, while he continued to hold Richard's throat with a tough grip.

"Why'd you do it?" yelled David.

Both men tried shoving the other to the ground until Richard made a kick. David released his grip on Richard's throat, pressing on his stomach instead. He groaned as Richard lifted his fists.

"What the fuck are you talkin' about?" hissed Richard. "I didn't–"

Richard landed one punch at David's forehead and another at his lips.

"–kill the kid!"

As he landed more blows at him, David raised his arms and blocked his head. David moved a step forward and swung his right fist at Richard's nose, knocking him to his knees.

Richard gasped as he clumsily stood up, watching David walk even closer to him. He opened his eyes in terror as David landed another blow at him in his right eye.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" exclaimed David.

Richard kicked David's knee. As David knelt down, he punched Richard in his abdomen, causing both of them to fall in their knees.

Richard clawed at David's face as he tried to poke his left eye in. David grabbed Richard's arm and bent it behind him, making an attempt to break it.

"I didn't do anything! Stop!" screamed Richard.

Richard headbutted David and shoved him into a tree. As David tried to regain his balance, Richard grabbed one of his legs and one of his arms. He lifted David.

"Shit! Put me down!"

Richard spit his blood out and smirked. He dropped David to the shallow pond, creating a large splash of water. He grabbed David's shirt and pulled him out of the water.

David stood up behind Richard and wrapped his right arm around his neck. He kicked the back of his legs, dropping him to his knees. David then forced Richard closer to the water.

"No, man! You gotta believe me! I didn't kill Zach!"

"I don't believe you."

David pushed Richard's head into the water. Bubbles and blood infested the water as David lifted Richard. Richard struggled to catch his breath went David pushed him back into the water. Then, David pulled Richard out of the water and shoved him into the ground.

Richard coughed as David also tried to regain his breath. Water spilled to the dirt floor, creating mud. Richard then began fuming.

Richard yelled as he tackled David's legs. David fell to the ground as Richard knelt above him, punching his face over and over.

"Fuck you, David! Fuck you for not believing me! You never did!"

Richard panted as he stood up, watching David lie flat in the ground as he groaned in pain. He looked at his knuckles and shivered. He touched his bloody and bruised knuckles, moving away from David.

"Oh, Jesus."

He then heard movement in the bushes. He trembled as he walked closer to the bushes, wondering who found him and David fighting. However, it was a roamer that found them both alone in the woods and it lunged at Richard.

"Christ!"

Richard fell while the roamer stumbled to the ground next to David. The roamer looked at David as he pushed it away from him. The roamer raised its arms and tried to claw David's face.

Richard stood up and panted. He saw the roamer trying to kill David, and he did nothing but shiver. He walked away as David continued to fight off the roamer.

David beat the roamer's forehead with his fist, but the roamer's skull was stronger than he expected. It felt more fresh than the other roamers. David groaned as the roamer leaned closer to him.

Suddenly, a gunshot was fired. The roamer's brain splattered onto the dirt above David. Some drops of blood managed to make its way onto his face, but none in his mouth or eyes.

David lied flat in the ground, looking at the stars in the sky as Richard walked above him.

Richard held the revolver in his hands, still trembling. He then lifted his left hand, placing the revolver back into his holster and offering to help David back to his feet.

"That was close, wasn't it?" said Richard.

David looked at Richard. Then he saw his hand and raised his own.

"Oh yeah."

David grabbed Richard's hand and stood up. Richard coughed as both of them limped away from the pond.

"As I walked outside, I saw Zach and Lynn wander into the woods," explained Richard. "They– I don't know what the hell they were doing, so I followed them. The two of them got separated, so I followed Zach because if we're being honest… Lynn can take care of herself."

"That's true," said David.

"Zach walked to the cabin. I wondered why the hell he was going there. But he looked tired as shit. He was breathing strangely and that's when I wanted to say something. But… I didn't. And that was my mistake."

"What happened in the cabin?"

"I don't know. I heard a scream so I ran inside and found Bill holding a bloody knife. Then the next thing I know, I find myself shooting Bill in the chest and then in the neck."

"Why'd you walk away?"

"It was a long ass day. I needed to figure out what the fuck just happened. Then you came in here and I lost my cool."

David remained silent. Richard wiped his nose and rubbed the blood into the rock.

"I admit I killed Bill," said Richard. "I felt angry at Bill and I guess that's why I found it so easy to kill him. It was just like with Jake. Both men attacked one of our own, and that's why I lost it with both men. But David… I didn't kill Zach."

"Hey, I'm sorry. No need to feel guilty about that. I can already feel enough guilt coming from Lynn. You should've seen the look on her face when she found Zach… she's not getting any sleep tonight."

Richard and David heard movement once again in the bushes. George and Carol revealed themselves.

"Oh, thank god you guys are still alive," said George. "Though, you two don't seem alright."

"What happened to your faces!" exclaimed Carol. "Were you two fighting with each other?"

"We're fine now," said Richard. "Don't worry about us."

Carol looked down at the killed roamer and sighed in relief.

"Oh, so that's what you shot."

"Anyways," said George. "Something urgent came up. Lori needs you back in the cabin."

"Let me patch you up," Carol told David, though looking at Richard.

"I'm fine. Patch Richard up first."

Carol grabbed Richard's shoulder and rubbed it softly. She helped him walk back into the woods.

"We're going back to the RV. All my medical supplies are there. Oh, you poor thing."

"I'm alright, really."

"Maybe I don't want my man to have a busted up face. Walk faster."

The group continued to murmur among themselves. Tabby, Rusty, and Lincoln felt heartbroken upon seeing Zach turn into a roamer. There was no major transformation. It just happened. Lincoln was once again reminded about Lola.

However, with Lola, she was bitten by a roamer. He couldn't understand how Zach turned into a roamer if there were no bite marks on him.

"Maybe the infection went inside their wounds!" said Sam.

"Hmm," though Lisa to herself. "Airborne disease. Sounds familiar."

"I had an open wound," said Dana. "But nothing happened yet!"

"But you're still alive," said Lana.

David walked to the cabin, taking out his knife.

"No, don't," whispered Lori. "Don't kill them yet. You have open wounds."

"But… they need to be taken care of."

"They're not going anywhere. We can take 'em out tomorrow."

David nodded. He placed his knife back into his belt and looked at the group.

"We all need to go back to the motel. This… can wait."

"We're just going to leave Zach here like a mindless monster?" asked Tabby.

"We have to. I… don't have the strength to do it. We need a shovel so we can bury them. We can do all of this tomorrow. We ALL have to rest."

"What about my tapes?" asked Vonda.

"We'll get them tomorrow. Lynn, come with me."

"What is it? Did you…" Lynn said as she leaned closer, almost whispering. "...kill him?"

"No. I need to know what happened. So far, everything he said checks out."

Lynn clenched her teeth.

"I know you feel like Richard is to blame," said David. "Truth is… I'm responsible. I should've told you guys to never go out on your own. Then, Bill would've never stabbed Zach."

"But–"

"Lynn… is it not true that you and Zach separated from each other?"

"It's true."

"See, that checks out. I got more questions…"

The next morning rolled around. The group were back in the cabin. However, this time, the RV, Vanzilla, and the other van parked behind the gray car in the driveway.

David had a couple strips of bandages on his face, and wraps of bandages on his knuckles. He opened the cabin door and stabbed the reanimated forms of Bill and Zach.

Rusty, Tabby, Lincoln, and Clyde huddled together as they watched one of their friends go. Even Ronnie Anne felt a sting in her heart. But Lynn felt the biggest sting of all.

Vonda grabbed the tapes and inserted them into the cassette player. And sure enough, they worked.

"...there is this whole idea they have that we will destroy ourselves as we overpopulate the planet. They believe there are too many weak people making no useful impact on the world. I don't know why the K.H.A.N. believes it, but the important thing to know is that they do…"

Sergei patted the dirt for Zach's grave. A wooden cross stood above his grave, in courtesy of Jeffrey's idea.

"...in a world filled with the strong and the intelligent, technology will no doubt surpass our current understandings of science. And they will do whatever it takes to create that world. And I believe that they are creating a plague to wipe out the weak."

Richard sat on the passenger seat of the van. Sam happily sat next to Luna. Luna leaned on Sam and moved her leg slightly. Both girls gasped, leading Sam to kiss Luna while Carol and Richard winked at each other.

"...the infection. It's airborne. It's contagious. And it is no doubt, dangerous. However… it is not the infection itself that is always fatal. It is the bodily fluids of the infected that will kill a human…"

Vonda looked at Sherry's vest. She whispered to herself, telling herself that she tried her best to help Sherry. She looked around and felt more at peace. Sherry was gone. Out of sight. Out of mind. Vonda looked around the RV and quietly put on the vest. She smiled and took it off, putting it inside her backpack.

"...the man who knows most about the infection is Dr. Steven White. Unfortunately, he is working for Quentin Black and the rogues. I believe under duress, so making an ally of him is not out of the question. And last of all… chances are… you are infected. And you don't even it know it yet."

The RV left Medway. With the few miles left behind, the next destination was clear. The Louds were only hours away from entering Houlton and saving their family.

* * *

 ** _REMEMBER THOSE WHO WERE LOST:_**

 ** _Harold McBride and Howard McBride (Chapter 1)_**

 ** _Chaz and Rocky Spokes (Chapter 3)_**

 ** _Lola Loud (Chapter 5)_**

 ** _Francisco (Chapter 6)_**

 ** _Tad, Liam, and Chester "Chunk" Monk (Chapter 8)_**

 ** _Missy Bolts and Lucy Loud (Chapter 10)_**

 ** _Darcy Homandollar (Chapter 11)_**

 ** _Derrick "D" Tyre Chery (Chapter 12)_**

 ** _Zach Gurdle and William Brooker (Chapter 13)_**

 ** _REMEMBER THOSE WHO WERE GAINED:_**

 ** _Vonda Crowley, Becky, and Dana (Chapter 3)_**

 ** _Wesley "Wavehead" Hill (Chapter 4)_**

 ** _George Cane (Chapter 6)_**

 ** _Jeffrey Salas and Preston Salas (Chapter 12)_**

 ** _REMEMBER THOSE WHO STILL REMAIN:_**

 ** _Lori Loud_**

 ** _Leni Loud_**

 ** _Luna Loud_**

 ** _Luan Loud_**

 ** _Lynn Loud_**

 ** _Lincoln Loud_**

 ** _Lana Loud_**

 ** _Lisa Loud_**

 ** _Lily Loud_**

 ** _Clyde McBride_**

 ** _Ronnie Anne Santiago_**

 ** _Bobby Santiago_**

 ** _David Jones_**

 ** _Richard Bolts_**

 ** _Sergei_**

 ** _Carol Pingrey_**

 ** _Sam Sharp_**

 ** _Rusty Spokes_**

 ** _Benny_**

 ** _Tabby_**

* * *

 ** _Don't forget to follow if you enjoyed. See you next time!_**


	14. Dirigo

_**Hey, it's MrPotassiumK, with a brand new chapter. I want to inform you guys that I changed the intro for Chapter 1 once again at the time this chapter came out. Sorry if it feels inconvenient, but I just felt like it was not important enough to start off the story, and honestly, I was just not feeling a Hong Kong storyline. I also want to address recent information about the Casagrandes' home city, which is I believe is in Great Lakes City (fictional city). For the sake of convenience, this universe will feature Albany as their homec city. With that out of the way, let's get on to the story! Hope you enjoy!**_

* * *

Just a few miles left.

The words woven in the pages spoke to Luan as her eyes moved along the poem that Lucy wrote in her poetry book. Despite all the poems being dark and gloomy, they acted as a light to Luan as she read some of them over and over. She couldn't help but let a tear fall to a page, knowing that Lucy's talent will never be put to use again.

Lana scoffed as she pulled out a familiar pink dress out of a backpack of the same color. She knew that Lola would've taken another pair, yet she was still caught off-guard. Maybe her surprise came more from finding something that would preserve a memory of Lola. Nevertheless, she felt emotional and relieved.

Lisa pressed on the stuffed giraffe, attempting to find the source of its significance. After struggling to see anything of importance, Lisa stared at Rafo's face, its eyes and mouth smiling back. Of course, there's nothing special about this plush toy. Yet, Rafo made Darcy happy. Then, Lisa came to a realization. Rafo was special to her because it reminded her of happy times with Darcy back in her kindergarten class. Lisa felt a surge of emotions wash over her as she held Rafo tightly.

Lynn tossed the baseball up and down, making sure not to hit the roof of Vanzilla. She caught it every time, though she eventually got tired of it. She held the ball tightly and looked at Francisco's baseball, still containing the muddy stain that wouldn't get out no matter how much they scrubbed it. Lynn remembered hitting this ball over what must have felt like 105 miles per hour. She grinned as she realized the ball shattered Mr. Grouse's attic window. This memory led Lynn to hold the ball with both of her hands.

Leni flipped through pictures in the photo album and stopped at a certain picture. The photo showed a picture of her father and mother in front of their house, smiling at the camera. She looked out the window and frowned. Then, she looked back at the photo, ran her fingers through its smooth texture, and smiled. She closed the photo album and hugged it.

David looked ahead in the road.

George sat in the seat behind his and Vonda sat next to him. Becky leaned on Dana while she took a nap, while Wavehead read an Ace Savvy comic that Becky had in her bag. Rusty and Tabby sat by each other, leaning their heads against each others, remaining silent as they thought about Liam and Zach. Jeffrey and Preston sat in the seats by the booth table, both reading the Bible.

David continued to look ahead in the road. He thought about his wife more times than about his group. His group meant a lot to him, and still does, but his wife is family, and he would do anything for family. However, he often realizes that his group think of him as family, and he should feel the same way.

Only this might not be true. David thought to himself about this. Lori only wanted to motivate the others. Jeffrey and Preston sure as hell aren't family and Richard is drifting away from them. Perhaps, Lori's idea of the group being family was an idea brought up by desperate times. Did she even believed herself when she said that?

Richard tapped the pen at his left temple. He then palmed the pen with his right hand and wrote some names sloppily in a tiny notebook. He drew jagged lines between the names, trying to create some sort of understanding with these names. The names that were in the notebook were Lynn, George, Becky, Lori, and David. The only thing he understood about them was that they could turn the group against him, this being a major threat to his future life with Carol.

A helicopter flew over the group in the same direction their vehicles went. David, Lori, and Carol couldn't help but slow down their vehicles in order to watch the helicopter dive deeper into the horizon. A hill prevented the group from seeing where the helicopter landed at, though they all had an idea.

The RV, Vanzilla, and what used to be Chunk's van all parked on the right side of the road, covered by the hill from whatever force awaited them on the other side. The drivers in each vehicles turned off the engine and stepped outside.

Bobby grabbed Ronnie Anne's hands and helped Clyde stand with his crutches. Dana and Wavehead walked next to Becky, in case her fragile ankles caused her to fall to the rough pavement. Rusty and Tabby followed George and Vonda in their way out of the RV. Richard held Luna's homemade crutches as Carol and Sam helped Luna out of the car. Sergei led Jeffrey and Preston out of the RV, making them the last ones to leave their vehicles.

Lori held Leni's left hand and looked behind her. Luan held Lily, while Lana and Lisa walked behind Lincoln and Lynn. Luna limped over to them, watching the rest of the Louds hold hands. She held her right crutch under her left armpit and grabbed Lori's left hand.

Luna, Lori, Leni, Lincoln, Lynn, Lisa, Lana, and Luan held each other's hands in that order, creating a human wall. Lily wrapped her arms around Luan's shoulders, as the Louds walked up the hill. The Louds went ahead of the group and reached the top of the small hill first.

 **Chapter 14: Dirigo**

 **I - Day 100**

"Well, I guess it's time," said Luan.

"I can't believe it," said Lana. "We're here!"

"And on Day 100," stated Lisa. "What a coincidence."

"I don't know about you dudes, but I definitely feel butterflies flying 'round my stomach," said Luna.

"I feel nervous too," replied Lincoln.

"Everyone, just take a deep breath and… relax," suggested Lynn. "We're going to be fine."

"Is this where Mom and Dad are being kept?" asked Leni.

The helicopter hovered above what appeared to be a large runway near a city of tents and bunkers. A large, wide building stood next to the runway, an airport that now acts as the rogues' base. The airport most likely also houses General Black and the top ranking officers. To the left were four long buildings with two towers connected to each end. And even more to the left was a small town of houses and trees, keeping a certain type of Maine-charm.

"Not for long," replied Lori.

David looked at Houlton and its surrounding areas. He squinted, as most of the survivors did, yet they weren't able to see what was exactly occurring in the town.

He walked back to the RV and grabbed his M110 sniper rifle, and a pair of binoculars. He returned to the hill, held his hands in the air, and realized that it was not a windy day.

"Here you go," said David, handing the binoculars to Lori.

David adjusted the scope and looked through it, finding many armored vehicles driving around the runway and the perimeter of Houlton. Lori zoomed in with the binoculars and realized that the four buildings to the left of the runway were prisons, or used to be prisons.

"What do you see?" asked Lynn.

"Four prisons. David, you see it?"

"Yeah. Left of the runway?"

"Mhmm. You can tell because of the guard towers. Chances are, our parents are in there."

"You see this long gate? Seems to be mostly covered by fencing and barbed wire."

"Bill was right..." said Lori.

Richard rubbed his phantom thumb and sighed softly.

"...gate is heavily guarded. How are we supposed to pass through that?"

"We gotta find a weak spot," said David. "Which is what I'm looking for… right… now."

David zoomed out the scope and found a small semi-trailer truck driving in the road heading towards the group. The white truck carried a blank trailer, and as David zoomed in his scope at the windshield, he saw the driver and the passenger. He exited out of his scope and quickly patted Lori.

"Hey, over there!" warned David. "You see that?"

Lori nodded. David looked back at the group and saw that most of them nodded as well.

"I want some of you to grab some guns and surround the truck! The rest of you, head into the woods!"

David unholstered his gun and nodded at Richard and George. Richard held his Python out while George aimed his Glock at the truck. Lori walked back to Vanzilla and grabbed her AK-47 while the others walked to the van.

Sergei grabbed his M4. Benny grabbed an M4 as well, while Sam and Luan grabbed an UZI each. Becky, Wavehead, and Dana followed Bobby as they crossed the other side of the road.

Still hidden from the truck driver's view, the group placed themselves into position to surround the group as the kids dashed into the woods, only Rusty, Tabby, and Lincoln holding a gun. Leni carried Luna with her to the forest, leaving her crutches behind on the top of the hill.

"Hey, Steven, look!" said the passenger. "Crutches! Those will be helpful!"

"They're just… lying there," worriedly said the driver.

The truck slowed down as it neared the top of the hill, but not braking completely. Not until the truck started its slow descent down the hill and the driver found himself surrounded.

"Oh, hell," groaned the driver.

David, George, Richard, Carol, Luan, Benny, and Lynn aimed their guns at the driver's side of the truck. Lori, Bobby, Sergei, Sam, Becky, Dana, and Wavehead aimed their guns at the passenger's side of the truck.

"What do we do?" asked the passenger.

"Just raise your arm and leave the truck, slowly," replied the driver.

David stood up as the driver opened the door and raised his arms up. The driver's glasses were falling to the tip of his nose, which led him to push them back slowly near his eyes. He then fixed the collar of his white coat and returned his hands back in the air. The passenger, about half of the driver's age, watched the driver, not paying attention to Lori walking close to the truck.

A tap in the window caused the passenger to flinch as Lori aimed the gun at her a few feet behind the door. The passenger released her seatbelt and opened the door, gripping her white coat. Lori looked at her hazel eyes, leading the passenger to raise her arms as she turned her face away from Lori. She was no taller than her.

"Can I help you with something?" asked the driver, shivering.

"Who are you people?" asked David.

"I'm, uh, Dr. Steven White. Back there… is my assistant, Haley… Jennings."

"Your name?" asked Lori.

"My name? Oh! Uh, I'm, uh, Haley."

"Walk this way."

Lori turned Haley around and walked her to the other side of the road where David continued to hold Dr. White at gunpoint. The group lowered their guns and looked around.

"What are you going to do to us?" asked Haley.

"Nothing you should be worried about if you don't try to do anything funny," said David. "Is there anyone else in there we should know about?"

"No," responded Dr. White. "There's just–"

"You guys came from Houlton, am I correct?"

"Y-Y-Yeah."

"Where are you headed?"

"Nowhere!"

"I don't like bullshit responses."

David cocked his M9 and aimed it back at Dr. White.

"We're just going some place in the woods to run some errands!" yelped Dr. White. "Who are you people?"

"We… are the family of the people held hostage in those shithole prisons of yours!" said Lori.

"You mean the Units?" asked Haley.

"The rogue soldiers," said David. "You know what they're doing there. Is it true that they're experimenting on the people there?"

"How'd you guys know that?" asked Dr. White.

"How close are you with General Black? What's your involvement with the prisoners?"

"I'm close with Black! And I personally manage the experimentations! But, you gotta understand! I'm being held against my will! Both Haley and I! We don't like Black! We don't!"

"How close are you with Black?" asked David.

"I'm his doctor. And the doctor of every one of his 'rogue' soldiers. And the doctor of every one his prisoners. How'd you know Black would be here?"

"How's his eye doing?"

Dr. White and Haley looked at each other, both of their jaws hanging about.

"Were you in Royal Woods eleven days after the Global Infection Event? You saw the battle that went down?"

"Saw it?" David lowered his gun. "I'm the one who shot his fucking eye out."

Dr. White smiled then frowned.

"You should've went for the brain."

David chuckled softly.

"How many roamers have you killed?"

Richard squinted his eyes. Dr. White stuttered as he tried to figure out how David knew of the term.

"None."

David looked at Lori who rolled her eyes. David then looked at Haley.

"What about you?"

"Umm, I think seventeen."

"How many people have you killed?"

"One."

David turned towards Dr. White.

"Oh, me? None. No one."

"Why?" asked David.

"I was fortunate enough that Black didn't let me do the dirty work for him."

The whole group turned towards Haley.

"Why?" asked David, once more.

"I didn't want my father to be treated like some kind of lab rat."

David lowered his gun, prompting everyone else to do so too. Dr. White and Haley lowered their arms, still frightened by David.

"Are you going to tell us how you knew about the soldiers and General Black?" asked Dr. White.

"Yeah," responded David. "And a whole journey that came with it."

Lisa inspected Clyde's stump while Richard watched the rogue soldiers in Houlton with the binoculars. Lori asked for Carol's Polaroid to which Carol agreed to give up for a few seconds. Lori walked on top of the hill and zoomed slightly in at Houlton. She snapped a picture and grabbed the photo, handing the camera back to Carol.

"We found a knife by Bill's hands, so we concluded that Bill stabbed the boy," said David. "Just when you think you know a person…"

Richard didn't look back at the group, yet he still knew that Lynn stared at him with judgmental eyes.

"Perhaps, he thought that the boy was a roamer?" said Dr. White. "If he was killed near the door, then chances were, he didn't know the boy was human!"

"Maybe," said David, trying not to look at Richard. "Maybe not."

Haley removed her coat, revealing her white t-shirt with blue jeans. Her red sneakers didn't match her brunette hair tied in a ponytail like Luan.

Dr. White on the other hand, kept his coat on, hiding his white button shirt and partially covering his khaki pants. His black dress shoes didn't match his graying hair combed to the back of his head.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," said David. "Is it true that everyone is infected?"

Dr. White nodded as he walked to the top of the hill. Haley stood up and followed him, leaving David with a thousand questions in his head.

"Really? Can you please elaborate?"

"What is there to explain, David? We all have the infection of the dead. You die and you become one of them. Unless, of course, your brain has been… liquidated."

"But how are we still alive?" Lori asked, joining in the conversation.

"Strong immune systems," replied Dr. White.

"But, what about Lily?"

Lori pointed out at the baby held by Luan.

"I'm not too sure. You know I'm still studying the disease."

"Studying it? What, are you trying to find a cure for it or something?" asked Richard.

The conversation caught Lisa's attention, causing her to eavesdrop on the conversation.

"Yeah, you got it," answered Dr. White.

"Perhaps, I can assist?" asked Lisa.

"Lisa Loud. I heard about you. Junior Nobel prize recipient. How was the–"

"Guys, we got bigger things to worry about," said Richard. "There seems to be a convoy of armored vehicles patrolling the perimeter. They might head this way."

"Yeah," said Haley, "in twenty minutes."

"We're not going to have enough time to remove 'em," said Dr. White.

"Remove what?" asked David.

Dr. White opened the trailer door, letting out a strong odor of decaying flesh. The air seemed heavy as David covered his nose and looked at the pile of roamers inside the trailer.

"Roamers?" coughed David.

"Deceased roamers. Here, take a mask," said Haley. "And a pair of gloves."

"No, my group has this handled. You two are going to help me out. Richard, you got the map of Houlton?"

Richard, George, Sergei, Bobby, and Jeffrey all had their masks and gloves on, removing the bodies from the truck. They dumped them in the bushes in the woods as fast as they could.

Haley continued to label the map while Dr. White drew a layout of the interior of the Units. David watched as the armored vehicles continued to patrol the perimeter. Lori remained close to Haley and Dr. White.

"Done!" exclaimed Haley, showing the map to David. "This line represents the fence and barbed wire that you see in Houlton. This circle represents the military zone, meaning you'll find most of the soldiers and their equipment stationed in there. These buildings are the Units. These dotted lines represent the line in which the patrols walk in. This is the armory…"

"What about you?" David asked Dr. White. "Finished over there?"

"Yes. Unit A. This is B, to the right of A–"

"This is exactly how the safe-zone in Detroit was set up," said Lori.

"And in Boston," added Haley. "Plenty of safe-zones were set up like this."

"Anyway," continued Dr. White. "The X's are where the guards stand to… guard."

"This is very helpful, thank you very much," said David. "Just one more thing."

Richard, George, Sergei, Bobby, and Jeffrey removed their gloves and masks as they walked back with the group.

"I need you to get us inside the gates," said David.

"How do you think I'll be able to do that?" asked Dr. White.

"Can't you remove the guards from their positions? Create an area where we'll be able to pass through?"

"Impossible. I don't have the authority to do that. And even if I did, I can't remove all the guards. They'll spot you and you'll be shot!"

David looked at the van.

"Maybe we could launch an attack from the outside. Force our way in. Then we'll move to the armory and then on to the Units. Think you can free a few prisoners so they can go to the armory?"

"I got a better idea," said Dr. White. "There is this area that is poorly guarded and for a reason. There are no roads, so you're going to have to walk there. Perhaps, I can distract the guard and you guys will be able to get inside."

"What about our weapons? We gotta free the prisoners somehow!"

"We can put them in the truck!" suggested Haley. "Crates, right?"

David nodded.

"Looks like we have a plan."

Dr. White and Haley entered their truck. Richard stood behind the rear door, shuffling through the crates. Everyone older than Lincoln except Jeffrey, Preston, Sergei, Leni, Luna, and Sam, grabbed a weapon before heading to Houlton. The crates were filled with weapons, but ammo was running dangerously low.

Richard closed the back door and hopped off of the truck. David gave a thumbs up to Dr. White, meaning he was able to return to Houlton. He turned the truck around and drove ahead in the road, just before the convoy of armored cars headed out of Houlton.

Luna remained flat on her stomach with an AR-15, looking out into Houlton with Sam also lying in the ground next to her with a pair of binoculars. Sam only had an M9 and a tactical knife in the grass. David walked over to them, with his M110 rifle.

"Hey, girls. Sam, can you leave Luna and I alone for a bit?"

"Sure thing. I'll just be over there by the RV."

Sam stood up and left David and Luna alone. Lori leaned on Vanzilla and stared at both of them, wondering what David was going to do. She didn't want to appear as if she was eavesdropping, so she grabbed her rifle and pretended to check its magazine.

"Hey, Luna. How are you feeling?"

"Bloody nervous, David. Are you sure you want me here? I don't think I'm up for this."

"That's why I'm here. I want to help you feel relaxed. I'm not gonna lie, you are going to feel some pressure. You're not the only one."

"Hundreds of meters away, you think I'm up for that? I never fired a shot that far."

"That's only if you need to. Remember, there is no loss with you missing your targets. Your primary objective is to be our third eye. Trust me, you'll do a good job at it."

David handed Luna his sniper rifle.

"I don't want you using that crap. You gotta have a real-deal kinda rifle. Now, if you want to have an accurate shot, you hold your breath and move the gun steadily. However, you should be more worried about the scope. Twist this to zoom in. Twist this to zoom out."

"Okay. I think I got it," sighed Luna.

"Do not get frustrated if you miss shot after shot. This is your first time and all I care about is you guiding us. Remember, Sam is going to be next to you, helping you out. She has your back like you have ours."

"Thanks, David."

"My pleasure. Also, you're gonna need this."

David handed a scope to Luna, before he stood up and checked his M9 as he walked to Lori. Luna placed the scope in the grass next to her. Sam returned to her spot next to Luna. Lori smiled at David.

"What?" grunted David.

"Nothing, just… you care about my sisters!" smiled Lori.

"Of course. She reminds me when I first started out in the Marines in… nevermind."

"David?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

"You don't talk a lot about your time in the military. Were you a sniper? Probably a stupid question–"

"No, not stupid. Yes, I was a scout sniper. Umm, I don't like talking about my time in the military. It's nothing, let's just go."

"Alright. Everyone!" shouted Lori. "Does everyone understand the plan?"

Parts of the group shouted in agreement. David waved his hands, motioning the group to follow him.

"I don't want you guys to worry about me, okay?" reassured Lori.

"You'll be back, right?" asked Leni.

Lori nodded and hugged Leni.

"I know you can do it, Lori," said Lincoln. "You're tougher than nails."

"Thanks, bro. That means a lot."

Lori hugged Lincoln as well.

"You look out for Leni and Lana, alright?"

"You know I will," said Lincoln.

Lori returned with the others as they walked down the hill towards Houlton. Lincoln watched Lori walk next to Bobby and didn't realize that Ronnie Anne stood next to him.

"Hey, Lame-o. Are you coming with me to the RV? Your friends are in there."

"They're your friends too, Ronnie. And I'm just waiting until Lori goes into the woods."

"Same here. I should've went with them, but Bobby didn't want me to go."

The group crossed the road and walked into the woods, gone from sight.

"I only consider Tabby my friend," said Ronnie Anne. "I don't really talk to Rusty and Clyde. You're something else, though. Best friends, right?"

"Yeah. Let's go to the RV."

 **II - Ghost Town**

Lori and David walked ahead of the group, with the others looking out for any nearby roamers. The group moved for many minutes until Lori and David paused.

David uncovered a shrub and pointed at the mesh fence and a rogue soldier standing behind it. Lori felt her heart beat faster and her fingers becoming damper.

"C'mon. Let's keep moving," whispered David.

The group moved to the left, through the low branches and the thick shrubs. Some areas were relatively open but hidden from outside of the woods.

The armored vehicles returned to their base. Dr. White drove the truck towards the spot that that he was supposed to clear out before being stopped by two rogue soldiers.

"What are you doing here, doctor? Aren't you supposed to drive to the base?" asked one of the soldiers.

"I just had to take Haley somewhere," replied Dr. White.

"You finished your errands? Let me check the truck!"

"Will that be necessary?"

The soldier opened the rear door of the truck and found bloody stains inside. He also found three crates, one for firearms, one for ammunition, and another for equipment and knives.

"Hey, doc! Where'd you find this?" asked the soldier.

"Found it on one of the vehicles! Seemed abandoned, so Haley and I just brought it with us! I'll just bring in to the armory–"

"Nah, don't worry about it, doc! We'll take it for now!"

The two soldiers removed the crates from the truck, one by one, into a small, empty house. Dr. White grumbled as Haley looked ahead nervously.

David read the map, then peeked through between two bushes. He found a small gate tied by a rope from the fence to the edge of the gate. He returned with the group and turned on his walkie-talkie.

"We're here," said David. "Can you give us a sitrep?"

Luna zoomed in on the scope. She licked her lips and smiled as she located the area where the group was supposed to be at with a clear sight in the scope. Sam turned on the walkie-talkie, allowing Luna to speak into it.

"It's just one wanker sitting by the gate. I think he's… smoking. Anyways, it looks like he has an assault rifle, a pistol, body armor– no helmet– and his uniform, nothing else."

"Is Dr. White there?" asked David.

"Oh, no. Not yet."

David looked back at the group. Some of the group members sat in the grass, awaiting for further instruction.

The soldiers banged on the truck door and smiled at Dr. White.

"Take care, doc!" said one of the soldiers.

Dr. White started the truck and drove it ahead in the street. After making a right turn, then a left turn, and then another left turn, he found himself in a narrow street behind a neighborhood of houses. Since the street he was stopped in didn't have a four-way intersection, the soldiers were unaware that he parked not more than two hundred feet away from the house with the weapons crates.

"That house," said Dr. White. "You bring the man there. I'll be in this house, then when they come, we'll take 'em over there. By then, I'll lead him away. Got it?"

"Yeah," replied Haley, exiting the truck. "I'm not very comfortable with it, though."

"You don't have to do it. I can come up with another distraction."

"No, I'll do it. Just come as fast as you can, okay?"

Dr. White nodded. He walked inside the house as Haley walked away, setting the plan into motion.

Sam followed Haley with her binoculars while Luna kept the crosshairs in her scope below her feet. Sam turned on the walkie-talkie again.

"Haley is heading towards the guard. Is that part of the plan?" asked Luna.

David responded affirmatively. He peeked through the bushes and found the guard tossing his smoke to the ground. After seeing Haley in the distance, he returned with his group.

Haley walked looking down at the ground and her hands inside the pockets in her lab coat. The guard squinted his eyes at her and placed his hands on his chin. Haley clenched her teeth and let out a nervous sigh.

"Hey, Lukeman. Watcha' doing?"

"I'm on watch for this area. Doesn't look kinda obvious, Haley?"

"Right, that was a dumb question," said Haley, letting out a nervous laugh. "Wanna have lunch with me?"

"Is that another dumb question?" asked Private Lukeman.

"No, I'm serious! I caught you looking at me several times. Least I can do is have a nice date with you."

"Sure. But, uhh, can we settle for dinner? I got a job to do and I just got on Black's good side."

"Don't worry about it!" Haley smiled. "Dr. White's getting another guy to guard the gates! C'mon, if you like, we can go somewhere private… Private!"

Lukeman looked around and was able to form a nasty smile. Haley felt chills go down her spine as Lukeman nodded and reached for her right hand.

"Lead the way," said Lukeman.

Haley headed away from the gates with Lukeman next to her. She twisted and crossed her fingers with her left hand, tucking it inside her coat pockets before she left the street with Lukeman.

Luna watched Haley leave with the rogue soldier, allowing her to give David new information.

"The gates are clear. Closest rogue would be two blocks away. Move quickly."

"Roger that."

David peeked his head through the bushes and then waved his hands at the group, motioning them to follow him. The group moved swiftly to the small gates, not taller than two people standing on top of each other. However, David tugged on the rope and noticed how uniquely it was tied.

"Stand back," whispered Benny. "I got this."

Benny lifted his sword and swung it down, cutting the rope tying the gate to the fence. The gate remained still, but now David was able to open it to allow the group to come inside Houlton.

After all the infiltrators went inside the guarded ghost town, David closed the gates so that it would line up with the fence. He placed the rope around a gate bar, as if nothing ever happened to it.

David ran back with the group, pointing at the street ahead. However, his walkie-talkie crackled.

"You know those rogues two blocks away? Two of them are heading your way!" warned Luna. "They're about to make a turn on the intersection in about seven seconds!"

"Shit! This way, guys, this way!" exclaimed David softly. "This house! To the backyard!"

The group dashed between the driveway and the next house, making their way to the backyard. They found an empty pool, a tree with a wheel hanging below it, a pool house, and a rocking chair. The group raised their weapons and aimed at the pathway that led them to the backyard.

"They're looking at the house strangely," said Luna. "I think they made you out! Hide!"

The two rogues slowly walked through the pathway, with their weapons ready to take down the source of the sound. The soldiers were almost sure they heard intruders. However, when they arrived at the backyard, they found no intruders, unless they counted a frog from the swamp a few miles west of Houlton.

The frog jumped from the wheel below the tree to the rocking chair, letting out a ribbit that fooled the rogue soldiers. However, they were still not convinced.

Lori and David watched the two rogues walk a couple feet away from the pool house through small bullet holes in the door. One of the rogues strided a few inches away from Lori's right eye, causing a shadow to befall on the group inside the pool house.

"C'mon there ain't anything, Sturgess. Just a damn frog looking to get some. Let's leave it alone."

Sturgess remained still with his back turned on the group. He continued to look around, almost turning his face to the door of the pool house.

David turned his head at the two people closest to him. Richard nodded while Lori shook her head. He held his knife tightly, ready to lunge, but his guts held him back.

"We got other things to worry about. Like where the hell did Lukeman go?"

"Probably stalking that Haley girl," said Sturgess, his voice sounding deeper than the other soldier. "You know he got his eyes on her."

"Right! Though, he wishes she can take off her damn coat just to see how her ass looks like. Some of the other guys seen it but I think they're just bullshittin'."

The two rogues headed out of the backyard.

"They gotta be bullshitting. I ain't ever seen her without her lab coat on, but damn you know we ain't need to. Just her face alone… damn!"

Lori felt slightly disgusted, but relieved that the rogues were gone. She looked through a hole and saw the frog leap away.

"Let's go," said Richard.

"No. Wait. Just for a minute or two," whispered David. "They could still be lingering outside in the street."

The walkie-talkie crackled again.

"You guys are in the shed by the pool, right? You're clear. The two rogue wankers are walking southwards. They left."

"Thank you so much, Luna," sighed Lori.

David opened the door and allowed the group to come out the pool house. They looked back at the pool house and found a large stain of dried blood in the wooden floor.

"Explains the smell," said Wavehead.

"Let's go," said David, pulling out the map of Houlton. "We're a block away."

Luan closed the pool house door and followed the group to the front yard.

The increasing intensity of the heat slowed the group down, though they didn't stop for anything. In their light jog, the group members observed their surroundings and noticed that most windows were covered by curtains. Though, Richard found it strange that there were no American flags hanging outside the houses, or any flags for that matter. The neighborhoods didn't seem real.

Few minutes passed by, and Dr. White noticed the group approached the house he was at. He patted his torso and loosened his collar as David motioned the group to stop.

The group stood by the truck, looking around for the doctor. After a few seconds, Dr. White opened the door and motioned the group to come inside.

Dr. White turned on the powerful battery-powered lamp, providing light for the group inside the house. Becky sat on the couch in the living room next to Carol.

"Did anyone see you?" asked Dr. White.

David took a sip of water from his canister.

"No. Time to come up with a plan. Too bad Lincoln isn't here, 'cause I bet he coulda came up with a great plan."

"Just a small problem. Two rogues inspected the truck and now the weapons aren't in the truck anymore."

David clenched his teeth while Dr. White walked to the back of the house, opened the curtains for the back windows, and pointed outside. Though another backyard stood in the way, there was a small area where the street behind the house could be seen.

"That house over there. The one with the oak tree. That's where your weapons are."

David rubbed his chin.

"Let's go then. When there's no one around, we sneak there and get our weapons back."

"Another small problem. Haley distracted one of the soldiers for you people. They're inside. Which means you guys have to stay here."

"Can't you take him somewhere else?"

"I can take him back to the Units, but once I do, I won't be able to come back to this house until tomorrow. We gotta come up with a plan."

David remained silent and returned with the group. Then, he formulated many thoughts together.

"There are guards in the Units, we know that. We need to take 'em out in order to distribute the weapons to the hostages. YOU, Dr. White, need to be there to open the cells. There's no way this group could sneak to the Units without getting caught by the other rogues. Therefore, the truck is outta the question for now. How do you take out the guards inside the Units as stealthily and quickly as possible before we can give the weapons to the hostages?"

Haley took a sip of water on the stairs inside the house, listening to Lukeman talk about his time in boot camp.

"And sure it was hard, but it weren't that hard. Not for me at least. Especially running two miles. I guess you can say, I have… excellent stamina."

Haley found a garbage can by the sink. She walked to it to toss her and Lukeman's water bottles. However, Lukeman stood up and followed her to the point where he was inches away from her back.

"Why don't we take this upstairs?" whispered Lukeman. "We can talk about other things."

"No, no. Keep telling me about boot camp. Sounds very interesting."

Haley walked away from the kitchen and into the living room, anxiously awaiting Dr. White's return. Lukeman sat on the couch.

"You don't sound very interested in it. Getting a little bored? We can get on to other things…"

Haley continued twisting and crossing her fingers.

"That sounds nice, but–"

She gasped as Lukeman grabbed her waist and forced her down on the couch.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting for this," grinned Lukeman.

The group lowered their voices down until no one spoke at all. David stood in front of the shattered TV ready to announce whether to set the plan in motion or reject it and look for another plan.

"Bring the shackles, George," declared David. "We're going along with the plan."

Bobby looked down and felt defeated. Despite his protests, Lori insisted on acting on the plan. Still, Bobby tried again to convince her to change her mind. He and Lori walked away from the group to talk in private.

"Babe, please don't go. It's too dangerous. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you!"

"I have to go, Boo-Boo Bear. You don't understand how important this is."

"Can't someone else go? It could be Richard or Sergei…"

"They'll be recognized! And it's important to me! I have to see my family! I have to know if they're still alive!"

"Then, let me come with you!" exclaimed Bobby.

"Bobby. The reason we all chose George is because I didn't want anything to happen to you!"

"That's what I'm worried about–"

"I mean your humanity, Bobby! I don't want you to destroy your humanity for me! You have no idea what taking a life does to you! Once you do it, you can never go back. The hours of sleep that you lose. The images that haunt you in the hours that you sleep. But I learned how to handle it because that's who I am. But you, Bobby, you're different. You're too good for this world, and doing this, trust me, it'll literally destroy you!"

Bobby looked down, realizing his girlfriend is right.

"You don't have to change for me," whispered Lori. "You'll change… but not yet."

Lori walked back with the group.

"Ready?" asked George.

Lori nodded. She raised her arms in front of her along with George. Dr. White handcuffed both of them using George's cuffs. Then, he lead both of them out of the house. But before Lori left, she nodded at Bobby, who was behind everyone else, letting him know that she was going to be alright.

"How does it feel?" asked Lori. "You know, being handcuffed?"

"Not my first time," George grinned. "Though, it is the first time I'm going to prison."

George pulled on the handcuffs.

"Damn! I hate these things! Almost makes me feel sorry for the low-life scums I arrested. ALMOST."

Dr. White whispered to himself as he continued to look at the photo of Rita and Lynn Sr.

"Ah! Yes, I remember where they are," exclaimed Dr. White as he pocketed the photo inside his coat.

Lukeman pressed on her chest, leading Haley to gasp in an uncomfortable way. She tried shoving him away, but he gripper her arms with one hand and the back of her neck with the other.

"Lukeman! Wait– ugh– wait!"

"No time for waiting. C'mon, stop struggling. You know you want this, you slut!"

She gasped as Lukeman shoved her head down to the couch. He lifted her coat and began to force himself onto her.

Haley wriggled her right arm loose and swung it upwards, smacking Lukeman's chin.

"Shit! I don't like it rough!" yelled Lukeman.

"Too bad!"

Haley pushed herself away from the couch down to the floor, causing both herself and Lukeman to tumble down. She landed on top of Lukeman and quickly moved away. Lukeman groaned as he picked himself up.

Haley opened the curtains for one of the windows and noticed Dr. White with Lori and George walking closer to the house.

She turned around. She yelped as Lukeman grabbed her shirt.

"Oh, you slut! You shouldn't have done that!"

Haley looked at him with fear in her hazel eyes. Her eyes then turned towards the door as Dr. White entered the house.

"Oh, it's just you, doctor," sighed Lukeman, releasing Haley.

Haley's messy hair unraveled to its long form. She tied it back into a ponytail and fixed her coat while Lori looked at Lukeman in disgust.

"I wouldn't be so relieved, Lukeman," Dr. White said sternly. "I'm seeing some serious discipline in the future. K.H.A.N. rules, remember them?"

"How 'bout I break 'em anyways? What's your smartass going to do it about it if I stop you from talkin'?"

"Keep talking to me like that, and you're going to have to deal with Black," whispered Dr. White.

Lukeman licked his lips and placed his hand on his chin.

"Who the hell are these people anyways? Prisoners?"

"TS-18 and TS-34. You'll be helping me escort them back to the Units. Do it and I'll forget this thing ever happened."

"But, I'm on guard–"

"I took care of that for you," said Dr. White. "Sturgess is covering for you."

Lukeman nodded.

"Let's go."

Dr. White nodded at Haley. Lori and George followed him out of the house. Haley watched the four of them leave the street, and she was finally free to go meet with the group.

Richard scribbled on the notebook, using his right palm to use the pen. He sat on the dark stairs, his book turned away from everyone.

"I'm not the only one who finds him suspicious, right?" asked Lynn.

"Let him have his privacy," replied David. "It's not easy dealing with a loss. You know what we should be talking about? The stunt you pulled yesterday. Wandering off into the woods with the other kids at night!"

"We were trying to protect some of the group!" Lynn whispered loudly. "We wanted to stop Richard before he did anything because you didn't do anything. And guess what. He did. He did do something."

"Lynn, your suspicions were misled. Richard pushed D off of the store because he had to! If he hadn't, D would've been devoured by the roamers engulfing the store!"

"And they still did! Not only that, he was also ready to put a bullet in Becky's head!"

"Okay, alright, quiet down," whispered David. "I have my suspicions too. But we gotta give him a chance! He lost someone very close to him just a month ago, and he's still having trouble moving on. Give it some time."

"I lost someone a month ago, too."

Lynn gulped. She felt uncomfortable thinking about her younger sister, but she only blamed herself for starting a conversation with David.

"It doesn't mean I want to go on a murderous rampage," whispered Lynn. "That's why I followed him. I know he's killing members of our own group, and you're blind to this."

"What are you talking about? Richard said he followed you guys into the woods."

"Yeah, I know. I don't believe him. I followed his tracks."

"Then, why didn't you end up in the cabin? Only near, but not inside," rebutted David.

Lynn couldn't find an answer. She was so sure that Richard murdered Zach, but when looking at the bigger picture, she realized the lack of evidence she had. Could it have just been misunderstandings after misunderstandings?

Carol walked up to Richard with fresh bandages, a bottle of water, and a rag. She peeled off a bandage from his forehead and cleaned the wound with the damp rag.

"What are you doing, Richie?"

"Making a plan. I gotta keep George and the kids quiet about the things they heard of me."

Carol stopped in the middle of peeling a bandage in Richard's nose.

"You're going to silence them?"

He nodded. Carol peeled off the bandage, placing a mild sting on Richard.

"Why do you say that so… sinisterly?" asked Carol.

"I didn't mean to come off like some sort of crime lord. That's not what I mean. But you need to understand, that these rumors… their paranoia, they don't trust me anymore. Look what it led to."

Richard lightly tapped on the wound on his jaw that Carol cleaned up.

"You're right," admitted Carol. "I know exactly how you feel."

"Pretty soon, this paranoia is going to hurt someone close to me. And I figure, sooner or later, someone's going to take a guess and figure out about us."

Carol frowned. Richard looked at the group.

"I promise you I won't hurt them."

Richard looked back at Carol.

"But if either one of them threaten you or hurt you… well, I cannot promise you that I'll keep my promise."

The door opened, and David immediately aimed his pistol at the visitor. Haley looked up and yelped, but she immediately caught her breath as David lowered the gun.

"God! Maybe I should've knocked first!"

"My bad. Is the plan in motion?"

"Yeah. We should move to the other house now."

David looked at his group.

"It's go time. Who's driving the truck?"

 **III - The Harsh Reality**

Lori tugged on her handcuffs. She looked away from the handcuffs and looked around her. The roads were wide and clear of vehicles. The abundance of trees reminded her of Royal Woods. She saw a steel gate in the entrance a hundred feet right of her. Near the entrance, a house stood with the only tree in the street.

George found the lack of buildings strange, until he saw the towers in the distance. Though, it technically isn't a building, George felt relieved to see something that can stand higher than 30 feet from the ground.

The mesh fence door between the town and military zone was opened by Lukeman. Dr. White led Lori and George through the mesh fences and into the military zone.

Lori saw helicopters sitting still in the runway in the distance. There were many armored cars near the former airport. She noticed that this whole area transformed into a military base. However, she didn't walk towards the runway.

After walking for a few minutes along the fence and the barbed wire that stood above it, she found the prisons, or the Units. On top of a tower stood a rogue guard with a scoped M4.

George noticed that the color of the grass around the prison faded from the emerald color he saw in the town to a walnut brown color.

As both prisoners approached the prison, they spotted a large 'A' on the wall above the metal door guarded by a steel cage. A few windows with steel bars stood next to the door, though it was too high up to look through.

Lukeman opened the caged door, then the metal door. He held the latter open and allowed Dr. White to lead the prisoners inside the Unit.

The air smelled damp and musty with traces of mildew on the brick wall. A small light bulb flickered softly every five feet apart. Noisy sounds echoed throughout the dark halls, such as when Lukeman shut the metal door to enter the prison.

A woman sobbed as a rogue soldier returned with her from across the hall. Her stomach had many cuts and a bandage was wrapped around her neck. The rogue opened a cell and shoved the woman inside, shutting the cell gate while she lied flat on the ground, letting her tears fall to the dusty, concrete floor.

Lori's goosebumps scattered around her body, as she looked at the prisoners in the cells. The hallway seemed to go on forever, until Dr. White told her to turn left. She and George walked on another hallway, though the cells were larger.

"To your right," said Dr. White. "Lukeman, open the cell."

Lori faced the cell to her right and covered her mouth as she muffled her gasp. Tears formed in her eyes and her heart leaped all over the place.

Rita and Lynn Sr. looked at their daughter, astounded and speechless. Both of them couldn't believe it. Even though their ragged clothes held blood stains and their faces were bruised, Lynn and Rita felt a sense of good luck surging through them.

Before Lori and her parents said anything, Dr. White hushed both of them without making a noise as Lukeman turned around and returned his keys.

"What'd you need them for anyway?" asked Lukeman.

"Special experiment," said Dr. White as he uncuffed Lori and George. "Might need them again later. Might need you later."

"So, we cool now?"

Dr. White lightly shoved Lori and George into the cell. He closed and locked the cell and nodded. Lukeman and Dr. White walked away from the cell and out of the prison.

George looked out of the cell while he rubbed his wrists.

"They're gone now," he whispered.

Lori wiped a tear from her face as her lips trembled softly.

"Mom. Dad."

Rita and Lynn looked at her, both of them tearing up on as well. Lori broke into a soft smile as she walked closer to them. She then hugged both of them, leading them to hug her back with tears running down their cheeks.

"Oh, my beautiful daughter," sniffled Lynn.

"I knew it," sniffled Rita. "I knew we would be together again."

"I missed you guys so much," whimpered Lori.

"We did too," said Lynn.

"Are you alright?" asked Rita. "Did they hurt you? What'd they do to you?"

"Nothing. Nothing, I'm fine. The others and I… we came here for you guys…"

"Awe, this is so sweet," said one of the other prisoners in the same cell. "I'm Ted. This dude above me is Kotaro. We're buddies with your father."

"You've seen my children?" asked Kotaro. "Perhaps my wife at least?"

"No, I'm sorry," replied Lori. "I… uh–"

"Guys, let her have a moment," said George.

"Oops. My bad," apologized Ted.

Lori looked at her parents again. She couldn't believe it. She finally reunited with them. Now, it was time to reunite them with the other Louds.

"Are your sisters and Lincoln okay?" asked Lynn Sr.

Lori felt a sting in her heart that melted the moment of happiness. She struggled to come up with a response.

"Yeah… they're alright. Even Bobby, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde are fine."

Rita and Lynn looked at Lori's worried expression.

"What's wrong?" asked Rita.

"Our journey… it wasn't so easy. We lost people. People that my group and I cared about."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, come here, Lori," whispered Rita, holding her daughter tightly.

"You shouldn't be here," said Lynn. "Sorry to ruin this JOYFUL moment, but this isn't exactly a place you would wanna be in."

"Don't worry about it, Dad. We have a plan. Mom, Dad, meet George Cane."

"Former FBI agent. I came here from New York with the group your daughter's in."

"H-How'd you find us?" Rita asked both George and Lori. "How'd you get here?"

"Well… it's a long story," said Lori. "But first… I want to admit something. In order to protect the people closest to us… I had to k-kill others. I'm sorry for not being the same daughter three months ago."

"Lori, it's okay," reassured Lynn.

"I saw you in Royal Woods. You tried to liberate us– I think– and I saw what you did to these evil army men. I knew that your Pop-Pop's gun training was going to come useful one day."

"Oh, Mom, you have no idea. It all began after the bombing in Detroit…"

Luna munched on an apple while watching the sunset with Sam. Leni approached both girls with a bucket of apples.

"You guys want some apples? Presty found some more," exclaimed Leni.

"Presty? Dude," snickered Luna. "Don't you think you're getting a little too close with this Christian Boy Scout?"

"He's not Christian! He's Mormon!" exclaimed Leni.

Sam almost choked on a bite of her apple while Luna looked at Leni with raised eyebrows.

"Oh geez," sighed Luna. "We're good. Our little bro might need some apples."

Leni smiled and walked to the RV. Sam looked at Luna.

"Oh my– did she really–!"

"Yeah, I know, I know. She can be a tad… ditzy. But I still love her!"

"You think Preston and his uncle like us? I mean… what do they think about us?" wondered Sam.

"I don't know and I don't care. I love you regardless of what anyone thinks."

"You… love me?" whispered Sam.

Luna blushed after realizing she used THAT L-word. Her mind went blank and all she could do was nod slowly.

"I love you too!" exclaimed Sam.

Sam moved closer to Luna and kissed her, while placing her right elbow in the grass. The sun set, and Leni came out with her bucket, still containing apples. Since she adored the couple, she held her hands over her heart while her eyes glowed at the couple. Luna looked back and saw Leni smile at her. She blushed and smiled back.

The truck stood outside of the house where the weapon crates were kept. Darkness fell upon the truck and the soldiers had not returned yet. Richard looked out the window and grumbled to himself.

"Oh that's great, isn't it?" said Richard. "Think the soldiers didn't come back because they had to deal with Lori and George? This plan of yours, David, it ain't gonna work."

"If you had anything better, why didn't you share it with us?" argued David.

"I did. Yesterday. I wanted us to stay in Medway to come up with a better plan. Time matters."

"These people, those people in the Units don't have time!"

"Haven't you heard? The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."

David chuckled softly. Carol stood up from the dark stairs and inched closer to both men while still being a few feet away.

"Where'd you hear that bullshit from?"

"Some Russian dude. Point is… every time you plan something, things go to shit! Every time you trust a stranger, things go to shit! No offense, Haley."

Haley looked at both men while rubbing her thumb and index finger.

"What are you suggesting?" asked David.

"Stop. Blindly. Trusting. Strangers! Everyone in the group knows this won't end well for us! We don't even know what this Dr. White guy is like."

"He's not a bad dude!" blurted out Haley.

"He conducts experiments on these people. Doesn't he?"

"You don't understand! He's forced to! You think he would actually enjoy inflicting pain on these poor prisoners?"

"It don't seem like he shies away from the words 'test subject'!"

"Why are you telling us now–?" asked David.

"Because it's not too late to pull out now, David. We can wait until General Black and the others leave. Haley, you said that would occur tonight, right?"

"Yeah. Just for two days, though. But Colonel Ash is taking charge in those–"

"We can take 'em on tomorrow. We can formulate a better plan."

"What happened to you?" whispered David. "You used to take on these kinds of risks. And now you're scared for your life?"

"Aren't we all? This is dangerous territory. We're going against people as strong as me, even stronger. These people are well trained."

"What, we're just going to leave Lori and George in their cells, awaiting whatever pain will be inflicted on them?"

"That's if White's a coward enough to do it, just to protect his own sack. He's a stranger. And most importantly, we can't trust him. He could be a threat."

"If anyone threatens our group… I'll kill them. Stranger or not, they're not getting away with it."

Luan and Benny leaned on each other uncomfortably. Bobby and Dana gave each other worrying looks. Lynn raised her eyebrows at David.

Richard stormed away while Carol stayed with the group. David looked at his watch.

"It's time. You're driving the truck, right?"

Haley nodded. She opened the door, went outside, and looked around. She looked back at the group and nodded.

"I'll stay and secure this place," said Becky.

"I'll stay with her," added Benny, kissing Luan before she left the house.

Bobby, Wavehead, Dana, Luan, Lynn, Vonda, and Carol jumped inside the truck.

"I'll be there in a minute!" exclaimed David.

He ran upstairs with his flashlight, searching for Richard.

"...and that's how I ended up inside the prison," explained Lori. "See, it's part of the plan–"

The squeak of the metal door and the scraping noise that followed it indicated that some rogues entered Unit A. However, it was the sound of three boots after three boots pressing against the floor that alarmed Lori.

"Donovan? Which one of these lucky fellows seem the most physically able?"

Lori knew that voice. After all, she just heard it yesterday.

"General Black," she whispered.

"What does he want now?" whispered Lynn Sr.

The sound of the boots came closer to their cell, causing the parents to tremble and hide behind Lori. George saw their shadow in the corner of the hallway and moved back. He rubbed his hand on the floor and placed it on his face. He then rubbed it again on the floor and lightly dabbed it on Lori's face.

"Come on, Bree, we don't have all day," said Lead.

"Sorry, sir."

"Don't be sorry, Donovan," said General Black. "Lieutenant, patience is key to getting perfect results. Remember that."

"Yes, sir."

The boots tapped on the floor until it came to a pause. General Black, his lieutenant, and his medic were next to Rita and Lynn's cell. Lori looked at Black and felt her skin crawl.

Black's left eye socket was like an abyss since no light touched its edges. He was scarred between his empty left eye and his left ear, and all around his eye socket. His left eyebrow were missing.

The medic looked around and into their cell, carefully inspecting each person with his eyes. He then squinted at George.

"Say… this one doesn't look tired. Though, I can't find his TS-tag…"

Suddenly, Black's walkie-talkie crackled.

"Sir! This is Guard Alpha-Alpha! We spot what appears to be two people outside of the fences from at least a hundred yards away!"

"Stay put," ordered Black. "I'm going to see what the situation is. Tonight's too important to mess anything up."

Black, Lead, and Bree left the prison, leaving the prisoners alone, a rare occurrence among them.

Rita and Lynn whispered Lori's name. She turned away from the cell and looked at her parents again.

"What's this plan of yours?" Lynn whispered.

Black walked towards the guard tower to the left of Unit A. He looked up and turned on his walkie-talkie.

"Corporal, I need you to pinpoint to me where the targets are."

"Look ahead sir. It's at your two o'clock."

Lead handed Black his thermal binoculars. He turned slightly to his right and looked into the right scope. At the hill, there were two hot targets adjacent to each other.

"I see them. Corporal, stay put. Lieutenant, I want three men to get in a vehicle and check out the situation. Don't fire unless they fire first. Go!"

"Yes, sir! Private, I need you on…!"

Lieutenant Lead walked away to complete his order. Black's walkie-talkie crackled again.

"Sir, this is Private Sturgess. The rope in the upper west gate appears to be cut!"

"I'll be there, Private! Oh, boy. Donovan, go to the base. It seems we have unwanted rats in our home."

David walked inside the truck and hid behind the weapon crates with the other group members. Benny closed the rear door and tapped it on it, letting Haley know she can drive to the Units.

"I guess you didn't find him," said Wavehead.

"Nah. I don't know if he's still on this mission. That's what worries me," admitted David.

Haley looked ahead as she drove. Many flashlights streaked across the town and in the military zone. She gulped as she continued to drive as calmly as she could.

 **IV - Liberation**

The door to Unit A opened.

"...I know you are always there for your siblings," said Lynn Sr. "That's what makes you a great sister and the best leader I know."

"Well… actually…" stammered Lori before Dr. White walked to their cell.

"Lukeman's coming," mouthed Dr. White.

"Sorry," Lori apologized to her parents. "Plan's gotta keep going."

George reached into his pockets and took out two combat knives. She handed one to Lori and held one for himself. Lori hid the knife behind her and looked up at the cell door.

Lukeman arrived by the cell while Dr. White jiggled the keys into the cell lock.

"Does Black even know you're doing this?" asked Lukeman.

"He'll know soon," responded Dr. White.

Lukeman squinted at Dr. White as Lori and George quietly moved out of the cell. Lukeman turned around.

"This way, right?" asked Lukeman before he lead the prisoners anywhere.

Lori grabbed and shut Lukeman's mouth as she shoved the knife into his lower back. She then pushed his head into the brick wall, knocking him out. Finally, she grabbed his head and stuck the knife into his left eye.

George and Lori quickly dashed to the corner of the hallway near the entrance.

"What the hell was that noise?" exclaimed a rogue.

George swung his fist at his jaw, knocking him out. Lori knelt, turned the rogue around and swung the knife to the bottom of the back of his skull, letting his cerebellum bleed.

"Don't let 'em turn," said Lori.

Dr. White sweated as he pointed at the other end of the hallway. Lori and George grabbed the soldiers' rifles and placed them around their body. They grabbed their pistols and held them along with their knives.

"The corridor," said Dr. White. "There should be at least five rogue guards."

Lori nodded.

"What are you waiting for? Open the other cells!" ordered Lori.

"Right! Sorry!"

Dr. White listened to Lori while she and George walked to the corridor. They heard footsteps approaching.

Rita and Lynn stayed in their cell as they feared to witness Lori's wrath at full power. They heard the sound of someone's head being whacked by an object. They also heard the sound of skin being pierced and bodies falling to the floor. Then, the sound of a mighty stab and broken bones reached their ears.

Lori and George's footsteps disappeared. Rita and Lynn Sr. looked out into the hallway and gasped at the sight of the two bodies in the ground. One of the bodies bled from their neck while the other's head bent unnaturally. Lynn felt nauseated, causing him to run into the corner of the cell and vomit.

George slid the rogues' weapons across the hall. Dr. White picked up the weapons and handed them to some of the prisoners.

"Oh, you son of a bitch!" yelled one of the prisoners, aiming the rifle at Dr. White.

"Wait, Jenny!" shouted Rita. "Don't shoot him! We need him! He's in our side!"

"You know how much pain he caused?"

"Yes, but I know he was forced to! Think about it! His family is being held hostage somewhere! Don't you think you would've done the same thing if it were your husband, James, being held hostage?"

"Please lower your weapon," whispered Dr. White.

"Here, Rita! Take this! You're right, yet I still want to shoot him!"

"Oh dear," gasped Rita as she held the rifle.

The rogues ran down the stairs with their weapons ready. Lori and George hid underneath the stairs in the middle of the room. Both rogues looked ahead and found two bodies in the ground.

"What the hell?" gasped one of the rogues.

"Hey, call backup," whispered the other rogue.

Lori shoved the rogue suggesting backup out of the stairs while George launched himself towards the other terrified rogue. The terrified rogue swung his gun which George dodged. George smacked the rogue with his rifle, knocking him down.

Lori grabbed the rogue and bashed her head to the floor, knocking her out. She pulled out her knife and stabbed her in the same area as she did with the other rogues. In the cerebellum.

She ran up the stairs and passed by George. George placed his arm around the gasping rogue's neck.

"Please, don't," gasped the rogue.

George hissed as he pushed and pulled the rogue's neck, snapping it. He dropped the corpse into the ground, sighing in regret.

Lori ran around the walkway until she found the last rogue in the Unit, napping in the warden's office. She looked at her bloody knife and snuck up on the rogue. The rogue had earbuds connected to a Walkman, though Lori didn't know what was being played. Lori leaned closed to the rogue and pointed her knife at his right eye. The rogue awakened and gasped before Lori shoved the knife deep into his eye socket.

George arrived at the office and was left speechless. Lori pulled the knife out of his eye and removed his earbuds. She looked at the Walkman and noticed that it was labeled in permanent marker. It was labeled 'CHUNK'. She wiped the earbuds and placed it inside her ears.

"Cold chills, prison chills,

Locked in, bars of steel,

Leave my woman tonight,

Just ain't feeling right…"

Lori sighed and took off the earbuds while taking the Walkman.

"Ironic," she said.

Haley arrived by Unit A with a few unwanted visitors in the back of the truck. Lynn and Vonda hopped out from the truck with their bow and arrows. Bobby and Carol rushed out the truck and into the prison, where they aimed their guns at any potential rogue guards.

The tower guard spotted the unwelcome visitors and prepared to alert Black. However, both Lynn and Vonda shot their arrows at the guard, with Vonda's arrow striking the guard first. The guard yelled as he pulled out the arrow in his chest. He then coughed out blood and fell unconscious.

David and Wavehead carried the weapons inside while Haley, Luan, and Dana gave the prisoners ammo.

"Anyone good with guns?" yelled Wavehead.

Some adults stepped up, including Ted, while the others stood behind. Wavehead and David distributed the guns until the crate was halfway done.

"Damn, that fast?" gasped Wavehead.

"We gotta hit the armory," said David. "But first Unit B. Where's Lori and George?"

Rita and Lynn Sr. looked out of their cells. Everything went quiet. They saw one of their teenage girls holding a katana helping the prisoners escape with the other teenage girl holding a bow. No noise bothered the parents as they smiled at each other. Luan and Lynn looked at their parents and ran to them.

"Dad!" exclaimed Luan.

"Mom!" exclaimed Lynn.

"Come here, my babies!" Rita gasped in glee.

Luan and Lynn hugged both of their parents, though their adrenaline rush prevented them from crying at the moment.

"Let's go!" exclaimed Lynn. "We're taking you somewhere safe!"

"We're fighting with you guys," said Rita.

"More like YOU'RE fighting with them," said Lynn Sr. "I'm just going to follow you!"

"Crap!" yelled Haley. "They know we're here!"

"I'm taking these guys to Lukeman's truck," said Dr. White. "I'll be able to take them back to the safe-zone."

Lori and George returned to the halls crowded with prisoners. They carried the bulletproof vests that the rogues were wearing.

"Those with weapons, follow me!" ordered David. "Here, George, your vest!"

Haley entered the truck again. Dr. White led the remaining prisoners into the truck where they were hidden from sight. Luan, Lynn, and Lori lead Rita and Lynn Sr. out of Unit A. David lead the rest of the prisoners out of the prison, some wearing the rogues' vests.

"Follow the truck!" ordered David.

David aimed his M4 at the second tower guard in Unit A and shot it. The shot landed in his right arm, disabling him for the moment.

"Make sure to shoot 'em a couple times! The vest you're wearing is tough!"

The group and the prisoners moved ahead towards Unit B. A few vehicles arrived with rogues coming out with their weapons. They fired at the group, causing them to hide behind concrete barriers.

"David, give me the walkie-talkie!" Lori said, panicked.

Luan aimed at the tower guard in Unit A. The thermal target lied in the ground still, although Luna hesitated to shoot her sniper rifle. She then felt a lack of wind and shot the rifle.

The bullet smacked itself on the wall of the tower. Lori turned on the walkie-talkie and contacted Luna.

"Luna! Sam! You guys need to get outta there, now! Black knows that you guys are there!"

Luna aimed at the entrance gate. She saw an armored car heading their way.

"Damn," gasped Luna. "Three people. We can take 'em on, right, Sam?"

"Luna!" shouted Lori.

"I heard you! We got it handled it!"

Lori cried out and handed the walkie-talkie back to David. She leaned on her parents and calmed down. Though, the parents were also terrified. They wanted a chance to see their daughter, Luna, and now there was a large possibility that the chance won't occur.

"There are guns ablazin'!" said Benny.

"Indeed," said Richard, loading his gun.

"What the hell? Where'd you come from?"

"I was in the bathroom. Excuse me, anyone want to come with me? We're going to be backup."

"I can't run too well, right now," said Becky.

"I gotta stay here to protect the prisoners when they arrive," said Benny.

Richard spit into the garbage can, hitting a plastic bottle. He walked out of the house with the AR-15 that Luna lended back. A rogue ran across the street, stopping as soon as he saw Richard.

Richard fired his gun at the rogue repeatedly, killing him. He walked up to him and stripped him of his body armor. He placed it on and sighed.

"For Carol."

He looked around and found another rogue running from outside the fences. He aimed at the rogue and shot at him multiple times. The rogue went down and before Richard ran towards him, he shot the rogue by him in the head. Then, he ran towards the rogue outside the fence. He pulled out his Python with his left hand and aimed at the rogue's head from the other side of the fence. He fired it and continued to make his way towards the Units.

Black hopped into an armored vehicle with his walkie-talkie.

"The two targets in the hill? Kill them."

Lead drove Black, Sturgess, and Hoover towards the runway.

The group in the hill hid in the woods while Luna, Sam, and Sergei waited for the armored vehicle to come closer. Luna remained in the same spot where she was, though, she was covered by the white bulletproof vests like a blanket.

Luna shot the sniper rifle and killed the driver. One of the rogues got out of the Humvee and shot at Luna. The other rogue climbed onto the mounted minigun and fired it at the van.

Sam and Sergei escaped from behind the van. Sergei aimed and fired at the gunner, striking him in the neck.

The other rogue fired at Luna, smacking the vests. Her breath was knocked out of her as the bullets smacked against her chest.

Sam fired once at the rogue's chest, stopping him from shooting the gun. Then she fired at his leg, causing him to fall down. She walked up to the rogue and fired a final shot, one to his head.

"Rad car," coughed Luna.

"Are you alright?" asked Sam.

"Yeah. I'll stay here and get more target practice. You guys take the car and help our group!"

"What about the roam–"

"The littluns' got 'em handled. Just go! Save my family!"

Sam nodded. Sergei entered the driver's seat while Sam climbed onto the gunner's seat. Sergei drove the Humvee away and into Houlton.

Four rogues lied in the ground, dead, along with five prisoners in the other side of the prison. The group were inside Unit B, distributing weapons as fast as they could.

"My boys? Are they okay?" whimpered Mr. Spokes. "Rocky, is he alright? What about Rusty?"

"Yes, he's alright!" replied Lori, handing him the last rifle. "I need you to focus, alright? Think about saving your son!"

"Uh, I have two! But alright, I'll do that!"

David tossed a grenade into one of the vehicles, blowing it up and killing a driver and two other rogues.

"We gotta move to Unit C!" yelled David. "Out this exit!"

The combined group of liberators and prisoners ran across the dead grass, taking cover behind the prison. The fire of the vehicles provided light that revealed the nearby rogues. Some of the prisoners fired their guns and kept the liberators safe.

Another fire roared near the runway as some of the other prisoners took the fight at another location. They defended Unit D, distracting half of the rogue force and prevented the prisoners from being exterminated.

As David lead the prisoners to Unit C, a grenade flew across the air ahead of him. He ordered the group to duck and cover their heads, and just as they did, the grenade blew up. Two of the prisoners close to David fell to the ground with shrapnel all over their bodies. He groaned as he looked at a piece of shrapnel in his right thigh.

The rogues marched to the open corridor, but were met with ricocheting bullets. None of them were harmed, but their retreat allowed some of the large group to move from Unit B to Unit C in seconds.

Dr. White arrived at the house with more prisoners. Benny and Becky stood on guard while the prisoners filled the house. Soon, the neighboring houses were used as refuge for the prisoners. Dr. White drove away and towards Unit B and C.

"I'll come in a minute!" yelled Carol. "Gotta make sure these people are safe!"

Carol and Bobby placed the injured against the wall and behind cover. David limped towards Carol.

"How do I fucking take this out?" he groaned.

"Oh… it's not deep at all… just–"

Carol pulled out the shrapnel piece the size of her thumb. David screamed before dropping to his knees in pain.

"Your thigh muscles are slightly torn and it'll feel painful to run. I would usually advise–"

An explosion at the top of the guard tower for Unit B caused a burning corpse to fall to the roof of the prison.

"Nevermind! Just take this!"

Carol took out a syringe with morphine and injected it near David's legs. He gasped as he regained control of it. Carol quickly wrapped up his leg with a bandage and sent him in his way.

Dr. White arrived between Unit B and C. Carol and Bobby placed the injured into the truck. Luan provided cover fire, unable to hit anyone due to her lack of training. However, it was enough to distract the rogues from shooting at the injured prisoners.

Another sniper shot flew across the sky, smacking the guard tower wall above Unit C. Dana looked up and fired her rifle at the guard, killing him. Luan looked at the hill and shook her head while grinning.

"Oh, shut up…" smiled Luna, while reloading the M110.

She aimed at the second tower guard at Unit C. She moved the crosshairs upwards and slightly to left. Luna fired the sniper rifle and hit the rogue in her right arm. She fired the rifle again and struck the rogue in her skull.

Pieces of the rogue's brain spilled to the ground. Lynn Sr. yelped and looked away while Rita cringed. Another explosion across the large field caught the attention of Lori.

"The rogues… they're retreating. Push on to the armory!"

Richard continued to run to the Units. He saw fire roar across certain parts around the prison, though not enough to illuminate the whole town.

"Hey!" shouted one of the injured prisoners. "Buddy! I need your help! I-I can't keep going!"

The injured prisoner fell to his knee. Richard walked closer and saw his bleeding face. He looked at his legs and noticed that there were pieces of shrapnel stuck to them. Richard looked around.

"Please. Carry me to this safe place," said the prisoner. "Please. It hurts."

"Sorry, buddy," whispered Richard. "I don't have time."

He immediately shot him in the head, before placing his Python back into his holster. He looked ahead and continued running.

The group moved towards the armory near the runway. Many prisoners of Unit C were running towards the armory while the prisoners of Unit A and Unit B provided cover fire. The prisoners and the rogues often found themselves fighting the same people at different locations.

Suddenly, a helicopter roared across the sky and lowered itself until it hovered right above the prisons.

"Apache!" yelled David.

The helicopter moved towards Unit A and began its onslaught on the liberators and prisoners. The bullets pierced through the prisoners like water balloons. The helicopter shot through one, two, four, eight and counting prisoners.

The remaining prisoners either fled or ran inside the steel building, where the weapons and ammunition were stored. However, three rogue guards in black suits and masks guarded the armory.

"Halt! Don't fire!" yelled the rogue with the red tag on her helmet.

David aimed his weapon at the rogue with the red tag. Lori aimed her gun at the rogue with the green tag. And the other rogue with the blue tag was the target of many prisoners.

"Buck! Pike! Lower your weapons!" shouted the rogue.

"Yes, ma'am!" exclaimed both rogues.

All three rogues lowered their weapons, with two of the rogues looking at the fire outside through the windows. David approached the rogue.

"You are three seconds away from getting shot," hissed David. "Explain yourself!"

The rogue took off her mask. Her brunette hair fell to her shoulders. She blinked once, revealing her black eyeshadow beneath her messy bangs.

"David… it's me."

Lori looked at David, bewildered by this encounter. She turned towards the windows, watching the fire from the explosions engulf the armored vehicles. The helicopter still hovered above them, though it seemed as if the noise silenced itself in David's ears.

"Sandy… w-what are you– h-how…."

David was left speechless. Sandy hugged him while he tried to comprehend the situation.

"Who the hell are you guys supposed to be?" asked Kotaro.

"Yeah! Never seen you folks around here!" added Ted.

"We're special forces," replied Pike. "Ordered to conduct missions that require people with the most expertise and specialization to complete that specific objective."

"You guys made a hell of a mess," said Buck.

"Tell me why we shouldn't kill you!" yelled one of the prisoners.

"Yeah!" agreed another.

"We're not those soldiers," replied Sandy. "I need all of you to–"

The helicopter launched a missile to the armory, but its structure withstood the blast, though it caused small tremors felt by everyone inside. The lights inside the armory flickered and some of them went off.

David looked around the dim armory as many of the prisoners panicked. He looked for his wife and saw her running deeper into the armory. He chased after her but stopped in his tracks when she pulled out a giant Stinger.

"Cover me, David."

"Yes… honey."

The prisoners of Unit C were grabbing weapons and ammunition from the armory. The armory itself held rooms of weapons and ammunition, enough to supply all of the prisoners. Crates of ammunition filled many rooms, with its amount of bullets able to feed a small town for two generations. Though, the prisoners were not looking to hunt for animals in their urgent situation.

"Maybe we should just go back!" shouted Lynn Sr. in a panic.

"The fight's not over yet, Dad!" shouted Lori.

"C'mon, Dad!" exclaimed Lynn. "I got your back! Just stick close to us!"

The helicopter continued to hover over the armory, though Sandy exited the armory through the back of the building. David and George surrounded her with a few prisoners, each aiming their weapons at the rogues in the distance. However, the rogues weren't looking at them; they were looking at the group in Unit D, including Carol and Bobby.

Sandy aimed the Stinger at the helicopter.

"Three, two, one…"

She fired the Stinger. The missile rocketed to the air and struck the helicopter. Within a split second, the body of the helicopter exploded, disabling its slowing rotor.

The wings struggled to pick up the burning chopper, leading to its crash in a small building next to Unit D.

David and George watched the explosion light up the night as the fire blazed in the crash site. A few rogues came out of the building, screaming as the fire consumed their bloody bodies.

On top of all that, the rogues and the group by Unit D continued to fight in their stalemated battle.

Richard watched the fire blaze in the distance and groups of people escaping the armory. Suddenly, the fence crashed into the ground as a Humvee passed through it, stopping by Richard.

"Hop on, Richard!" shouted Sam.

Richard entered the vehicle and pointed at Unit D. Sergei began driving the vehicle again.

General Black climbed onto a helicopter with Donovan, Lead, Sturgess, and Hoover. He turned on his walkie-talkie.

"I want Charlie forces on the east side of Unit D! Beta forces! Head westward and flank the test subjects! Alpha and Delta force! Tactical retreat! Then, Beta and Charlie forces will retreat on the other side! I don't need many fatalities on both sides, so do not, I repeat, DO NOT launch a full-scale attack! Not yet!"

"Roger that!" shouted many of the rogues.

Black watched the fire spread to the fields, but not yet to the runway. The military zone was safe, with many rogue soldiers hopping into their armored vehicles. He watched the fire as bodies rose from the fire and roamed to the firefight. He smiled as the helicopter flew him away from Houlton.

"Sir, that fire is not going to last long," said Lt. Lead.

"Don't worry, Luther. We lost yet another battle… but they have no idea what's coming next. I underestimated them this time. First, we'll do what needs to be done."

"What about the K.H.A.N. Spec Forces?" asked Hoover.

"Sandy, Pike, and Buck? Oh, they're not coming back. I'm sure they know. Even Dr. White's not coming back. However, we still got to do that Wasteland project."

"Are we taking back the place?" asked Sturgess.

"Yes. Our project is not over yet. Just postponed. We're also taking back the people. We'll come out of the shadows when they least expect it, give 'em the same kind of attack they gave us… and they'll be back to doing the same shit again."

The helicopter flew away before Sandy could find another missile for the Stinger. She looked at David, who approached her at a rapid pace. She smiled at him.

"Hey, you saw–"

David grabbed her arms and pulled her into the building, a second before bullets rained in the air outside of the armory. She looked back and placed her mask and helmet back on.

"We still have a battle to fight," said David.

The firefight near Unit D ensued as the fire grew larger. Smoke lingered around the second guard tower while a helicopter blade prevented two rogues from opening the door. One of the rogues banged on the door while the other rogue climbed onto the top of the tower, gasping for air. Deciding that there were no other options left, the rogue decided to jump out of the tower. She fell into the fire, while the other rogue reached the top of the tower. However, it was too late for him as he fell unconscious.

Bobby and Carol entered the prison, jumping over the dead rogues in the ground. The prisoners were running around in panic near the corpses of a few slaughtered prisoners.

The halls increased in temperature as Bobby and Carol approached a rising corpse. The remaining prisoners fled the halls, allowing Carol to shoot the roamer. The gunshot echoed in the halls, awaking some of the other roamers.

A roamer-turned rogue rose from the dead and sunk its teeth into a prisoner's left leg. The prisoner cried as another prisoner fell victim to a different roamer.

The prisoners rushed out of the prison, leading the rogue soldiers to fire onto them. After the blood of five prisoners spilled to the ground, the rogues stopped and reloaded.

A smoke grenade exploded near the entrance to Unit D. This allowed the rest of the prisoners to make their escape along with the fighters, including the rogues.

Bobby ran towards the two roamers in the prison and shot them with his Luger. Carol crouched and looked at one of the victims. Suffocating in her own blood, the prisoner watched Carol pull out an M9. Carol closed her eyes and turned away before she shot the prisoner in the head.

"This one! She needs amputation!" Boby cried out.

"I don't have anything!" shouted Carol.

Bobby looked around the prison. He ran to a roamer and grabbed a hacksaw with razor teeth. He grabbed it and offered it to Carol. She reluctantly grabbed it and looked at the prisoner.

"Hey, stay with me. Stay with me. This is going to hurt a lot, okay? Be strong. I'm here for you!"

The prisoner nodded and gasped. Bobby knelt along with Carol as she proceeded to saw the man's lower limb off. The man screamed as Carol cut deeper and deeper into his leg.

"No, no, no… this is too rusty," whispered Carol. "Ah! No!"

Carol cut the limb off and yelped as she saw the man's arteries. The arteries were not sliced properly and blood squirted out at a rapid pace.

"What happened?" exclaimed Bobby.

"He's bleeding out!" yelled Carol.

"Let's wrap him up! Hurry!"

"This requires bypass surgery! I don't know how to do it!"

"Dr. White just left! He'll come back to rescue the rest of the prisoners, though!" informed Bobby.

"No, not enough time!" cried Carol. "He's going to die!"

Carol stood up, her face glued to the dying man.

"We can't leave him here!" said Bobby.

Carol nodded. She raised her gun and shot the man in the head before Bobby reacted. Blood splattered into his hands and the gunshot rang through his ears. Carol sighed and looked ahead.

"Carol?" called out a voice.

Carol's eyes opened. Bobby quickly stood up.

"Mom? Dad? You're alive!"

"Oh, my beautiful girl!" exclaimed her father. "Oh, and hello, Bobby."

"Hey, Mr. Pingrey. Hello to you too, Mrs. Pingrey. I don't want to interrupt this beautiful moment, but we have to go now!"

"Right!" exclaimed Carol's mother. "Carol, I'm so sorry for everything you went through. That must have not been so easy to do."

"It wasn't," whimpered Carol.

The rogues were firing from the west and east side, forcing the groups to run away from the fences in the northwest side. Another smoke grenade exploded, leading the area by the small building to be covered in gray air.

"Keep your buns outta the smoke!" yelled Haley. "The chambers are there! And the roamers are coming outta the chambers!"

The roamers surrounded the groups. They struggled to fight their way out, but they weren't receiving support from the outside fighters due to the smoke.

"Out this way!" yelled Carol. "Bobby, clear a path for us!"

"Carol, it's too danger–!" exclaimed Carol's mother before being shot.

The rogue in top of the first tower of Unit D reloaded his sniper rifle. Carol looked up at the tower guard as tears formed in her eyes. Suddenly, a sniper bullet tore through the smoke and struck the tower sniper, splattering his brain against the wall.

Carol's father sobbed while Bobby shot a roamer close to him. Carol felt the sound of a different gunshot go off. And with the gunshot, the body of her father dropped to the ground with a wound to his neck.

"Dad. No… NO!"

Carol yelled and raised her pistol. A rogue came out of the prison, gasping while bleeding through his leg. Carol and the rogue locked eye contact before a roamer stood in the way. She shot the roamer and looked at the rogue, who had his gun aimed at her. The rogue fired the gun.

The Humvee arrived near the smoke with Sam firing the gun at the rogues in the distance. She shouted as the bullets tore through the bushes, killing four rogues before the rest made their retreat.

Richard jumped out of his seat and aimed at the rogue outside of the prison. He shot the rogue with the Python, leading him to collapse into the floor, dead. He ran into the smoke and picked up Carol.

"No! I'll get you help!" yelled Richard.

"M-m-my mom! My dad!"

Carol weeped into Richard's chest while Bobby cleared out a path. The prisoners moved away from the smoke and fled towards the town while Sergei continued to drive the Humvee ahead. Sam fired the minigun at the soldiers until Sergei made a turn.

"Sergei! We can catch up to them!"

"We have more pressing matters back at the chambers!"

The roamers growled at the passing prisoners until the Humvee arrived. Sam shot at the roamers with the minigun, plastering the brains of many roamers into the wall of the prison.

David, Lori, Luan, Lynn, George, Dana, and Wavehead reunited with Richard, Bobby, and Carol. Rita and Lynn Sr. looked at Carol with shock in their faces, realizing that this was Lori's sworn enemy. And Lori's sworn enemy was bleeding from her arm.

"I'll take her back!" said Dr. White. "Get on the car. You too, George!"

George looked down at his chest. Blood poured out from his left shoulder, though he wondered why he didn't feel it earlier. He climbed onto the truck with Richard and Carol and they were driven to the town.

Lori turned on her walkie-talkie.

"Luna? Are you still there? Luna?

Luna panted as the convoy of armored vehicles passed by her and the vehicles. The kids in the woods watched as a couple rogues took pistol shots at the vests, but none of the vehicles stopped.

Luna softly whimpered as the force of the bullets punched her over and over. The walkie-talkie lied next to her. However, it was damaged. All Luna could do is hear Lori's voice grow more desperate.

"Luna? Please respond. Lunes?"

The last armored vehicle drove down the hill and disappeared into the horizon. Luna sighed and pushed the vests away. She checked her bruised arms before hearing Lori again.

Lincoln dashed to Luna's aid. He handed her her crutches back and picked up the walkie-talkie.

"We're fine, Lori!"

"Dude," said Luna, picking herself up. "She can't hear you. That thing is fucked up."

Lori ran towards the Humvee.

"Sergei? Can you drive me back to the kids? I need to see if Luna is alright!"

"Sure."

"Can you take Sandy and I as well?" asked David.

"Of course," replied Sergei. "Anything for the leader."

Sandy and David entered the vehicles while Sam left the gunner's seat, allowing Lori to take over.

"I'll be back!" exclaimed Lori as the Humvee drove past by Lynn Sr. and Rita.

Dana, Wavehead, Vonda, Sam, Luan, Lynn, Rita, Lynn Sr., and Bobby stood next to each other. Around them were Mr. Spokes, Jenny, James, Kotaro, Ted, Pike, Buck, and many other prisoners. Haley stood in front of all of them.

"I'll lead you guys back to the safe-zone!" she exclaimed. "Just follow me!"

The Humvee drove through the broken entrance gate. David and Sandy sat next to each other. Sandy removed her gear, revealing a purple tank top and cargo pants. She sighed and looked at her husband. David looked back.

"I… never knew you would side with Black," he said.

"I was forced to," explained Sandy. "He said you and Seth were soft targets. I couldn't let anything happen to you guys so I had to follow Black. And I worked for him. Well, I did. Davy, you do understand, right?"

"I do. It's just… I missed you so much."

"I did too. I love you so much."

Lori looked around while at the gunner's seat. As the Humvee drove up the hill, Lori saw the rest of the group standing next to Luna. She couldn't help but smile.

"It's all over, dude!" said Luna.

"Yeah. I'm so glad you guys are alive."

"Sorry about that, brah. Walkie-talkie got jacked up. So… are Mom and–"

"Mom and Dad are alive," revealed Lori.

Leni, Luna, Lincoln, Lana, and Lisa cheered while Lily babbled happily. The Louds hopped into Vanzilla, with Lori being the driver while the rest of the group entered the RV.

The lanterns lit up the neighborhood as the prisoners stood outside. Luan kissed Benny and hugged him which surprised both parents, though it did make them feel happy. Suddenly, Lynn Sr. looked into the distance and saw Vanzilla.

"Never thought I see this baby again," he sighed.

Lori and David parked their vehicles outside of the house where Rita and Lynn Sr. stood at. Sam waved at Luna gleefully, which both parents noticed. Their happiness only increased as they watched Leni with Lily, Luna, Lincoln, Lana, and Lisa exit the vehicle with Lori.

"Dad!" exclaimed Leni.

"Mom!" gasped Lincoln.

The Louds ran towards their parents, except Luna who limped, with Luan and Lynn being the first to hug them. Rita and Lynn Sr. were overwhelmed by their emotions as the family initiated their group hug.

"I've been thinking about you guys every single day!" said Leni.

"It feels good to make physical contacts, mother and father!" stated Lisa.

"We're together again!" exclaimed Lana.

"I've missed you guys so much!" said Lincoln.

"I don't want to leave your sides!" said Lynn.

"No more worrying about this anymore!" said Luna.

"I can truly be happy, now!" exclaimed Luan.

"We love you, Mom and Dad," said Lori.

"Poo-poo!" babbled Lily.

"We love you kids too!" said Rita.

"Where's Lola? And Lucy?" asked Lynn Sr., wiping a joyful tear from his eye.

The sudden radiant moment snapped when both parents looked at their children's eyes. Lana's mouth shook and she couldn't look at her father anymore. Lynn's tears fell from her eyes as she closed them, something that Rita found out of character.

"No… don't tell me…" gasped Rita.

"I was going to tell you earlier," sniffled Lori. "I-I-I guess I was too afraid too… I'm sorry."

Lynn Sr. dropped to his knees and teared up. Rita knelt down and let her tears run down her face.

"How did it happen?" asked Lynn Sr. "Please tell me there's a chance they're still alive!"

Lori shook her head.

"Roamer bites are always fatal, remember?"

Both parents broke down. The Louds tried to comfort their parents, but they could not stop the tears from forming in their own eyes. Some of the other survivors couldn't hold back their tears either.

Many of the liberated prisoners didn't see their child and would most likely never will. Mr. Spokes was glad to see Rusty, but he sobbed over Rocky.

The candles out in the street flickered with the grief of the survivors. In the candles, Lori was reminded of Lola, Lucy, and Darcy, leading her to feel the urge to break down and cry, but her strength pulled her through it.

"They're in a better place, where they suffer no more," Jeffrey told the parents. "God is taking care of them in His kingdom.

"They're in a better place..." Lori repeated to herself. "Where they suffer no more…"

* * *

Richard looked at the hill above Houlton, away from the sunrise.

"The rogues are going to return. We gotta be prepared. 'Cause next time they come, they'll be stronger than ever. But we'll be there, and we'll slaughter them all."

David nodded. Richard thought to himself.

" _Under my own leadership of course_."

Benny and Luan sliced all the leftover roamers in the military zone and the Units. After inspecting the gates, the armory, and the runway, the group headed back to the town.

Benny and Luan came across the roamer-turned parents of Carol. Not knowing who they were, Benny sliced through their heads with his sword without a second thought.

Lori walked back to the Houlton with supplies in her backpack. A roamer with half of its body missing growled at her. She removed her hatchet, but an arrow flew at the roamer's head, killing it. Lori turned towards Lynn who placed her arrow back to her quiver.

Lori looked at the destruction back in the military zone. Smoke lingered around the chambers, destroyed armored vehicles, and other areas.

"I know I wasn't able to give a proper introduction to this lovely town before…" said Dr. White.

Lori looked ahead.

"So I thought, why not give it now?" continued Dr. White.

Lori saw the sunrise hover from the hills to her right. They shone on the houses and the trees of the town. The survivors were moving around, chattering with each other, finally free to do so. The birds flew in the sky and the insects chirped. She felt right at home. Dr. White turned towards Lori.

"Welcome to Houlton."

* * *

 ** _Finally, after all these chapters, the Louds reunited, though Lola and Lucy couldn't... though, who will be the next Loud to join them in the afterlife? Or will they finally live the rest of their lives happily? This chapter is the longest one in the story yet, but next chapter is going to be longer! Much longer since it is the last chapter of the third arc or volume (which is every five chapters) and I have to wrap things up while also setting up the next arc._**


	15. Fallen Angel

_**Hey guys, it's been a while! I've been working on this chapter for quite some time. It is by far, the longest chapter in the entire story! It is at least 25k words! Before you ask, "MrPotassiumK, why couldn't you make this chapter into separate chapters?", I'm gonna answer with this: Every five chapters acts as an arc or volume. Usually (not always), this means that it revolves around a certain main antagonist. Every fifth chapter acts as some kind of finale to wrap up the arc. You get the point... anyways, here comes the end of the third volume. Enjoy!**_

 _ **Credit for two new OCs: Mademoiselle-Star2018**_

* * *

-Day 1-

"Keep the thing up! Keep it up!" yelled a passenger.

The passengers, both dead and alive, were flung across the plane. The dead attackers were holding on to their bitten victims, continuing to nourish themselves while the lights flickered violently. The cockpit were blocked by three bodies, all of them bitten but not yet risen from the dead. Two passengers attempted to safely land the plane, since one of the bodies blocking the cockpit happened to be the pilot. The copilot's body lied inside the cockpit with the passengers flying the plane.

A passenger near the back of the plane blocked the seats using her suitcase, and held her Japanese Chin, Kimi, close to her chest. Her long, spiky hair covered her tan face and her dog while she almost placed herself in fetal position.

The clouds disappeared from the windows and all she could see now were trees and buildings in the distance. However, the trees were too close and this is when the passenger decided to curl up with her dog.

The passengers in the cockpit yelled as they flew closer and closer to the ground. A flashing light turned black outside of the windows. A deafening noise followed immediately after.

A few birds flew away from the fallen trees.

Smoke rose high above the scar on the forest.

Flies began to infiltrate the bodies outside of the plane.

The passenger rolled her suitcase down the back ramp of the plane. She groaned as she carried an unharmed Kimi out of the plane. Unharmed, but frightened.

The passenger looked down at the ground. The ramp was two feet away from the dirt. She held Kimi tightly and hopped down to the ground. Her white shoes dug into the dirt, making her only safe landing.

Her passport slipped from the right pocket of her gray shorts to the dirt. She tried to place Kimi to the ground so she could pick it up, but her frightened dog clutched her torn black shirt.

She rubbed Kimi's head softly, calming her down before placing her on top of the suitcase. Kimi whimpered before the passenger removed her shirt. She wore an white open-side shirt underneath, revealing the side of her black bra. She placed her shirt on top of Kimi before kneeling to the ground.

She flipped her passport and looked at the photo of herself. Not much was a difference between the photo and her now. They both had a serious look in their faces, as they were never satisfied with their lives.

Next to her photo was her surname on top of her first name. Konda, then Hana. She placed her finger over her passport and teared up.

The sound of moving chairs and suitcases being pushed around made Hana wipe her own tears quickly. She sniffled and looked inside the back half of the plane. She saw something fall down on the opposite side and wondered what it was.

She walked to the side of the crashed plane and found two bodies walking out of the other half of the plane. They walked through the fire unharmed, their yellow eyes glowing within the fire.

" _Zonbi_ …"

Hana lifted Kimi up and opened her suitcase. She took out a straight scabbard and removed her ninjato from it. She then placed Kimi by the suitcase and ordered it to sit.

Hana walked towards the roamers, holding her sword in front of her. She raised it and swung it diagonally to the left, cutting the roamer's brain in half.

She moved to the next roamer, sliced its raised arms and decapitated it. She quickly placed her two hands on the handle and thrusted downwards, stabbing the growling head in the ground.

More roamers appeared from the other half of the plane, prompting Hana to leave. She placed the scabbard in her back, placed her shirt on her left arm and picked up Kimi. Finally, she grabbed the handle of the suitcase with her right hand and rolled it away from the plane crash.

Her Japanese passport remained in the grass, allowing the roamers to stomp over it.

On the following days, Hana found an RV, much more modern than David's. Using the RV, she was able to navigate New York a lot better, but this also allowed her to see terrible sights she wouldn't have seen in Japan.

On the highway, she saw chlorine gas unleashed on innocent drivers. A couple militiamen were walking around with gas masks, shooting at unarmed civilians. Luckily, Hana was only scouting the area, and found herself leaving the highway through the woods near Albany. Soon, the highway would be discovered by Lori and the others.

On the following weeks, after circling the state, from Buffalo to the Adirondacks, she finally reached New York City. Well, what was left of it anyways.

" _Kuso_!"

Kimi wriggled its head on Hana's leg as she looked at the flatland. A few buildings stood tall among the steel wasteland that surrounded them.

Suddenly, Hana saw a boat in the distance. She hid behind a pile of steel beams, and watched two girls talking to each other. Lynn and Vonda arrived at the Dust Zone.

A few days later, Hana drove back to Hudson and looked around the bridge. Kimi barked as she saw a body in the water growl at her.

The roamer floated somehow with a chest wound. It was Liam. Hana stuck the katana in his head and watched another roamer growl at her. It was a bigger roamer. It was Chunk.

Hana sighed. This was going to be a giant mess for her to clean up. Hopefully, she thought, she'll never meet the people who caused this.

 **Chapter 15: Fallen Angel**

 **I - Conformity**

Day 173:

The sound of an alarm woke Lincoln up. He opened his eyes and lifted his hands to turn off the alarm, but there were no sounds. He tapped on the nonfunctional alarm and blinked rapidly, trying to figure out where he heard the noise from.

"What the–?" he whispered. "Batteries died? Was the alarm noise in my dream?"

He yawned and looked at the bright room, which Lincoln found weird since the windows were covered with blinds.

Lincoln turned his head over and noticed that Lynn remained as asleep as a log. He smiled at her and quietly snuck out of the bed. Lynn rolled around and clutched the blanket while still asleep.

Lincoln walked outside of his and Lynn's bedroom and found the hallway empty. He walked to the bathroom and actually went inside since there weren't any lines.

The house that Lincoln was in was very similar to his home back in Royal Woods, except that the closet was actually a closet in this house. Also, the house was a bedroom short. Not that it mattered for the Louds.

Despite it being their new home, it didn't feel like it. Especially this morning. It was too quiet in the house.

Lincoln brushed his teeth and left the bathroom. He walked back to his bedroom and found Lynn awake.

"Lincoln! What the fuck! Do you know what time it is?"

"Quiet, Lynn. Mom and Dad are downstairs!"

"No, they're not! Look!"

Lynn opened the curtains in the window and pointed at the clock on the church. Lincoln's eyes snapped awake and he ran downstairs. He looked at the clock, and sure enough, it was late morning. He overslept.

"Oh, that explains why the others aren't here!" said Lincoln as he returned upstairs. "Hey, do you want Zombie Bran or– oh god! Are you kidding me, Lynn?"

Lincoln closed the door.

"Sorry, Lincoln!" exclaimed Lynn through the door. "I'm already late! Vonda's cool with it but… Richard's not! He already doesn't like me! You should've woken me up!"

Lynn opened the door. She came out of the bedroom wearing a white sweater with red sleeves and a red maple leaf on her chest, which she called her Canadian sweater. She also wore red sweatpants with new sneakers that resembled her old sneakers, just having a size difference.

"Sorry you had to see that. Again," said Lynn.

Lynn dashed down the stairs until she was stopped by her parents.

"Lynn!" called out Rita. "We heard you upstairs."

"Mom? Dad? What are you guys doing here?" asked Lincoln.

"It's Sunday, sweetie. We were going to go to church, but it's packed."

"Yeah. A lotta childless parents!" commented Lynn Sr. "Oops! I don't think I should've said that."

"Sunday?" wondered Lynn. "That means…"

"No hunting," said Rita. "Your sisters are doing their morning duties but they'll be back soon."

"Oh. I guess I don't need this."

Lynn walked back upstairs with her bow and quiver. Lincoln walked downstairs and sat in the couch with his parents.

"Mom and Dad? I was wondering…"

"What it is it, son?" said Lynn Sr., grabbing a fishing pole.

"I know this might feel weird… considering everything that happened in the past six months… but can we have a Thanksgiving dinner? It's alright if you two don't want one since it won't feel the same but…"

"Sure, son! We'll have a feast! Or at least a few plates!"

"We will?" gasped Lincoln in excitement.

His parents nodded.

"The best thing we can do is make sure that you and your sisters' lives feel somewhat… normal again," said Rita. "Plus, this will be a great family bonding moment for us. No apocalypse is breaking up what we have."

"It sure won't!" said Lynn as she walked down the stairs. "I can hunt a moose for us if you want me to!"

"Isn't turkey just fine?" asked Lincoln.

"It is, but there aren't any turkeys around here! Now, c'mon, let's go walk around!"

"Can go to Lori's? I want to invite Bobby, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde to Thanksgiving dinner."

"Wait, where are you guys going?" said Rita. "Don't you guys wanna eat breakfast first?"

"Yeah, let's eat cereal quickly," Lincoln told Lynn.

"Fine. I'll brush my teeth."

Lincoln and Lynn walked out of the house. Lincoln wore his winter clothes, which consisted of his red jacket and turquoise scarf. However, he wore his normal sneakers and no hat.

Lincoln and Lynn looked around. The orange, red, and yellow leaves swept through the streets. They looked at the entrance gate and saw Richard on a platform, guarding the entrance. Then, they both looked at the fences and saw a few roamers more than a dozen yards away.

A few adults smiled and walked by Lincoln and Lynn. Another even thanked Lynn for rescuing her.

"How does it feel to be famous?" asked Lincoln.

"Ha! How does it feel to be a nobody again?" replied Lynn.

"Hey, I was just kidding!"

Both Lynn and Lincoln laughed as they walked to the door. Lynn knocked on it and stood by Lincoln.

"Well, this isn't exactly how I wanted to be known…" sighed Lynn.

Footsteps approached the door. The door opened, revealing Clyde.

"Hey, Lincoln! Hey, Lynn! What's up?"

"Hey, Clyde! Are Lori and Bobby here?" asked Lincoln.

"Yeah, come inside!"

Clyde closed the door and tapped Lincoln's shoulder.

"Hey! Check this out!"

Clyde lifted his left pant leg. His left thigh was attached to a mechanical device that acted as his lower limb. Spinning rotors, metallic strings, tough gears, and other small miscellaneous parts were part of his mechanical leg. However, Clyde pointed at a small sketch on his artificial knee.

"I had a lot of free time, so I decided to sketch One-Eyed Jack's face! Seems pretty good, doesn't it?"

"It does!" said Lincoln. "I gotta say, I never knew you were good at drawing!"

"Loads of practice, buddy. Loads of practice. Anyways, Lori should be down here any second. She just woke up a few minutes ago, so…"

"Why don't we just barge into her room?" asked Lynn. "I mean what's the worst thing she can do to us? Turn us into human pretzels?"

"Bobby is in there with her," said Clyde.

"Oh… I forgot."

"Hey, Lame-o. What are you doing here?"

Lincoln walked up the stairs and met Ronnie Anne halfway through the stairwell.

"Hey, Ronnie! I came to say hi to Lori and I wanted to ask you something as well."

Ronnie Anne and Lincoln sat in the steps. Clyde and Lynn walked to the couch and sat next to each other.

"You know, we haven't talked to each other for a really long time," said Lynn.

"What do you mean?" asked Clyde. "We just talked about Egyptian pyramids yesterday with Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Tabby, and Rusty."

"I mean just us."

"I thought talking to me alone made you uncomfortable. Hey, just the two of us next to each other makes everyone feel uncomfortable."

"Yeah, 'cause of Francisco. But it doesn't matter. He wouldn't want me to push everyone away. Plus, I don't see him in you."

Clyde forced a smile but he looked down.

"I see someone I like, Clyde. Someone unique, funny… cute."

Clyde and Lynn both blushed. Lynn released her ponytail to hide the side of her face, but this only made Clyde blush more.

"Even if I'm missing a leg?"

"If I had a missing arm, would you still think I'm pretty?"

"Sure! Oh, I see."

Lynn and Clyde locked eyes. They lied their backs on the couch and smiled at each other. Then, Lynn's smile faded away.

"I'm so sorry that I did this to you," she said.

"Don't be. You know, the amputation never made me change my opinion of you?" said Clyde. "Matter of fact, I see you as a more fearless yet loving girl."

Lynn softly punched Clyde's arm and giggled. She then nudged him and pointed at Lincoln and Ronnie Anne. They hid under the couch and watched them.

Ronnie Anne's ponytail was longer, reaching deeper into her back. Everything else about her was the same, though. However, Lincoln grew slightly taller and his voice began to crack.

"You're coming, right?" he asked.

"Yeah…"

"If this feels too uncomfortable for you, I understand. I get it, you're not used to being away from your family and–"

"No, it's not that. I want to be with your family! It's just…"

Ronnie Anne looked away. She didn't have the guts to admit that she liked Lincoln. She always did, but for some reason, the feelings she kept hidden were spiraling inside of her.

"Nothing. Nevermind. I would be more than glad to come to your Thanksgiving dinner."

Lori yawned and snuggled up with Bobby. They both kept eye contact for minutes, kissing each other occasionally.

"The door's locked, right?" asked Lori.

"Yeah," replied Bobby. "Though, there are people downstairs. Wanna go check it out?"

"Aww, no, you're so warm."

Both Bobby and Lori giggled.

"Yeah, let's go check it out," said Lori.

The bedroom opened in the stairs above. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne looked above and saw their sibling. Bobby buttoned his shirt and stopped before the stairs.

"Oh sup, bro!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, Linc," said Lori. "Lynn? What brings you guys here?"

"We want to invite the B and the R.A. to Thanksgiving dinner!" explained Lynn before turning to Clyde. "And you too."

Clyde winked and placed his thumbs up.

"Oh that sounds fun! We'll finally get to do something normal as a family for a change!" gasped Lori.

"Oh, that does sound fun but I don't know…" sighed Bobby.

"Yeah, Bobby," said Ronnie Anne. "We should go. You'll spend time with Lori. C'mon, Mom would want you and Lori to be happy."

Bobby nodded.

"Okay. I'll come. First time I'm having dinner with your family, babe!"

Lori and Bobby cheered gleefully while Lincoln and Lynn stood up. Lynn brushed Clyde's metallic leg and motioned him to walk with her. They walked towards the steps and looked at Lincoln and Ronnie Anne. Lynn then looked at Lori.

"We're gonna go meet up with some friends. Where ya going?"

"Oh, Bobby and I are going to check up on Carol."

"How's she holding up?" asked Clyde.

"Not too well," replied Bobby. "Ever since she lost her parents… it's tough what's she going through."

Lynn, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Lincoln walked out of the house while Lori and Bobby headed towards their kitchen.

"So, when'd you think you can race me?" Lynn asked Clyde.

The kids laughed as they walked along Main Street. Lynn kicked a few leaves at Clyde while Ronnie Anne shoved Lincoln into a pile of colorful leaves under a tree. Lincoln grabbed Ronnie Anne and pulled her back to the pile of leaves, causing the kids to laugh again.

"Hey, guys! Having fun there?" shouted Dana in delight.

Luan, Benny, Dana, Becky, and Wavehead were by the fences with certain melee weapons. They were patrolling the fences, stabbing the roamers that gathered behind the fences. They weren't holding their usual weapons, instead, they held cruder weapons, such as Luan using Luna's crowbar.

"You guys sure are FALLing for each other!" remarked Luan.

The other teens laughed while Lynn and Clyde chuckled among themselves. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne rolled their eyes and stood up patting themselves to remove the leaves on their clothes.

"Should we LEAF you alone?" added Luan.

Lincoln and Ronnie grinned and clapped.

"Good one," said Lincoln.

The teens and children walked away in different directions. The children turned to their right and walked north in King Street. Then, they headed towards Church Street.

"Grow us both individually and together…" prayed Elder Jeffrey. "...as we seek the peace of your presence. Use our lives, Christ, to reach those who desperately need to know you love them. In Jesus's name, Amen."

The adults flocked outside of the church while Jeffrey looked around for his nephew. He sighed and walked outside of the church.

"Great service, Uncle Jeff!" said Preston.

"Yeah! It's like you're reading my own thoughts, except you use bigger words!" said Leni.

"Thank you, kids. Where were you? I didn't see you kids anywhere."

"Over here!" said Preston.

Preston and Leni pointed at a grassy area by the corner of the church.

"Sometimes we looked inside through the window," explained Preston. "But we heard your whole sermon."

Jeffrey looked at the teens' baskets and mats under their arms.

"I could have saved you a spot. What is all this?" he asked.

"We're having a picnic together!" explained Leni.

Lynn, Lincoln, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne approached the intersection at where they church was located by. Leni ran up to them after they greeted her.

"I hope you two don't get into anything serious," said Jeffrey.

"Uncle Jeff, I'm already sixteen!"

"You should at least get to know the other young women in this town."

"There aren't any. Besides, Leni is perfect!" said Preston. "She respects our beliefs, she dresses nice, she's so kind, and most importantly, she's innocent."

"Alright. But please don't mess around with her. Some people appear innocent, but they may not be so."

"She's like an angel," said Preston.

Richard walked by with the hat of his former wife. Jeffrey took a quick glance at him before looking back at Preston.

"The Devil was once an angel," stated Jeffrey.

Preston turned around and noticed Richard walking away. He nodded.

"Sorry, the sermon didn't end in my head. I did not mean to make you feel bad or–"

"No, it's alright. I get it," whispered Preston.

"Have fun."

Preston nodded. Leni walked back with him and they both held hands as they headed to the center of town.

Meanwhile, Lynn, Lincoln, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne continued to walk towards George's home.

They noticed a lot of new kids that arrived in Houlton after Halloween. One of the drivers was part of the militia in Royal Woods. However, almost all of the kids weren't from Royal Woods. Most of them were from Huntington Oaks and Detroit.

However, the reunion of adults and their kids gave some of the other parents false hopes, as they longed to reunite with their children. Little did they know, most of them were consumed by roamers, killed by marauders, or starved by lack of food.

Haley did her best to comfort the adults despite her lack of experience in therapy.

Lynn, Lincoln, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne finally arrived in front of George's home. They knocked on the door and Vonda answered it.

"George's not here," said Vonda.

The children walked inside and they found Tabby and Rusty sitting next to each other in the couch. After Lynn, Lincoln, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne walked inside, Vonda locked the door and closed the curtains so it covered only half of the windows.

"So… what's new?" asked Tabby.

"Nothing yet," said Lynn. "He covers his tracks like a-a-a– hey, Linc, which animals cover their tracks?"

"I don't think any of them do."

"Whatever, he hides his tracks. However, he sure as hell looks suspicious by covering them up. He walks around the town a lot. He's been quiet lately."

"I saw him carry Missy's hat," said Ronnie Anne. "He was walking near the church, didn't you guys see him?"

"Are you sure it was him?" asked Lincoln.

"Yes! I swear, he wears the same clothes every day!"

"Don't we all?" commented Rusty. "Ain't a lotta clothes to go around."

"Don't you guys think that's important?" said Ronnie Anne.

"Honestly, I don't know at this point," replied Rusty.

"Yeah, I mean it feels like we're in a wild goose chase," said Vonda.

"No, no, it matters!" exclaimed Lynn. "This is important! We don't know whose life will be endangered next!"

"Well we can't do anything until we have definite proof," said Lincoln.

"Can't we include George?" asked Clyde. "I'm sure he'll be of a lot of help."

"Maybe, but…" sighed Lynn. "He won't believe us. We're doing fine on our own, though. All we need is proof that he's been causing harm to our group!"

Vonda, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Clyde, Rusty, and Tabby nodded their heads and began chattering among each other. Lynn smiled in pride of leading the small group of hers.

The water moved peacefully. The boat moved steadily as the adults rowed it. Then, Lynn Sr. handed Kotaro, Sergei, and Ted their fishing rods back.

"I got one!" said Kotaro, reeling his rod.

He pulled a small fish out of the creek and placed in a bucket that the men brought. Sergei and Ted cheered.

"What's wrong, Lynn?" asked Ted.

"What do you mean? I'm happy," replied Lynn Sr.

"You don't sound happy."

"Ohh, that's 'cause I'm not! I'm a little worried about something."

"Feel free to tell us, Lynn," reassured Kotaro.

"Alright. You see, my son asked my wife and I if it were okay to have a Thanksgiving dinner. I told him it was alright, that maybe things will go back to normal, but, AHH! Can things even go back to normal? Hey, Sergei!"

Sergei glared at Lynn Sr.

"Yes?"

"You went with my children to this town, right? I mean you guys traveled together and stuff?"

"What are you going to ask, Lynn?"

"W-Which one of my children took a life? Besides Lori. I know she did, and I wish I didn't see it with my own eyes and hear it with my own ears, but I know she did!"

"I met this guy in a town not too far from here. He would often say, 'don't ask questions you don't want the answer to'."

Lynn Sr. rubbed his head.

"Wow, he sounds… wise."

"What I'm saying, Lynn, is that the answers I give you may change the way you see your kids. Forever. I don't know if you're going to be prepared for the answer."

"Please tell me! Not knowing is driving me crazy! I just want to know… to know… you know?"

"Lynn," said Sergei.

"Yes?"

"Not you. Your baby girl, Lynn. And Luna."

"Oh, is that it?" gasped Lynn Sr. "That's a relief."

"I don't see how it is," said Sergei. "I wouldn't want any of my kids to take a life. Your girls, though. They're tough."

"Junior, she's one of the toughest. She and Lunes got quite the 'tude. If anyone is surviving this hellhole, it would be them."

"They want a normal life too," said Kotaro. "This Thanksgiving dinner, it's a start. After that it's Christmas, then in a blink of an eye, you'll get a grandchild and everything will feel too normal."

Lynn Sr. chuckled. He sniffled softly and high-fived the guys. The boat remained still in the creek.

-Four Days Later-

A snowflake lightly fell by a pine tree and down to the white ground. The winds weren't very strong and the dark clouds hung over the town like a blanket. The moon was barely noticable just like the stars.

The candles in the chandelier lit up the peaceful dinner room. The plates were set on the table, the chairs stood in their respective places, and the silverware lied on top of a napkin.

Lynn Sr. and Rita arrived at the house in Vanzilla with Luna, Lynn Jr., Lincoln, and Lisa. Luna and Lynn Jr. each held a pot using mitts like their parents, while Lincoln opened the door to the house, allowing them to walk in.

Leni and Lana drooled as the parents opened the pots and poured the food into the bowls in the middle of the table. Luan arrived at the dinner room with Lily on her arms.

With two bowls of chicken, a bowl of mashed potatoes, stacks of cornbread, many plates of pies, and many more dishes, life felt joyful once again.

Lori knocked on the door, standing next to Bobby, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde. Lori and Bobby were holding jugs of eggnog while Ronnie Anne and Clyde held stacks of cups. Lincoln opened the door for them, allowing them to enter the house.

"I'm surprised the food is not cold yet!" said Leni.

"This weather is no match for Michigan winter," said Lynn.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Loud!" greeted Bobby. "I'm grateful for the invitation!"

"It's the least we can do," said Rita.

"I wish it was under different circumstances," said Lynn Sr. as they all sat down in their seats. "Well, kids… dig in!"

The snow continued to add to the soft blanket in the ground. An owl flew to a pine tree above the graveyard behind the church.

In the graveyard, Carol stood in front of two wooden crosses. She kept her hands in the warm pockets of her purple jacket while looking at the graves. The trees prevented most of the snow from falling to the graves, making the area stand out of from the rest of the graveyard.

It wasn't a graveyard before the liberation of the Houlton prisoners. It was just an area of land that the church managed before the apocalypse. And now, the area of land has turned into a land of bodies buried six feet under.

Richard stood in the shadow of the pine tree that gave shade to the graves by Carol. His cold breath blew out of his mouth while he heard the owl hoot once again.

Carol turned around with mourning eyes.

"Come here," she whispered.

Richard walked next to Carol and looked down at the graves. She leaned her head on his arms.

"I never thanked you for saving my life."

"You didn't need to," Richard whispered back. "It's what I promised."

"You promised something else too."

Richard looked at Carol. She kept her eyes on the two graves. He nodded and turned back to the graves.

"I don't want anyone to take you away from me," said Carol. "Please don't let anyone take you from me, Richard."

"I won't. I'll destroy the rumors. I'll tell 'em to leave us alone if they ever found out. Nothing will happen to you, Carol. Nothing will keep us apart."

A few snowflakes touched the ground under the tree. The owl flew away. And much more time passed.

The Louds chattered among themselves and with Ronnie Anne and Clyde. They felt like a part of the family, especially Clyde, who Rita felt sorry for. She assumed their fate since the fall of Detroit, but the kids confirmed it to her after her liberation.

"Bobby, help me get these bowls into the kitchen," said Lynn Sr.

"Sure thing, Mr. Loud."

Bobby stood up from his seat and carried two empty bowls to the kitchen. The kids continued with their conversation, except Lori and Rita. They drank their eggnog silently, attempting to keep their eyes away from the kitchen.

"What did you need me for?" asked Bobby.

"Remember that speech I gave you, son?"

Bobby nodded his head.

"What is it that you promised me?" asked Lynn Sr.

"I promised to protect and look after Lori. But if you ask me, I don't think she needs me to protect her. Honestly, she could do fine without me."

"Trust me, she wouldn't."

Lynn Sr. held his chin.

"What are you talking about, Mr. Loud?"

"Did you kill anyone yet?"

Bobby shook his head. Lynn Sr. placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Look, son. Everything I told you, I still mean it. You gotta protect her from herself. Make sure she doesn't go the wrong road."

Bobby nodded.

"One moment, she was just a teenage girl on her phone all the time, talking to you… now, she's an adult. A fighter. She's got a fire inside of her… and I fear that under enough pressure… when she reaches her boiling point, she'll lash out in ways I can't imagine. Just like after what happened to that little girl, Darcy."

"She told you?"

"Lisa showed me. I still love my daughter… and that's why I want you to make sure she won't be the one tossing people into fires."

Bobby gulped and nodded. Lynn Sr. placed the bowls into the sink.

Lori looked at the two empty seats next to her. She turned towards the candles in the chandelier and saw them flicker off, only to suddenly flicker on again.

"Hey, Lana, pass the salt please!" said a voice to her right.

Lori turned towards her right and saw Lola with a dish of turkey. She struggled to catch her breath as she saw Lola salt her dish.

"Why does this taste so… cheery?" said another voice.

Lori turned to her left and saw Lucy drink the eggnog. She was speechless.

Lucy lifted her bangs and winked at her. Lori turned around to see Lola smile at her. As she turned back to see Lucy, she was gone. Then, Lola disappeared as well.

"Honey, is something wrong?" asked Rita.

"N-no. I think I ate too much. Food was yummy."

The family finished up their meals. The candles in the chandelier remained lit. The snow continued to fall on the content homes of Houlton.

The snow continued to fall everywhere else too.

In the dark woods somewhere in Maine, two survivors talked to each other. One held a lantern while the other opened a can of soup. They both sat on a log and sighed.

"That's it. Here you go," said the thin survivor, handing a can to the other survivor.

"Thanks, dude. Can you hand me that spoon over there?" asked the lantern man.

"There. So… how far do you think we are from Halifax?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen a town in days. This son of bitch weather made everything worse!"

"Just accept it, man. We're lost."

"I know that. I thought I was reading the map–"

A young and tan woman stumbled near the tent where the survivors were sitting by. The thin survivor dropped his can to the ground while the lantern man lifted the light, revealing her face.

"Hey, miss," called out the lantern man. "May we help you?"

"Yes. I'm a little lost. I'm hungry, thirsty, and I'm cold."

"Well, we got food here," said the thin man.

"I got a few water bottles. And we got a couple blankets too!"

"Thank you, guys! Are there anyone else with you two?"

"No, it's just us two!" said the lantern man. "What's your name?"

"My name is Teri! I'm from Michigan."

The lantern man handed her a canteen. Teri grabbed it and stepped back slowly. The thin survivor looked around after hearing a branch snap.

"That's cool! We're from Nova–"

"Dude, you hear that?" warned the thin survivor. "Might be the skin-eaters."

A group stepped out of the woods with guns aimed at the two survivors. Teri covered her ears. The attackers fired their rifles and pistols at the survivors, painting their bodies with blood. A burst of fire instantly killed the thin survivor while the lantern man bled out from many different wounds.

Teri coughed and walked to the two bodies. The small group looked at the red snow and covered it up with the white snow.

"Job well done. The Oaks never fall down!" said one of the group members.

"The Oaks never fall down!" repeated the group, including Teri.

The group looted the two bodies. Teri pointed her flashlight around and realized they haven't seen a roamer in Maine for days.

 **II - 107 Days Without An Accident**

-Three Weeks Later-

The street lamps were lit up. The snow was gone, but the chilly winter attacked the survivors. They've gone through worse so they were able to defend themselves against the cold, simply with extra layers of clothing.

The Houlton civilians were decorating the trees around the center of town as they were preparing for the Christmas that would come next week. In the center of town sat David and Sandy, admiring the view.

"So, how's leadership treating you?" asked Sandy.

David rubbed his shaved jaws. He let his hair grow, though it was covered by his black beanie.

"Not as stressful as I imagined. You know, sometimes I feel like Dr. White is taking more responsibility than I am. He just doesn't stop working!"

"Isn't it great to have two leaders? I don't think it has ever worked before!"

"Yeah… never worked before," pondered David.

Lisa walked away from the laboratory next to the military base. Lana grabbed her bag of tools and followed her.

"Going home already?" asked Dr. White.

"The sun has almost reached its half-rotation since sunrise," said Lisa. "Plus, we completed all the work for the week. I need a fresh mind to start on a new project tomorrow, Dr. White."

"Alright. See you tomorrow, Lana and… Doctor Lisa Loud."

Lisa smiled. She removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes. She then stopped and stared at her glasses. She looked around before turning on the video mode of her glasses. She rotated the lens and looked at a video clip.

In the video, Lisa inspected the box of crates in the RV after the group chose their rooms in the Medway Motel. She opened the box of knives and found most of them in their respective places.

Lisa switched to another video clip.

In the other video, she walked to Dr. White's truck and saw Richard and George moving equipment to the car. In the box of knives, everything seemed in place, except a knife was missing.

She looked back at another video clip.

The bodies of Bill Brooker and Zach Gurdle lied on the floor of the cabin. Besides Bill was a knife, the exact knife that was in the box of knives.

Lisa whispered to herself while Lana ate her bag of chips.

"Oh, mother of Newton."

"What?" asked Lana. "Am I chewing too loud?"

Lisa and Lana returned home. Lisa walked up the stairs, ignoring Luna's request to give her a towel. She knocked on Lynn and Lincoln's room. Lincoln opened up.

"Hey, Lis. Back from–?"

"Is Lynn here?"

"Yeah!" exclaimed Lynn from the bed.

"I have to make room in my brain."

"What?" asked Lynn, confused.

"Just take a look at this."

After reviewing the video clips, Lynn shook her head. She then stood up.

"Can't say I'm surprised," she said. "But now… now, I have proof!"

Lynn arrived at George's house while Lincoln, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne ran to the Spokes' home.

George answered the door. Lynn requested to talk to Vonda and Tabby, which he was fine with. They all walked to the front porch and waited for Lincoln, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Rusty.

Lincoln explained to Mr. Spokes that he wanted to show Rusty something. Mr. Spokes was convinced that Houlton was even safer than Royal Woods, so he let Rusty go with Lincoln, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne. Though, he did so reluctantly because he was his only living child.

The children gathered up. Lynn handed them Lisa's glasses and they passed it around.

"That's proof," said Lynn. "Zach was murdered by Richard. We weren't wrong. He lied to us. Again."

After a kid watched the video, they passed it to the next kid beside them with a look of shock in their face.

"Well, how can we be sure it was him?" asked Vonda. "What if Bill stole the knife from the RV?"

"What do you mean? He couldn't have, one of us would've noticed," replied Lynn. "Are you defending him? Are you, Vonda?"

"No, no. All I'm saying is we aren't a hundred percent sure this was stolen by Richard. Perhaps someone left a knife in his cabin?"

"That's right, Lynn," added Lincoln. "What if Bill found a knife from another crate like ours? I mean, he wasn't too far from the rogues."

"No, how could you be saying this?" gasped Lynn. "He obviously did it! This is proof!"

"Okay, okay, relax," said Lincoln.

"You're right, we finally have an important piece of evidence that could help us," said Vonda. "However, how do we know Richard won't lie again? David would believe him rather than us. They're best friends."

"That's right," agreed Lincoln. "We should wait a little. We have to figure things out. Lynn, promise me you won't do anything rash."

Lynn reluctantly nodded.

The kids returned to their homes. First, Lynn, Lincoln, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne walked Rusty to his home. Then, Lynn and Lincoln walked Clyde and Ronnie Anne to their home. Finally, Lynn and Lincoln returned to their house, lending back Lisa's glasses.

The wind blew across the state. Trees shook and the grass danced.

Near the city of Bangor, a light-brown headed teenager walked with a map in his hands and a leather jacket under his arms. He wore a blue plaid shirt that matched his eyes. His jeans were also blue, but many shades darker. His shirt hid his chain tattoo on his left arm and his hair hid his white stud earring in his right ear.

He wore his black leather jacket and looked at the map again. The map of Maine had many areas crossed out. He found a Humvee, closed the map, and looked at the woods to his right.

A couple rogue soldiers sat by a campfire. They were cooking rabbits when they heard cans rattling around. They stood up and aimed their guns at the direction of the sound. The teen slowly revealed himself with his hands up.

"Hey, sorry about that. I'm just looking for some help."

"I'm afraid we can't help you," said the rogue, lowering his weapon. "Go on, keep surviving. Like the rest of us."

"No, I just need help finding my family," said the teen. "My name's Jace Taylor. Have you seen these people?"

Jace handed the rogue a picture of his mother, father, and older sister.

"Nah, haven't seen 'em," said the rogue. "But I know they ain't ever go there. That's where we came from."

Jace looked at the direction that the rogue pointed at. He then turned back to the rogues.

"Have you tried checking out Portland?" asked Brick, another rogue. "I heard the National Guard were protecting people in there."

"No, I haven't checked it out. Uhh, thank guys."

"No. Thank you for surviving this long," said Brick.

Jace chuckled nervously. He left the woods and headed back to the road.

After walking a mile, he returned to his motorcycle and backpack. He checked on his pet lizards inside his breathable backpack. They were not yet asleep.

"We're going to Portland, guys!" exclaimed Jace.

He started his motorcycle and drove it in the empty road, away from the roamers in Bangor.

-Nine Days Later-

The Christmas trees glimmered while snow slowly fell on its spiky leaves. A candle flickered in each homemade menorah inside some houses. The gas lamps in the streets lit up.

With all the lights sparkling in the town, Houlton felt like the happiest place in the world, and because of the Earth's present state, it could be true.

Many tables and chairs were set up in the park where Leni and Preston had their picnic a month prior. Many of the civilians sat with their friends as they had yet to reunite with their family.

The Louds sat with each other for dinner. However, none of them remained in their seats for the whole night. In the meantime, as they waited for midnight to unwrap their presents, a dance commenced.

The waning moon floated high above the sky. Richard walked to George's home and knocked on his door. George answered the door, allowing Richard to enter his home. Vonda walked to the kitchen and peeked at the living room.

"You need something?" asked George.

"Yeah. I wanted to ask you, how's the holidays treating you?"

"I don't celebrate Christmas," said George. "Though, it does feel good knowing that people are enjoying their lives."

"Vonda celebrates Christmas, does she?"

"Yes. She's going to the center of town with the others."

"You know, I used to celebrate Christmas with my wife," said Richard. "Still want Vonda to celebrate Christmas?"

George gulped. He stared at Richard while he grabbed his holster. However, Richard pulled out his revolver and aimed it at George.

"Not wearing your vest, huh? Look man, I just wanted to talk."

"Doesn't look like it," said George. "I swear to God, if you touch Vee, I will–!"

"Do nothing!" hissed Richard. "Look, whatever you're going to do to me, it won't be necessary! I just needed to give you a warning."

Richard placed his revolver back into his holster. George lowered his eyes.

"You probably think I killed the kid," whispered Richard. "One of the kids musta' told you. Don't tell anyone that lie. 'Cause if you do, it will be my life on the line and the people I care about. For Vonda's sake, don't tell anyone."

Richard and George stood up.

"I'm not one to make false accusations," said George as they walked towards the exit. "Just enjoy the holidays. And try not to come back here again."

"Merry Christmas," smirked Richard.

The clock in the church almost signaled midnight. The amplifiers and microphone were connected to a generator. Dr. White approved Luna's request to play Christmas rock songs to the civilians.

Some of the civilians held their candles in the air for Luna while she sang and drummed.

" _Bells will be ringing this sad, sad news…_

 _Oh, what a Christmas to have the blues…_ "

Sam played her bass guitar and took over vocals.

" _My baby's gone, I have no friends…_

 _To wish me greetings once again…_ "

Luna then took over vocals.

" _Choirs will be singing 'Silent Night'..._ "

As the adults moved along with the song, Sam took over vocals again.

" _Christmas carols by candles…_ "

Both Luna and Sam couldn't help but sing together.

" _Please come home for Christmas…_

 _Please come home for Christmas…_ "

"Whoo!" cheered Lynn Sr. "That's my daughter, everyone!"

Near the Christmas trees, an instrumental version of The First Noel played in a small amplifier. As midnight arrived, more of the civilians arrived at the area to hand each other gifts that they scavenged or handcrafted.

Leni and Preston also made it their jobs to make sure everyone in town had gifts.

Luan and Benny walked to a more secluded area near the shimmering trees. Benny held Luan's shoulder and stopped her in her tracks.

"I got you something," said Benny, handing Luan a small box. "Found it in one of my scavenging missions."

"Aww, you shouldn't have."

Luan opened the box and found a thin necklace with a small, golden forget-me-not flower at the center of it. Her eyes sparkled upon taking the necklace out of the box. She lifted her hair and placed it around her neck, then let her hair fall down.

"Beautiful," whispered Benny.

Luan lightly rubbed the necklace and shifted her eyes at Benny. She leaned close to him and gave him a tender kiss. Then, she leaned towards her shoulder and giggled.

"Thank you, Benny. I love it so much!"

They both shared another kiss in the snow while Lynn Sr. and Rita watched happily. They held each other's hands and pointed their eyes at Lori and Bobby.

Lori and Bobby watched the star twinkle in a particular Christmas tree. The star pointed to the North Star in the night sky. Bobby and Lori held their hands together as they continued to stare at the stars.

Lori felt a tiny metallic object as Bobby shifted his hands strangely. Bobby placed his right hand on Lori's face and grabbed her attention. He then released both his hands, allowing Lori to feel the object.

Lori opened her hands and saw a silver ring. She gasped and gleamed.

"I think they call those promise rings," said Bobby. "I wanted to promise you that I'll always be there for you, to love and to protect you."

"Boo-Boo Bear! I love you so much too! Where's your ring?"

"My ring? Oh, it's uh… I'm supposed to wear one too?"

Lori giggled. She took a ring out from her pocket.

"I only had one too," said Lori. "Did you get this at the cabin in the Irish Settlement?"

Bobby nodded. Lori handed him the ring, which happened to match the promise ring that Lori wore. Their beamed at each other and kissed under the stars, causing Lynn Sr. and Rita to squeal softly in joy.

Lincoln stood near a snowman that Lana created. Next to the snowman was a pole that Leni accidentally placed her tongue in.

Lincoln looked around the town center. Lori and Bobby hugged each other, Leni and Preston handed presents to the civilians together, Luna and Sam fed each other fruitcake, Luan and Benny held each other's hands, and Lynn and Clyde lied next to each other, creating snow angels.

He sighed and leaned on the pole.

"Feeling lonely?" asked Tabby, holding a cup of eggnog.

"Yeah. Seems like everyone's in a good mood… and it feels real. It makes me happy… but how long will this happiness last?"

"What's wrong with you? You should be living in the moment!" exclaimed Tabby. "Especially these days."

"It's just… I don't want it to end. I don't want the happiness to go."

Tabby looked above. She smiled and grabbed Lincoln's hands.

"It doesn't have to," she whispered. "Look up."

Lincoln shifted his eyes above. There was a string on top of the pole that hung an object above the two kids. A mistletoe.

As Lincoln looked down, Tabby leaned close to him and kissed him softly in his lips. He kept his eyes opened, unable to speak or react. Tabby released her lips from Lincoln's.

"Merry Christmas, Linky."

"M-M-Merry Christmas, Tabby."

Ronnie Anne unwrapped her gift from Leni, which happened to be a skateboard. She smiled and set it down, riding it away from the center of town. She then headed back when she saw Lincoln and Tabby under the mistletoe.

She opened her jaws and gasped. She shook her head and walked back.

Ronnie Anne looked away and set her skateboard down. She placed her foot on it and propelled herself away from the town center, feeling the sting in her heart.

Suddenly, she bumped into Richard, who managed to lift his foot just in time to prevent the nose of the skateboard from bruising his ankle.

"Oh, sorry, Richard!"

"Hello, Ronalda. It's quite alright," said Richard. "Leaving already?"

"Nah, I'm just trying my new gift," replied Ronnie, shrugging her arms. "I-I should go back to the party."

"Before you go, I want to ask you one thing."

Ronnie Anne looked away. Richard snapped at her, catching her attention.

"What are you and your friends planning to do?" questioned Richard.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Don't play stupid with me. You, Lincoln, Tabby, Rusty, Lynn, oh, especially Lynn! I know you guys are forming thoughts about me, so I thought I should know about those thoughts."

"I have no idea what you–"

"Imagine if you woke up tomorrow, thinking it was going to be a great day. Next, you realize… Bobby hasn't been around lately. You worry and worry… and worry. Then, Lori or someone will find him consumed by a roamer in the woods. What an unfortunate fate."

Ronnie Anne clenched her teeth and formed two fists.

"We were going to use Lisa's glasses to prove to David the kinda sick scum you are. We know you murdered Zach. And we know you were going to kill Becky."

"Kill Zach? What, with this?"

Richard took out a knife. Ronnie Anne stumbled back and looked around. Many of the adults were far away and distracted in the town center.

"If you talk… your brother dies. Just don't tell anyone, alright?"

Richard placed the knife back into his pocket. He patted Ronnie Anne's head and walked away from the dark streets that she was at.

Ronnie Anne quickly picked up her skateboard and walked back to the center of town. She then heard footsteps running towards her. She ran and didn't look back for fear of losing speed and getting caught by Richard.

"Ronnie Anne!" called out Vonda.

"Vonda! Oh thank god! I thought you were that puto that put the fear of God in me!"

"Are you talking about Richard?"

Ronnie Anne nodded.

"He threatened George," explained Vonda. "We gotta tell David!"

"Let's tell Lynn first!"

Ronnie Anne and Vonda ran back to the center of town. They spotted Lynn playing with Clyde's hair while he and Rusty talked about their times in school.

"Lynn, this is important!" exclaimed Vonda.

Lincoln and Tabby returned with the group awkwardly around Ronnie Anne. However, after Ronnie Anne and Vonda explained Richard's threats, they felt the grim reality of the menace facing the group.

"That's it. Someone has to stop Richard," said Lynn.

"Wait!" cried out Lincoln. "We have to tell David! We have to–"

"I'm done waiting," hissed Lynn.

Lynn hopped on her bicycle and headed home. Rusty looked at the kids.

"What do you think she's going to do?" he asked.

Tabby facepalmed.

"She's going to kill Richard!" explained Lincoln.

Lynn grabbed her bow and quiver. She hopped back into her bike.

She biked around Main Street and Church Street. She looked around the fences. Lynn ran around the graveyard. She went to the empty infirmary. She biked near the blind spot that allowed the group to liberate the civilians. She then biked back to the center of town, and sure enough, she found Richard.

Richard walked around uneasily. He appeared to be looking at the kids then at Bobby. He was planning something. But then, Lynn caught his attention.

"Richard! You will no longer terrorize my friends!"

"Well, well, well. It's about time–"

Lynn drew an arrow and shot Richard in the leg.

"Ahh! Fuck!" screamed Richard as he collapsed to the ground.

Richard took out his revolver, but Lynn quickly kicked it out of his hands. She crouched and grabbed Richard's shirt. She shoved him to the pavement and elbowed his jaw.

Lynn took a mighty blow to her face as Richard punched her away from him. Lynn quickly regained her balance and drew another arrow. However, he lunged at her legs, causing her to release the arrow too early.

Richard lied on top of her and punched her over and over. She blocked all his hits, though her arms were becoming numb.

Richard kicked her as he stood up. He limped towards the revolver in the ground. As soon as he grabbed it, Lynn struck his back with her knees. He yelled and turned around, tossing her to the ground.

Lynn grabbed Richard's arms as he moved the revolver towards her. He pointed the gun near her and shot it twice. However, he missed as Lynn struggled to keep the revolver from being pointed at her.

Richard stood on his knees and struggled to aim the gun at Lynn. She continued to hold her grip on his wrists. She then leaned close to Richard's left wrist and thrusted her teeth onto it. She chomped on it, making him scream.

He dropped the gun and pulled out his knife. Lynn swung the bow at his left arm, but Richard quickly dodged it and grabbed her arm. Lynn fell on her back with her arms extended across her chest.

He thrusted the knife at her left collar and she screamed in agony. She gargled her mouth as Richard pressed on the knife. She then spit at Richard's left eye.

"Aw, shit!" yelled Richard.

Richard stood up. Lynn struggled to breathe as she grabbed an arrow from her quiver. She kicked his crotch, causing him to drop to his knee. Aiming the arrow carefully, she threw the arrow at his face, cutting his right cheek.

Lynn crawled on her knees, taking another arrow from her quiver. After getting close enough to Richard, she grabbed her arrow and thrusted it at his chest.

Richard coughed blood before dropping to the ground. He opened up his jacket and removed the arrow from his vest.

"You can't… kill me… that easily," Richard wheezed. "Go ahead. Beat the shit out of me."

"Gladly," Lynn panted.

Lynn groaned as she grabbed her bow. Using only her right arm, she beat a helpless Richard on the ground.

"Lynn!" shouted Lori. "What are you doing!"

"Serving justice," whispered a bloodied Lynn.

David grabbed Lynn and moved her away from Richard. Sandy stood above Richard, who lied in the ground unconscious. Haley ran towards him.

"Anyone has a vehicle I can use? I need to get them both into the infirmary!" she exclaimed.

Dr. White arrived to the scene on a truck with the logo of a red cross. He got off the vehicle and dashed to the two injured civilians.

"Oh, these two are top priorities!" he said.

"I'm okay. Just get this damn knife out!" hissed Lynn.

Dr. White and Haley placed both Lynn and Richard to the truck and they drove off the infirmary near the town center. Lynn Sr. and Rita prayed that their daughter would be alright. However, Lori seemed less worried.

"There goes the happiness," said Lincoln.

Lincoln, Tabby, Vonda, Rusty, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde looked at the blood near the arrows in the pavement.

 **III - Not Home**

Christmas afternoon lacked the spirit of the previous years ever since the civilians found out about the fight between two of their liberators. It's been more than four months since they an incident in Houlton.

The Louds were in the infirmary. Haley looked over Lynn who lied bitterly on the bed. Her left shoulder was wrapped with a large bandage and she wore a sling. She held an ice bag on her head.

Before Lori entered the room, David asked to see her.

"What is it?" asked Lori.

"We gotta talk about what the hell happened out there," said David. "The people out there are scared. I need to make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Are you suggesting punishment?" asked Lori. "Lynn didn't start it… I hope."

"It's hard to tell who started it," said Sandy. "There were two arrows on the ground next to Richard and a large cut on his face, coming from an arrow. There was a knife on Lynn's body. Two gunshots went off."

"Even if Lynn started it, there had to be a reason why she did," said Lori.

"She will tell you a reason. And so will Richard."

"It doesn't matter who started it," said David. "Whoever poses a threat to this community WILL BE punished."

"Let's check on the girl," said Sandy.

Lori, David, and Sandy walked into the infirmary. Lori's parents tried to speak with Lynn, but she didn't want to talk about what just occurred. She then looked at David and grabbed his attention.

"I bet you guys wanna know why I got into the fight? I got a good re–"

"Lynn, I told you not to go after Richard," said Lori. "I told you how dangerous it was to go after someone like him! I told you but you didn't listen! Do you even think sometimes?"

"I'm thinking about shutting you up," replied Lynn.

"Responding with your fists instead of your brain? Look where that got you."

"You'll be sitting in a bed next to me if you–!"

"Woah, woah, relax, kids!" interrupted Rita. "Everyone's tired, I know I am. But if we can just listen to each other and not cause another scene, that would be great."

Lynn and Lori nodded. However, Lynn refused to talk. Lincoln stepped in.

"Look, the way Lynn approached this was wrong. But she did have a good reason to suspect Richard was a threat. Lynn, tell them."

"Lisa's glasses. As you know, they can record videos and shit."

"Language!" said Lynn Sr.

"Sorry. Anyways, this is what we saw…"

Carol cleaned Richard's wound on his calf and wrapped another bandage around it. Richard continued to look at Carol while George and Sergei stood next to the door.

"Look what she did to me. You're hearing this, George?"

George stared at him without moving his head.

"Looks like someone believed in false accusations. This is exactly what I feared. So stupid. I should've talked to Lynn first. But I don't think it would've helped. Her mind was made up. In her eyes, I killed the boy back in Medway."

George looked away.

"Hey, George. Look at me. You believe me, right?"

"You're not lying," replied George.

Carol grabbed a small flashlight. She leaned close to Richard and pointed it at his eyes. Lisa then entered the room.

"Destroy glasses," whispered Richard. "Don't make it obvious. Seven o'clock."

Carol turned off her flashlight and moved her body around, rubbing her own eyes.

"Looks like your eyes dilate just fine–"

Carol bumped into Lisa, causing her glasses to fall. She then stumbled around and walked over her glasses.

"Oh my god! I'm sorry, Lisa!"

"Ow. Don't worry about an accidental occurrence. I'll be able to repair the lenses on my spectacles. Take a break before you suffer from burnout, Carol."

"Oh. Is it that obvious?"

David walked around. His blind eye caused him to ignore the most dangerous threat to his community. He considered exiling Richard, but without proof, he wouldn't be able to convince the Houlton civilians. Still, he didn't want to exile Richard. Part of him wanted to believe that it was just a huge misunderstanding.

He waited for Lisa to arrive with her glasses so he could see for himself. Lisa then entered the room.

"Am I in the correct room?" Lisa asked Sergei. "Okay. Apologies, everyone. My lens have shattered, therefore you, David, are unable to see the video clips for the time being. It will take me a week to completely repair the lens to its full functionality."

"That son of a bitch!" yelled Lynn.

"Lynn!" exclaimed Rita.

"No, I know Richard did this! Go, David, find out!"

David, Lori, and Sandy walked to the room where Richard was held. Richard smiled and waved at the three of them.

"Didn't think you guys wanted to see me," said Richard. "Especially you, Lori."

"Cut the crap," said David. "You knew. You knew what was in those glasses."

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Richard.

"You broke Lisa's glasses, that's what the fuck I'm talking about!"

"David!" exclaimed George. "He didn't break her glasses. He lied in the bed this whole time. Carol broke 'em, but it was an accident."

"Doesn't seem like an accident to me," said Lori.

"What?" chuckled Richard. "You think I knew Carol was going to be exhausted? That I remained here, hoping she would break Lisa's glasses? Kinda lucky of me, don't you think?"

Lori walked away. Richard looked at David.

"You're a menace to these people," said David. "The people are going to decide whether you should be exiled or not."

"I can't believe you choose to believe a bunch of kids over me. She attacked me first. I defended myself. If anything, Lynn should be exiled. But you won't do that right? 'Cause if you do, Lori will leave, then her family would leave, and you know you need them. They became your friends, David. But what have I become?"

"I truly don't know," said David.

-Six Days Later-

The community gathered together at the park in the center of town. David stood next to Dr. White, wearing a blue long-sleeve button-up shirt under a waxed-brown field jacket. Lori and the rest of the gang gathered up in the front of the crowd with their winter clothing.

David looked around the crowd. He sighed and began speaking. He told them the complete story and answered all the questions the civilians had. He tried to stay unbiased, but found it hard to trust Richard at his word.

"Now that you all know all the details about what happened, I need you to decide."

"Wait!" yelled Richard.

Richard limped around with a wooden cane while George stood next to him.

"Everyone, look at me!" he yelled. "Are you just going to believe the words that came out of David's mouth? In case, you haven't noticed, I had two arrows stuck into my body. Lynn, my attacker, had the intent to kill me! I mean, how many of you believe I'm an actual threat?"

Richard looked around at the crowd. All of them stared at him, but did not express an answer.

"There's no evidence that I caused harm to anyone maliciously! Hey, you, Sandy! If someone pulled shot you with an arrow and clearly intended to kill you, are you just going to let 'em do just that? You guys are telling me I'm in the wrong for trying to defend myself? Let me ask you guys this! What would you do if someone attacked you?"

The crowd murmured among themselves.

"Is that how you're going to survive?" added Richard. "Just 'cause she's a little girl doesn't mean shit! Now, you, David! What say you? Boot me out or kick out the real threat?"

The crowd looked at David. He looked at them and knew that they weren't going to make the choice. They were looking up to him.

"You're staying… for now," he said. "But you're not getting off that easy."

Lynn looked down. Richard grumbled.

"Everyone can go home now," said Dr. White. "David, I'll make sure Haley keeps him in line."

The people left the park slowly. Even Richard walked away from the field, heading back to the infirmary. The Louds stayed.

"No," replied David. "I'm thinking about placing him in the prison. You too, Lynn."

"What? Why!" she yelled.

"It's just until Lisa fixes the glasses. Once I see evidence, you'll be set free."

"Please don't do that!" exclaimed Lynn Sr. "There's gotta be another way to approach this!"

"House arrest!" gasped Lincoln. "Please let us keep her inside the house! We promise she won't leave until you decide to free her!"

Lori crossed her arms and looked at David. He exhaled deeply and nodded. He walked away from the park.

The Louds went home. Rita and Lynn Sr. walked to their bedroom. They closed the door and lied on their bed.

"It's what we feared," said Rita.

"Things aren't going to normal," whimpered Lynn Sr. "Are my girls too far gone?"

David arrived at the infirmary at nighttime. He walked to Richard's room. George and Sergei stood by the door, knowing what David was going to do. Punishment arrived for Richard.

Richard stood up from his bed.

"I know what's gonna to happen," he said. "The confrontations won't stop. Everyone's out to get me and I don't even know why."

"No one is out to get you," said David. "It's your behavior. It changed. It makes people feel uncomfortable. You became somewhat… unpredictable."

"You don't know what it's like to lose the one you love. Sandy is still alive and well. Look, David, I want to spare you some time and effort. You ain't gonna punish me. Can't punish someone who doesn't belong to the community. I don't belong."

"Not true."

"I'm leaving. No one's exiling me. No one's punishing me. I'm going out there and I'm going to live my life. I'm sorry, but I cannot live here under your weak leadership. You're a soldier, David, not a leader."

"Might not be a leader, but I'm a Marine, Richard. That's what I am," said David. "You're leaving now?"

Richard walked out the door with his wooden cane. George prepared to follow him, but David grabbed his shoulder and shook his head. Before leaving the infirmary, Richard made a quick glance at David.

"You'll learn you ain't a good leader when you lose the love of your life," he said before leaving.

Richard grabbed his clothes and his revolver from his house. He opened a drawer and grabbed a lighter. Then, he grabbed Bill's Ruger 10/20. He limped out of his house.

Richard left the town after going through the same gate that allowed him and his former groupmates to enter Houlton for the first time. After walking for half an hour, he came upon a car. He opened the passenger door and took a seat, placing his bag and cane in the back seats.

Carol started the car and drove into the road. She and Richard headed west, leaving Houlton behind.

-One Day Later-

David and Dr. White stood in the exact spot as yesterday with the exact clothes and with the same crowd of people listening to them. Only now, it was snowing harder. David held Lisa's glasses on his right hand.

"I have to update all of you on some… changing events," stated David.

The heavy snow has not yet taken its toll on southern Maine where Jace walked his motorcycle. He scanned the city of Portland, finding flattened fences, bodies of Maine State Guard soldiers, and weapons in the ground. Many body of roamers with stab wounds in their skull lied outside a certain apartment building.

Jace set his motorcycle in the sidewalk outside of the apartment building. He grabbed his bag and flashlight.

He walked inside the building and found an empty ground floor. There were empty bottles and cans lying in the ground. He walked to the patio in the middle of the building and found a burnt out campfire.

Upstairs, Jace found the hallways clear of roamers and the rooms neatly kept. After checking the entire building, he set his bag down in the ground floor and grabbed his crowbar.

He walked to the department store and smiled as he remembered shopping here once with his older sister.

The door was open. Bones sat on the sidewalk and the fluids of the roamers stained the entire floor of the store. Jace peeked inside and only found clothing.

He decided to scan the perimeter of the building before looting it. He came across an alleyway and found ripped clothing on a corpse. The entire front part of its head and body was ripped off. Bullet casings and a bag lied next to the body.

Jace felt the hair in his arms raise up as he leaned close to the bag. His eyes were fixated on the body until he took the bag.

He quickly walked out of the alley and checked inside the bag. He found MREs and boxes of ammunition. The boxes were marked with the seal of Maine.

He brought the bag inside the apartment building. The snow fell quickly, leading Jace to make a decision.

"We're going to stay here for the winter," Jace told his lizards in his backpack.

Jace set his backpack against the wall, allowing his pet lizards to crawl out. He lied in the floor and closed his eyes. He had little hope that his family were in Portland.

The heavy snow finished its torment on the community in Houlton by afternoon. Many of the civilians shoveled snow out of the roads inside of Houlton. Some civilians, like the Louds, were shoveling snow outside of the town. Their goal was to clear the snow out of the hill so that the cars were able to pass through it easily.

"You know, according to Lisa, today is the first day of 2017," said Lori.

"2016. What a year. It went to a bloody shambles," mumbled Luna.

"It wasn't half-bad," said Luan.

"Stay positive, guys," reassured Leni. "Maybe this year won't be so bad."

Leni looked at her parents and noticed they didn't listen to her. Or any of the girls. They shoveled the snow without saying a word. Leni looked down and continued to shovel the snow with Lori.

Lynn and Lincoln were in the woods. Lynn only carried a knife while Lincoln carried an M9 pistol. Lynn looked around the snowy woods and exhaled a large breath of cold air.

"Lynn, there's no use in looking for him," said Lincoln. "He left yesterday. He's gone already!"

"You don't think he'll just leave like that, right?" replied Lynn. "That it's all over?"

"No, but do you want to get in more trouble?"

"As long as he is out there, the Santiagos will always be in danger! You don't have to be here, you know. Just hand me your gun and go."

"No, I only came with you to make sure you don't do something stupid," explained Lincoln. "Now, why don't you sit down and relax like you said you would?"

Lynn continued to tread around the woods. Lincoln shook his head and followed her. She looked at the ground and attempted to find tracks. And she did.

Lynn followed the footprints in the snow and found out that she moved back to where she originally started every few minutes. She stopped and tapped Lincoln while looking up at a hill.

"Give me your gun," whispered Lynn.

"No! There's no one here, Lynn!"

Lynn pulled Lincoln back. A rogue soldier revealed himself from the top of the hill and shot at the kids. The snow puffed like ash and chunks of bark flew out of the trees. Lynn and Lincoln ran away from the hill. Two more rogue soldiers slid down from the hill.

"Here you go!" yelled Lincoln, handing Lynn his gun.

Lynn grabbed the gun and shot two bullets behind her. The rogues let off more shots near the kids, frightening them back to the town.

"You hear that?" asked Rita.

Lori grabbed a small revolver from inside her jacket and walked to the woods.

"Lori, where are you going?" cried out Lynn Sr.

"Mom! Dad! Leni! Follow Luan! Luan, get 'em inside Houlton! Now! Luna, come with me!"

Luan and Luna nodded. Luan unsheathed her katana and ditched her shovel. Lori and Luna ran into the woods, leaving their shovels behind on the road.

A few rogues appeared from above the hill in the road and fired onto the civilians. One of the rogue soldiers tossed a smoke grenade near the front gates before his squad fired at it.

"This way!" shouted Luan.

Luan led her parents and Leni into the woods to her left. She knew which way was going to get her to the other gate, the west-rear gate.

David ran to the front gates with George. He heard gunshots going off outside of the fences and saw smoke in front of the entrance gate.

"George, run to the gates and make sure people get in here safely!"

David ran around ordering some of the civilians to guard the gates. Many of them were either unarmed or too afraid. More gunshots went off.

Sandy, Buck, and Pike ran towards David with their tactical gear. David held Sandy closely and looked at the smoke growing higher.

"Those must be the rogues," said Sandy.

"Where do you want us?" asked Pike.

David looked at the east part of town and noticed that some civilians were scrambling to defend their homes. He then turned to the west part and noticed that the other civilians were firing aimlessly at the fences.

"He ain't saying anything yet!" exclaimed Buck.

"Alright, you go up the platform. Puck, go to military zone. I'll make sure you have backup!"

Buck and Pike ran to their positions. David looked at the front gates and noticed Lynn and Lincoln running back inside Houlton.

"Honey! Get some members of your group to cover Pike! Honey! David!"

"Oh, uh… I'm sorry."

He turned on his walkie-talkie and ordered Becky to cover Pike and spread the news to her friends.

Lori and Luna continued to search for the source of the gunshot. Luna found footprints and followed them, splitting away from Lori. She noticed that the footprints ran along the direction back to Houlton.

The rogues shot at Luna, pushing her further and further away from Lori. They also shot near Lori, forcing her to run up the hill in the woods.

"Ah, you bloody cunts!" yelled Luna as she ran out of ammo in her pistol.

She tried to look for Lori in the white woods, but a gunshot to a tree next to her forced her to run back to Houlton.

Lori trudged up the hill and looked below for the rogue soldiers. However, she was tackled by one of the attackers and she dropped to the snowy base of the hill. Groaning from the fall, Lori found herself surrounded by three rogue soldiers.

Luan lead her parents and Leni towards the west-rear gate. She found a roamer attempting to attack her, but the snow proved to be a hurdle for the undead monster. Luan walked close to it and slashed its head off.

"We're close," said Luan.

"I'm sure you are," said Brick, one of the rogues.

Luan held her katana in front of her and stumbled around only to realize that the rogues surrounded her parents, Leni, and her.

Another rogue, Hoover, grabbed Luan and placed his arms around her neck. Placed under a rear naked choke, Luan immediately dropped her katana and clawed Hoover's arm.

"No! Let go of her!" yelled Lynn Sr. "Stop!"

Rita held Leni close to her while they watched Luan struggle to set herself free. She then lost consciousness and Hoover dropped her to the snow-covered ground.

"Move," said one of the rogues.

Rita and Leni looked back at the barrel of a gun and began following the rogues. Brick grabbed Lynn Sr.'s back and forced him to move while Hoover carried Luan away from the west-rear gate. Another rogue took Luan's katana and brought it with him to the trip back to their camp.

One of the rogues blindfolded and gagged Lori while another tied her hands with a zip tie. They picked her up to her feet and held her arms, leading her to a truck.

Lori struggled to set herself free until she felt the cold barrel of an M4 carbine. The rogues climbed up the hill and signaled their buddies to cease their fire.

David and Luna ran together to the military zone with the intent to guard Houlton using the guard towers in the Units. Luna used David's M110 sniper rifle which she found herself using it more than David.

David on the other hand used his M40 sniper rifle that Sandy held in the armory for him.

Both Luna and David found it time-consuming to place armor on themselves but they knew it was necessary if they didn't want their organs shot out. After they were done, they climbed up the guard towers in Unit A and aimed into their scopes.

Luna looked into the smoke and only found a few heat signatures, one she assumed was George.

David scouted around the smoke, on the hill, and the woods. However, he couldn't find anyone.

The ceasefire left both David and Luna on edge as they waited for the crack of a gun. Time dragged on and they still couldn't find a rogue soldier. And they also couldn't find Lori, Leni, Luan, and their parents.

"David!" shouted Luna from her guard tower. "They left! We gotta go after them!"

"What did you say?" shouted David.

"What?" shouted back Luna.

David patted his gear and noticed that he didn't carry his walkie-talkie this time around.

"Shit!" yelled David.

"I'm not going to sit!" yelled Luna.

David and Luna met up with the rest of the community. Unrest grew by the hour as Bobby and Becky proposed to search for Lori and the others.

"No, you can't go!" said David. "It could be– it is a trap! They're waiting for us on the other side!"

"They got Lori!" yelled Bobby.

"Leni and Carol are gone as well!" cried out Becky.

"Luan and her parents! I don't see them anywhere!" shouted Benny.

"If we go out there now, we'll die!" exclaimed David. "You know how unprepared we are? We have to stay united right now! Defend Houlton! We don't know when the next attack will occur!"

"But what about–!" cried out Bobby.

"They're gone, Bobby! We go out there now, we'll be putting more lives on the line of fire!"

"They can't be dead!" exclaimed Lynn. "They weren't shooting to kill! Otherwise, Lincoln and I would've been corpses on the ground! They're still alive and we gotta save 'em now!"

"They're gonna have to hold on for now," said David. "I'm sorry but defending ourselves is our goal right now. We'll save them soon! They'll be back here before you know it, everyone!"

 **IV - Cold Days**

-Six Weeks Later-

She dug her fingers inside the can, trembling as she made contact with the cold metal. Lori grabbed a small piece of a bean and placed it inside her mouth. She dropped the can and lied on her narrow bed, hearing a scratchy cough in the cell next to her.

Leni fell off the bed, coughing her throat out on the concrete floor. When she stopped, she held her stomach and whimpered. The pain of hunger agonized the innocent girl and her close ones.

Luan looked at a dead rat from the corner of the room. She stared at it as her stomach rumbled. She then shook her head and kicked it out of the cell. She sat back on her bed and placed her necklace against her face.

Rita rubbed her freezing hands together. She breathed out a puff of air that held the remaining heat in her body.

Lynn Sr. lied on his bed, his eyes rested on the small, dim light bulb on the ceiling. His unshaved mouth was graying and seemed frozen. Leni's cough broke him out of his trance.

Footsteps hounded the prison. A man wearing the same tactical gear that Sandy wore back during the liberation of Houlton held a bucket. He tossed all sorts of grub at all the prisoners, including the Louds.

They quickly grabbed the canned food and chunks of bread from the cold floor before stuffing it in their mouths.

General Black and Major Brown walked into the prison. Black stopped at the adjacent cells that held the Louds.

"Didn't expect much from you people," said Black before turning to Lori. "You were never really a prisoner at Unit A. Can't believe I didn't see that. I didn't see who you truly were."

"Is that why we're here?" asked Lori. "You wanna know who we are?"

"Not necessary," said a woman in a slight Russian accent, near Lori's cell. "I know who you are, Lori Loud."

The woman wore black high-waisted cargo pants with leather boots and a leather jacket of the same color. She also sported a dark-green beret and a cobalt blue scarf that dug into her almost-completely zipped jacket. Her blonde hair matched Lori's hair– only shorter– and contradicted with her own style of clothing. However, she was slightly taller than Lori.

"How do you know my name?" asked Lori.

The woman held a folder. She grabbed a picture from the folder and showed it to Lori. It was a picture of her when she was in Detroit, when the guards asked her who she was.

"My name is Krissen. But that name doesn't matter to you now. What matters is what you know."

Lori felt her heart beat faster as her name bounced around her head. She had to remember that name.

"Hey, you listening to me right now? How did you know about Black and his operation in Houlton?" asked Krissen.

Lori stared at her eyes. Her icy eyes studied Lori's face.

"Won't speak? Okay. It's fine. Honored to meet you, Lori. You're a good survivor, and good survivors make up a good Earth."

Krissen looked at Black.

"Go ahead. Find out what we need to know. And then break her."

Krissen walked away with the men in tactical gear. She opened the door for the prison and walked to a nearby helicopter. The helicopter lifted her off the island that held the prison in the sea.

Black stared at Lori with the abyss in his left eye socket before leaving the prison.

Lori wondered where she was. She had no idea that she was more than a hundred miles away from Houlton.

Back in Houlton, the civilians longed for the return of Lori, Leni, Luan, Lynn Sr., Rita, and Carol.

Lynn sought comfort in Clyde. After weeks of Clyde using Dr. Lopez's therapy methods, Lynn learned to not blame herself. She knew it wasn't her fault.

Lana fell deeper into depression. Even though most of the civilians held hope for the five Louds and Carol, she was convinced that they were dead.

Luna found herself to be in charge of her siblings and spent most of her days watching over Lily and Lana. She wanted to scout the area around Houlton, but found it too painful to find no one.

Bobby and Lincoln spent their days formulating plans with David and George in their search for Lori and the others. Most of the old group would join in these searches, plus some of the civilians in Houlton.

Dr. White would assist by listing military bases and possible camps in Maine. Then, he would work with Lisa on other projects to keep Houlton standing. However, they also worked on a particular project that would help with the search.

"Dipole is necessary," said Lisa. "How many pennies can we find in this town?"

"Not a lot," replied Dr. White. "We have a whole lotta aluminum, though."

"I rather eat a roamer's eyeball than make an antenna with aluminum. Hmm. I have an idea. Why don't we collect the TVs and unused electronic devices in the town?"

"That's right. There's bound to be copper wires in those. Smart, Lisa."

Benny and Lynn walked inside the laboratory.

"How's the plan going?" asked Benny.

"We just started," said Dr. White.

"We're not going to Medway soon?" asked Lynn.

Lisa shook her head. Benny stormed out of the lab. Lynn followed him.

"Looks like we gotta do everything ourselves," said Benny. "Let's go."

"Go where?" asked Lynn.

Lynn and Benny walked out of the east gate. After an hour of walking in the ice and snow, Lynn and Benny arrived at a Canadian town that has been partially cleared out. Lynn held her bow while Benny carried his ninjato.

Benny found a roamer hanging from the branch of a tree. A noose tied around its neck. It stood still with frost in its body. However, its golden eyes still moved around and it growled faintly.

"I can sympathize with that roamer," said Benny. "Sad. Alone. Stuck in life. Nothing to live for."

"Benny…" whispered Lynn. "What am I doing here?"

"I considered it. Taking this roamer's place. But it's stupid. You're here because I wanted to prove to myself that I'm never alone. I won't forget, Lynn. I won't forget about my other family. Your family."

Lynn stood close to Benny and gave him a hug. After giving him a hug, Lynn grabbed an arrow from her quiver and drew it back in her bow. She loosed it and struck the roamer in the head, ending its misery.

Ronnie Anne reassured Bobby that he was going to find Lori.

"There's nothing she can't do," said Ronnie Anne.

Bobby felt much more comforted but at the end of the day, he failed to keep his promise. However, he didn't reveal it to anyone. He thought it was better that he kept it to himself.

Lincoln sat on his front porch. Clyde, Rusty, and Tabby reminded him that he had his other sisters to protect. After Clyde and Rusty left, Lincoln sat alone with Tabby. What felt different about this interaction was that the sense of awkwardness was nonexistent. Lincoln wanted someone to be with him.

"You're one of the strongest people I ever met," said Tabby. "Selfless in an apocalypse. You didn't deserve this."

Lincoln placed his head on his hand and felt the urge to hug Tabby. But he felt too depressed.

"You worked to find them. Worked real hard these past weeks. I'm so sorry you have to go through this. But your sisters. Your friends. We don't see you enough anymore. You leave town on a hunt that fails at the end of the day. The least you could do is take us with you."

"No. Your lives will be in danger out there," said Lincoln.

"What about your life, Linc? I really like you. I-I understand that this isn't really the right time to tell you, but I just wanted to be honest with you. I hate to see you like this."

Lincoln grabbed Tabby's hands. They both smiled at each other.

"I hear you," said Lincoln. "I'll calm down with the search. In those times I go out… you can come with me."

Ronnie Anne walked downstairs. She saw Clyde downstairs and wondered what he was doing home. Clyde told her that he and Rusty already tried to comfort Lincoln. She knew she could comfort him. After all, she was her closest friend besides Clyde.

Ronnie Anne walked out of the house and turned towards Lincoln's house. However, she found Lincoln holding Tabby's hands as they kissed each other softly.

The sting in her heart returned, and she walked back inside the house. She walked back upstairs, ignoring Clyde and lied on her bed.

"At least Lincoln's not depressed," she thought to herself.

-Three Weeks Later-

Black swung his Bowie knife downwards into the table, causing Leni to flinch. She yelped and struggled to set her hands free. The cuffs on her wrist were locked on to the table in a small cafeteria.

"So you have no idea why you went to Houlton? Not a goddamn clue?" yelled Black.

Leni shook her head. Black slammed his fist in the table. Leni flinched again and whimpered.

Lynn Sr. and Rita huddled together in the back of the cafeteria, begging Black to stop terrifying their daughter. Lori seethed at the sight of this interrogation. She knew Leni's mind was fragile, but Black was never going to get his answer because she just didn't know. However, Lori couldn't speak as the rogue soldiers held their weapons at the Louds, threatening to shoot them if they disrupted the interrogation.

Black took out his Desert Eagle. He cocked it and aimed it at Leni's head. Lynn Sr. and Rita cried out.

"Were you in Royal Woods the night after the Detroit bombings?" asked Black. "Yes or no?"

Black slammed the table again causing Leni to break down and sob. She dug her head into the table and released her tears into the table. Her blonde head offered itself to the barrel of the pistol.

"Answer me!"

"I don't remember!" sobbed Leni. "Please, mister! You have to believe me! I don't remember!"

"Please, don't do this!" shouted Rita. "It's not her fault she's forgetful!"

"I told you not to disrupt me!" yelled Black as he placed his Desert Eagle back into his holster. "Sergeants! Make 'em watch!"

Black grabbed his Bowie knife from the table and walked behind Leni. She pulled her hair back and placed his knife near her throat. Leni screamed.

"Shut up or I'll cut your throat right now!"

"Stop!" yelled Lori, now in tears. "It was in Ketcham Park! We were the ones who caused the fire there! We shot down your soldiers! And you guys left a whole bunch of shit in the little base of yours! T-T-There was a map! You had the town of Houlton marked!"

Black stared at Lori while the guards awaited an order. Leni hyperventilated, almost choking on her tears. Black released his grip on Leni's hair and moved the knife away from Leni.

"Who shot my eye out?" asked Black.

"David. David Jones."

"Ah… very well. I know his wife. She worked for me actually. But anyways… it's what I expected. I left that map there on purpose. Just wanted to see your mental breaking points."

Lori sighed in defeat. Black ordered the soldiers to stand down. He unlocked the handcuffs in the table and shoved Leni to the Louds.

Both rogue guards walked out of the cafeteria with Black. They locked the door and made sure every window and bars were locked down.

Leni held Lori tightly as the Louds hugged her. She felt Lori's warm chest and placed the right side of her face on it. She heard Lori's rapid heartbeat and continued to release her tears.

Luan saw gas spewing out from the vents in the top of the room. She warned the rest of the Louds. They huddled together, unable to prevent themselves from breathing in the gas. The gas sunk into the room and caused Lynn Sr., Rita, Lori, Luan, and Leni to fall unconscious after a few minutes.

The IV bags flowed steadily. The heart rate monitor displayed steady heartbeats. Lynn Sr.'s eyes remained in a trance. Rita was unable to move. Lori was unable to speak. Luan was unable to see. Leni was unable to hear. They were all in a semi-comatose condition. And they were all in a boat.

-Six Days Later-

Lori gasped as she woke up. The other Louds had bags over their heads while she didn't. She still had blindfolds on, but no gag. Then, the rogue soldiers removed the bags from Lynn Sr.'s head, then Rita, then Leni, then Luan, and then another prisoner.

"What? Where are we?" gasped Lori.

"The Wasteland," said Black as he removed her blindfolds.

Lori looked around. She couldn't believe her eyes.

There were enormous piles of junk, scraps, and garbage in the vast dustheap that stretched for miles. A dirt road was paved in the middle of the dumping ground. The stench was unbearable and the height of the platform on the top of a colossal pile made the Louds feel dizzy.

Lori also noticed a monumental herd with immeasurable amounts of roamers scattered around the Wasteland. She stumbled back and held back her vomit.

"You know that's how that other girl felt like when we were on the boat? Damn, she really needed that coma. Sit tight, everyone."

Black unlocked the gate surrounding the platform. The rogues and Black walked out, leaving the Louds behind with one prisoner inside.

The Louds looked at the prisoner. They found her wrapped in a blanket with her spiky hair in a ponytail.

"What's your name?" asked Lori.

"Name? Hana. Hana Konda."

The snow and ice melted in many areas though some were stubborn. However, as the snow and ice melted, the roamers became more active. And the roamers were active in Portland.

Five roamers were banging on the door of the apartment building near his motorcycle. Jace frantically searched the ground floor, looking for a weapon. He felt as if his crowbar and wrench weren't going to be enough. He then opened a drawer and found a can. He grabbed the can and almost tossed it against the wall when suddenly, he felt something heavy. He opened the lid and found a Colt M1911.

"Yes. This can work," whispered Jace as he opened the door.

He backed away and shot the pistol at the roamers. He cringed every time the blood from the roamers' brains splattered to the floor. Soon enough, all five roamers were on the ground.

"Okay," gasped Jace. "Bless you, whoever put that gun in there. I'll keep it there. In fact…"

Jace put the gun back into the drawer and took out a pen. He wrote on the can and placed the gun back inside it.

He wrote: Check Room 3A.

Jace, knowing that roamers were attracted to noise quickly dashed out of the room with his bag. He hopped into his motorcycle and escaped the dead streets of Portland.

He arrived at the main highway and checked his map. He was told not to go north, but the soldier seemed too suspicious for Jace. He turned right and headed north.

-Two Weeks Later-

The RV arrived outside of Bill's cabin. David, George, Dr. White, Lisa, Lynn, and Lincoln exited the RV, looking around the place that once felt safe. Now, the cabin felt eerie and ominous.

Before the gang entered the cabin, they were met with a welcome mat, something that they haven't seen before. David immediately took out his M9 and slowly opened the door.

The blood stains still remained on the wooden floor. The radios were intact and the furniture seemed unmoved. However, Zach's glasses sat on top of the military radio in the corner of the room.

"It's clear," said David. "Where do you guys want to build the antenna?"

Lisa walked around the cabin. She stared at the empty ground and looked above at the roof.

"The power source," said Lisa. "It seems to be missing."

"Someone took it," said Lynn.

"No, the power source just stood up and sauntered into the woods. Yes, of course someone took it!" said Lisa.

"Jesus, sorry," mumbled Lynn.

Lisa walked in circles, trying to figure out how to get a generator to power the radios and antenna.

"Solar power?" proposed Lisa. "I constructed a model of it back home. Works with more than quadruple the efficiency of modern solar panels. With the right materials, I could perhaps construct another model."

"Let's take the antennas back," said Lynn. "No doubt someone's gonna take 'em as well."

"Don't assume it's Richard," said Lincoln. "This could mean the rogues are nearby."

"They would've gone after the radios," said George. "This whole thing makes me feel uneasy. Let's go back home."

The gang returned back to the truck. Before the truck left the cabin, Lynn caught a peek of the trail to the pond and found a roamer hanging from a tree. She shuddered.

 **V - Broken**

In the Wasteland, thousands of roamers moved in different directions, causing clattering noises and preventing the prisoners from having a good sleep. However, the sun was high by now.

Lori found it strange that Hana never wanted to interact with her family. She always walked around the platform, looking around, searching for something.

"Where are you from?" asked Lori.

Hana continued to stare out the platform.

"Tokyo," she said.

"Oh, do you speak English?"

"Speak English? Not well."

Black entered the platform with Lead, Sturgess, and another rogue soldier.

"What do you expect from a Japanese girl?" said Black. "This one is dangerous. But her dog calms her down. Which is why we brought it here."

Sturgess lifted the cage and allowed Hana to see inside. Her dog whimpered softly.

"Kimi…"

"The dog will live if everyone listens to what I say," said Black.

The rogue soldier translated Black's words to Hana. She nodded.

"There is a small area in the Wasteland, over there," pointed out Black, "that we'll use to test out your fighting skills. Follow me."

Black and the rogue soldiers led Hana and the Louds down the stairs and through an enclosed and ventilated concrete tunnel. Black's voice echoed in the tunnel as he continued speaking.

"You survived seven months out there in the infected world. But how? If you fought off the infected, then you're useful. If you have trouble keeping their damn teeths out of your fucking skin, then… it's over for you. Not like this world needed you anyways."

The prisoners arrived at the small arena surrounded by mountains of trash. Broken chairs, scraps of used cars, piles of cartons, and more garbage were scattered around the dirt field. Makeshift seats were set up around the field, making it appear like a stadium.

"In here, each of you will face five infected ones or roamers," said Black. "You'll be unarmed at the initial start, but anything you find in this garbage pile, you can use to fight off the roamers, individually. Once you take out the five threats, you are to drop everything in your hands. If you're not bitten or scratched, then congratulations… you're useful."

Black stood in front of the prisoners with a clipboard. He then held out a picture of a prisoner.

"Luan Loud. You're up first."

The rogues grabbed Luan's arms and walked her down into the field. She was released and allowed to consider her options. Soon after, a gate from the opposite side was opened.

Five roamers walked out with their arms out and mouths salivating. They each wore a headband that were labeled with either the letters A, B, C, or D.

Luan ran around, looking for a weapon. The roamers were grouped together and followed Luan wherever she ran. She knew that running around wasn't going to be an option.

She found a broken broom handle, and thought it would be a great weapon to use against the roamers. A grenade would be a great weapon as well but she didn't know how she was going to avoid the shrapnel, so she just stuck with the broomstick. But something just didn't feel right.

She thought about Leni. She thought about how she wouldn't be able to fight off the roamers, so she constructed a plan so elaborate, the rogues wouldn't have a clue what was going occur.

She found a couple metal wires on a pile of trash. She broke her broomstick in half and placed the two sticks close to each other. After making them stand, she tied the wires around them.

The roamers approached her, causing Luan to grab a car door. The five roamers tripped on the wire and fell to the dirt. Luan thrusted the car door on their heads one by one, until all the roamers were eliminated.

"Tripwire," Luan whispered to herself. "I could've made a pun there."

Luan dropped the car door and looked at Black. He clapped softly while the rogue soldiers escorted Luan and the others out of the arena.

"Impressive. Next week, Rita Loud will go," said Black.

Hana and the Louds returned to the platform. They looked around the Wasteland and wondered what this entire month was going to hold for them. Apparently nothing, except punishment for the liberation in Houlton and the revolt in Royal Woods.

Luan tapped on Lori's shoulders.

"Did you see what I did there?" asked Luan.

"Yeah," replied Lori. "Must be the first day of April because that tripwire worked."

"Must be, right? Anyways, that was just a distraction."

"What do you mean?" asked Lori.

"I found a grenade inside the wheel next to the creepy mannequin. Now, your job is to tie the wire to the pin of the grenade without letting the rogues notice."

"That sounds like a wonderful plan, but why? Is this some sort of escape plan?" asked Lori.

"No, this is for Leni. She can't kill roamers. But she doesn't have to. Just like what I did there, she just needs to get five roamers to trip on the wire. Then, the grenade will explode and she'll be saved!" explained Luan.

Lori smiled. She shook Luan's hands in approval and informed the others of the plan. The others except Hana, who watched the roamers wander around in the Wasteland.

Next week, Rita was able to kill off five roamers with a pan. She smashed their heads over and over until they no longer moved.

In the following week, Lynn Sr. used a tiny rake to kill his five roamers. He swung it at the roamers and beat them with it until the rake pierced through their skulls, effectively ending them.

The week after, Hana found a wooden chair. She stomped on one of its leg, causing it to split from the chair. She grabbed the leg and sharpened it with the metal body of a car. After sharpening it, she stuck it on one roamer after another.

She then aimed the leg at the rogues and almost tossed it at them. However, Black held Kimi and rubbed his head before threatening to break the dog's neck.

She dropped the wooden leg and was beaten down by the rogue soldiers. She was then carried out of the arena.

In the final week of April, Lori ran around in zigzags, causing the roamers to scatter. She then quickly dug her hands in the wheel next to the mannequin and grabbed the grenade. She hid it inside her sweater and found another weapon to fight off the roamers.

After tying the pin of the grenade to the wire, she covered it with a plastic bag and immediately stood up to keep the roamers off of the wire. She stabbed them with the screwdriver that she found in the floor and proved herself worthy to Black.

"Very well," said Black. "Next week, the final week, the fighter in the arena will be Leni Loud!"

Next week, the Louds went over the plan with Leni. They knew that this was a risky plan with risky results and the chance of Leni messing it up was very high. However, they went step by step to make sure the grenade goes off when Leni was safe.

Hana and the Louds arrived at the arena once again, this time with Leni in the scrap field. The five roamers were released and Leni had to act fast.

Already, Leni forgot where the tripwire was, so she ducked and looked around. The roamers were mere inches away from her when she found the tripwire. She dashed towards the tripwire and tripped.

The Louds gasped. However, they noticed that Leni tripped on a small can and not on the tripwire, causing the Louds to sigh in relief. Leni carefully walked over the tripwire and waited for the roamers to walk on it.

The roamers tripped on the wire, and Leni stood near the ground, watching the roamers struggle to get up. She looked at her family and saw them flailing their hands. She quickly realized she had to move, and so she jumped behind the car body.

Three seconds passed, and nothing occurred. Leni looked at the tripwire and found the pin on the floor. However, the grenade remained intact and in the floor, being useless.

"It didn't work…" gasped Luan.

"Of course it didn't," said Black. "We're not stupid. We told you we wanted to test your skills out, individually. Now look at poor Leni. Relied on her sisters way too much. She doesn't realize that her sisters will not always be there for her in the real world."

Leni covered her head and cowered to her knees as the roamers approached the body of the car. The roamers turned towards Leni and were ready to grab her.

"Leni, move!" yelled Lori.

"No, Leni!" yelled Rita. "Get out!"

Leni's eyes widened. In her eyes was a reflection of the surrounding roamers. They held out their arms and crouched to grab Leni.

Suddenly, the reflection in her eyes showed bullets tearing through the roamers' heads. She covered her face with her arms as the blood splattered onto her hair.

She shrieked as she noticed blood dripping from her beautiful hair. She then turned towards Black who held his Desert Eagle aimed near Leni.

The Louds looked at Black with surprise. Hana only huffed at the sight of seeing someone so weak. And so did Black.

"So, you're as useful as a shitbird," said Black. "Such a waste. Your youthful and attractive qualities would've made you the perfect candidate to pass down genetics. But why else should you live?"

Black aimed his handgun at Leni.

"For me!" yelled Lori. "She needs to live for me! She is my main motivation for living in this hellish world! My entire family is."

Black looked at Lori. She noticed that he didn't lower his gun yet.

"You want me to live don't you?" said Lori. "You want me to be your prisoner? Fine! But please let my sister live. Please, I'm begging you."

Black placed his pistol back into his holster. He grabbed Sturgess and Lead and gave them an order. Sturgess and Lead nodded and walked behind Lori.

"What I'm doing… it's for the good of humanity," said Black. "This world was already infected before the dead came back from life. Plagued by weak people. Not having a fucking clue on how to defend their own asses. But this infection, it's the solution."

Sturgess and Lead grabbed Lori's arms as Lynn Sr., Rita, Luan, and Hana watched.

"Every single person in the world was going to die through from the stupidity of mankind. So we let nature take over."

"How is this nature?" exclaimed Lori. "The infection was literally man-made!"

"Yet, evolution is taking its course! The infection will create a new world that only the strongest can evolve to adapt to. People like Leni… well they die! People like you… they adapt… they change… they do anything to survive the new world… because that's the way nature works. That's survival of the fittest."

"Thanks, Darwin, but you're not helping your case," replied Lori. "You literally slaughtered hundreds of people and for what? You never gave 'em a chance to survive!"

Sturgess and Lead escorted Lori down to the scrap field. Lead stayed by Lori and took out his own pistol. He loaded the gun and removed the magazine, leaving only one bullet in the chamber.

"That's where you're wrong," said Black. "You see, people should've known better than to go to a city for a safe-zone. Detroit was never going to be safe. The herd of roamers were going to break down our fences soon anyways. However, the children couldn't disobey their parents especially in times of disorder… so I chose to spare them. Why should they die for something they weren't in control of?"

Sturgess handed Leni his gun with a full magazine. Leni trembled as she held the gun.

"That's why you bombed the buildings," said Lori. "So we would have to fight the herd."

"Yes, you are seeing my plan clearly now!" exclaimed Black. "But people like Leni aren't part of the plan."

Lori looked at her pistol. She considered shooting at Black. But with only one bullet, there was only so much she could do. And she didn't like what Black was going to order her to do.

"Lori. In order for you to prove your worth in this new world, you're going to have to lose a piece of your humanity. You can't let people like Leni hold you back. When they do, your family pays the price."

Black turned towards Leni.

"However, I'm willing to give you a chance!" yelled Black. "If you can take the life of one of these fine people, then you'll prove to me that you have potential. Or if you want to, take the life of that Japanese bitch! She's a threat to you and your family!"

" _Fakku_!" yelled Hana. " _Anata wa jigoku de kusatte shimaimasu_!"

"What the hell did she say?" yelled Black.

"Either she's damning you to hell or she thinks you're a wonderful man," said one of the rogues.

"Tell her I said thanks," Black replied before turning to Lori. "You shoot Leni, you and your family survives! If you don't, one member of your family will die! And you'll probably lose sleep after this! If neither one of you shoot, then I'll slaughter both of you, then your family! I'm gonna give Leni five seconds!"

Sturgess and Lead headed back to the seats. They had their weapons aimed at Leni. Lynn Sr., Rita, and Luan watched in pure horror. Hana kept her mean face on and prepared to have her life taken by an innocent girl.

"Five!" yelled Black.

Lori gulped and began to hyperventilate. She eyed Black and shook her head softly.

"Four!"

Leni lifted her gun and began to break down in tears.

"Three!"

"I'm sorry, Mom, Dad, Luan. I'm so sorry!" sobbed Leni.

Lori wiped her eyes and moved her hair to the side. She saw her family in the corner of her eyes, weeping and holding each other. She lifted her gun and aimed at Leni.

"Two!"

"I can't! I'm sorry! Lori, just do it!"

"It's alright, Leni! It's alright! Just look at me!"

Leni's arms remained in the air. She gasped as she found the gun aimed at her.

"One!"

"I love you, Leni!" said Lori.

Lori shifted her gun and pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through the air and struck Leni's pistol, slapping it out of her hand. Leni flinched and was then tackled by Lori.

Lori quickly picked Leni up and placed her behind the body of the car. Leni gasped in relief and held Lori tightly.

The rogues fired onto the body of the car. The spectators seemed surprised while Black seemed astonished. He raised his right fist up and clenched them.

The rogues walked down the stairs with Black. Leni felt Lori's heart beat faster. Lori continued to hold Leni tight. Sweat formed on her head and she sighed in defeat.

The rogues walked to the body of the car. Lori gave Leni a quick kiss on her cheek and moved her head onto her chest.

Black slowly clapped as he looked at the frightened sisters.

"You really love your family, don't you, Lori?" he remarked. "That was clever. But it's– we still need to come into some sort of understandment."

"I'm not going to kill my family," hissed Lori. "And you stay the hell away from them!"

"Don't worry. There are other ways to prove your worth. Sturgess, pick Leni up and return her with her family."

Lori squinted his eyes and began breathing faster.

"Unharmed," said Black.

Sturgess grabbed Leni and escorted her back to the seats. Lead picked up Lori before heading back to the seats.

"As far as you know, I'm the only danger to your family now," said Black, taking off his uniform. "So why don't you protect your family by stopping me? Fight for them."

Black was a bit rugged for a man his age. He handed his beret, his coat, and his weapons to the rogue who also served as his translator.

"I can punch you?" smirked Lori. "I've been waiting a long time for–"

Black landed a powerful blow with his fist on Lori's face. She stumbled back to the car and found herself punched again in the chest. She grasped her chest as she tried to regain the air that was knocked out of her windpipe.

Black spun and kicked Lori in the head. She fell onto a pile of plastic bottles and gasped. Lori rubbed her head and growled.

Lori stood up and lunged towards Black. However, he quickly blocked her punches and instead kicked her in her stomach, causing her to lower herself. He then grabbed her neck and placed her under a choke hold.

"You're not putting up much of a fight," commented Black. "You don't love your family?"

Lori quickly moved back and caused Black to stumble to the body of the car. A shard of metal from the car stabbed Black in his hip, allowing Lori to escape his grip. He yelled and chased after Lori.

"Can't even land one hit!" yelled Black.

Lori picked up a metal pipe and swung it around Black. He attempted to block it with his hands, but it was too much for his palms to take, so he pulled them back. He then waited until Lori made a hard swing.

Lori swung the metal pipe with both of her hands, but Black quickly pushed it out of the way and slammed his knuckles on Lori's neck. He kicked and punched and beat and smacked Lori around until she was bleeding.

Lynn Sr. and Rita found it very hard to watch their daughter beaten by their captor. Luan and Leni watched with a face that expressed massive guilt. Even Hana felt bad for Lori as she was losing badly to the general.

"C'mon, get up!" yelled Black. "Is that all you got! Your family will die out there!"

Lori placed her hands on the ground and spat out the blood from her mouth. She stood up and swung her right foot towards Black's crotch. However, he grabbed her foot and kept his grip on it.

"Low blow," said Black. "You're not worthy of this world yet."

Black walked Lori back to a pile of trash and shoved her there. She landed on a wheel and tipped over a mannequin, causing it to fall on her.

"The world never stopped beating everyone to the ground," stated Black. "You see that now, right?"

"Go… to… hell…" groaned Lori.

Black growled and lifted Lori up. He swung his fists on Lori's face, causing blood to splatter all over his hands. Lori tried to block the punches, but at this point, her brain was just trying to keep her awake.

Black dropped Lori to the ground and went with her, slamming his fists on her stomach. Tears formed in her eyes as Black continued his brutal beating. She wasn't trying to hit Black anymore. She was trying to survive now.

Lori kicked up to no avail. Black grabbed Lori's arms and twisted them.

Lori's screams flew through the Louds' ears. It echoed inside their heads.

"Enough!" yelled Lori. "Stop!"

"Life doesn't stop, Lori! It keeps on pushing and pushing until you break!"

Lori felt her shoulders dislocating. Hana cringed while Luan and Leni joined their parents in looking away.

Lori let out one loud scream as her shoulders twisted before losing her voice. The tears continued to run down her bloody cheeks as she fell to the ground. Black turned her over with his feet so she could see his face one more time.

"And that… was your physical breaking point. Life is hard, isn't it? Try not to fall asleep. I'll get a medic here soon."

Black groaned as his knuckles were dislocated. However, in his eyes, he didn't go too far. He pushed Lori just right.

Lori looked at the moving clouds in the sky.

Her breaths moved as peaceful as the winds in the Wasteland.

Her heart beat as slow as the birds hovering above Lori.

"Oh my gosh, I hope he didn't hurt you too bad," said a familiar voice.

Lori turned her face to her right and found Lola standing above her, glowing a special kind of bright light.

"You almost died," said her other deceased sister. "But your will to live. It saved you."

Lori blinked rapidly. Lola smiled while Lucy knelt down and felt her head.

"What you were willing to do for Leni's survival," said Lucy, "we felt that. It's that same will you had back then."

"No, it wasn't," sniffled Lori. "I let you guys die. I just got lucky this time."

"Luck played no part," said Lola. "You learned from our… Lucy can you say it?"

"Deaths."

"Yeah, that. You're only human, Lori. Please don't blame yourself for what happened to us."

"Not every death is your fault," said Lucy.

Lola placed her hands on her neck and her head. She then uncovered her neck, revealing a bite mark, and her head, revealing a large wound. Lucy moved her bangs and showed Lori her gunshot wound before turning around and exposing her bite marks on her neck.

"These were caused by monsters," said Lola. "Monsters like that old general."

"You should be taking credit for saving the life of Leni. And Mom and Dad. And Luna, Luan, Lynn, Lincoln, Lana, Lisa, and little Lily."

"How do I stop this monster?" asked Lori.

"Just like you would stop any monsters," said Lola. "Not alone. Face them with family!"

Lucy looked at Lynn Sr., Rita, Luan, and Leni.

"Even if they don't stick around forever," said Lucy before turning back to Lori. "See you soon."

"W-What? Am I– am I going to die?" asked Lori.

"No," said Lola. "Unfortunately. See you soon."

"Wait, don't go," groaned Lori. "Please stay. I miss you guys so much. Please stay… with me."

Lori blinked. Lola and Lucy were gone.

Lori lied on the ground while her family and Hana walked down to the field. The rogues allowed them to talk to Lori while they waited for the medic.

Lori's parents coughed and tried to hold their tears back. They knelt down to their daughter who was clearly distraught by what she experienced.

"Mom. Dad. I'm okay. Lola and Lucy… they made me feel better."

"What? W-Where are they?" asked Lynn Sr.

"Nevermind. Just… stay here with me."

"Oh, Lori. We're so sorry this happened to you," sniffled Rita.

"Is it true?" whispered Lori. "Am I not worthy of this world? I couldn't even land a single punch on Black."

"He's not right in the head," said Rita. "He's wrong about you. You're like your Pop-Pop. He always fought for the people he loved. And he protected them. He might've been just a soldier to some others… but he was my leader."

"You're the best leader we can imagine," said Lynn Sr. "You were always in charge for a reason. Don't let whatever Black said or do discourage you from taking on this world!"

"This isn't over, Lori," said Luan. "We're going to kick his ass! Make him pay for what he did to you!"

"There's the girl!" Black told the medic. "Think you can help her, Donovan?"

"I can try."

Before Donovan placed Lori on a stretcher, Leni leaned in close to her sister and whispered to her.

"Lola and Lucy looked beautiful. They went to the sky. Believe me, I saw them."

Lori gasped as Donovan placed her on the stretcher. Hana looked at Lori and made a small bow.

" _Arigato_."

Donovan followed Black out of the arena along with the rogue soldiers and their prisoners. Donovan then separated himself from the others and followed a different path in the tunnel. It lead to the dirt road with a truck on the trail. He placed Lori inside the truck. He then ordered the driver to head back to the closest base.

The motorcycle moved through the empty roads of Maine. Jace looked around the towns in Aroostook County, but could not find his family.

He looked around in Medway, but found the hanging roamers in the tree very creepy. An encounter with two survivors drove him out of the quiet town. The blond man with a messy beard and a young blonde woman tried to kill Jace, but he was able to drive away before their bullets ever reached him.

Jace then headed to Houlton and its surrounding towns, beginning to lose hope for his family. He drove up the hill and saw fences around the small town, leading him to smile.

"Someone's coming," said David.

"Gents from Michigan can hear that motorcycle!" said Luna, giving Lily to Lincoln. "Go back, dudes! I gotta take care of this!"

Lincoln grabbed Lily. Lynn and Lincoln ran back home, running into Lana and Lisa along the way.

David and Sandy ran to the front gate. They saw Luna peeking through it while holding a pistol. Pike remained in the platform and kept his gun aimed at the visitor.

"Stop, right there!" yelled Pike.

Jace slowed his motorcycle until he came to a complete stop. He exited the motorcycle and placed his arms up.

"I'm not here to harm anyone!" exclaimed Jace. "I'm looking for my family!"

George opened the gate slightly and walked towards Jace. He kept his arms up while George patted him down.

Jace looked inside the fences. People were staring at him while he gazed in wonder. He thought that this was where his family was going to be at.

"Who are you?" asked David.

"My name's Jace Taylor. I'm sixteen years old. I used to live in Augusta. And I'm looking for my family."

George placed his hands on Jace's backpack and shouted. He immediately dropped his backpack and pointed his gun at it.

"Woah, woah, chill!" exclaimed Jace, ducking to his bag. "They're my lizards, Lizzie and Izzy!"

Jace held up his reptiles and made a sheepish smile. Lana looked at the gate through her window and silently walked out of her house.

"This weirdo checks out," said George.

"Hey, I'm not a weirdo! Can we come inside?" asked Jace. "I just got back from a really long trip and I'm mad tired."

"Do we bring him in?" Sandy asked David.

"Remember the three questions I told you about?" reminded David. "Here is when it comes in handy."

David walked forward.

"How many roamers have you killed?"

"By roamers you mean…"

"The zombies," said Luna.

Jace looked at her and then at David before smiling.

"About twenty," he answered.

"How many people have you killed?" asked David.

"None, what, do I look that intimidating?"

"Why?"

"Why I haven't killed anyone? What kinda question is that?"

"Answer the damn question!"

"Chill! Killing is bad! I mean, isn't that obvious?"

"You haven't been out that much, have you?" asked Luna.

"I have. Since, probably, I don't know, the third week of the apocalypse? Look I don't know what you guys went through, but I haven't met a lot of people out there."

"Makes sense," said George. "You didn't have a single gun on you. Just a crowbar."

"Why don't you come inside?" said David. "But walk your bike. We don't need the noise."

Jace was given a home to rest in. He met some of the people in Houlton and ate dinner with Dr. White, Haley, David, Sandy, George, and Luna.

"So you said you were looking for your family?" asked Sandy.

Jace nodded. He reached into his pockets and took out a picture of his family.

"That's my mom, my dad, and my older sister. I was really hoping that I saw them here, but I haven't yet."

"I'm sorry," said David. "We haven't seen 'em."

"You know," said Luna, "we're searching for some people ourselves. I also need help finding my mom and dad and three of my sisters. A friend of my sister's as well."

"I saw two people back in some town," said Jace. "Some tall, blonde dude with a brown vest and a small beard. And a young blonde woman, maybe a teenager, with a tank top."

"Really? Did you get their names?" asked Luna.

"Not really… they were shooting at me. It was just for a few seconds before I ditched that town."

"Luna, why don't you get pictures of your family. Got a picture of Carol as well?"

"Nah, she was never in our group photo. I'll be right back."

Lana looked inside Jace's home. She snuck in through one of the windows. However, she made a loud thud from hitting the floor and accidentally shattered a vase.

"Who is this?" asked Jace.

"I'm Lana. Sorry about that. I wanted to meet you… and your lizards."

"Oh, you mean Lizzie and Izzy?" smiled Jace as he grabbed his two lizards.

"You know, I had a lizard named Izzy too! I miss her so much."

Lana looked at Jace's two lizards with wonder. Luna walked in with the photo album that Leni organized. He went through it and showed Jace a picture of her family.

"I don't think I've seen any of these people," said Jace. "Wait, hold on. This one. I think this was the one I saw back in the town."

David shook his head softly. Luna frowned.

"Carol," whispered David. "It might not be that girl in the picture that you found, but rather someone else."

"Thank you," said Luna glumly. "C'mon, let's go back, Lana."

"If you want me to," said Jace, "I can come back here once I found them. If I find my family, I'll consider coming back. If I can't do either before winter, think you can save this house for me?"

Luna nodded. She closed the photo album and rubbed her arms. Before she left the house, she gave Jace one last look. He winked at her.

The days passed by, and Jace left the community with his motorcycle and lizards. Lana hoped that when he came back, his lizards would still be alive. Luna hoped that he would be able to come back.

After Jace left, Richard and Carol walked out of the woods. They were done stalking Houlton and continued to follow Jace. When they left, Richard thought about David's wife, Sandy, and he plotted something sinister.

-Day 1-

Lori and Leni left the bathroom, all cleaned up and ready for school. Luan sat in the couch, waiting for them. After sneaking out to a concert the day before, Luna was exhausted, and Luan figured that a day's sleep would give her the recovery she needed. Besides, Luan already slapped her with a whoopee cushion to which Luna responded by begging for five more minutes.

Lynn Sr. gave Lori his keys to Vanzilla while Rita held Lily.

"We're going to the daycare center to talk over some things with Dr. Shuttleworth," said Rita.

"So you can drive yourself and your sisters and Lincoln to school," said Lynn Sr. "Not L.J. though. She's not feeling too well. Have fun in school! Bye!"

Lori looked at Leni and Luan.

"No way, I'm not waiting for the others," said Lori.

"Yeah, we want to say goodbye to some of our friends before they go on that school trip!" exclaimed Leni.

"So, it's just us three? What about the others?" asked Luan.

"They'll just have to take the bus," said Lori. "Are you coming with us or are you also going to take the bus?"

Luan followed Lori and Leni out of the house and hopped inside Vanzilla. Lori drove off to school with Leni and Luan, leaving the other Louds at home without a care in the world.

-Day 365-

The summer night felt chilly in the Wasteland. All the prisoners were asleep except Lori. She looked over at her parents and her sisters. Leni shifted around the bed frequently, making Lori feel sorry for her innocent sister.

Lori's face showed marks and scars while some other spots were covered by bandage strips. Her oily hair reached below her chest. The bruises on her finger faded away and only left her ring to shine.

Suddenly, a large beam of light woke all the prisoners up. General Black walked to the platform in the top of the trash pile with his rogues. He looked at his watch and cleared his throat.

"We are about an half an hour from midnight," said Black. "I know everyone's tired but it's an important event. By midnight, it will be one full year since the Virus Crisis has been renamed as the Global Infection Event. So before we celebrate, I need to run some tests on you."

The Louds watched over the Wasteland with Black as the translator spoke to Hana.

"You're going to run from that point to that building over there by the big shit pile. It's about a klick," said Black. "Now, your old weapons should be somewhere near the beginning point. Except that curved katana. Luan, you're not getting that back."

Black and the rogues lead the prisoners down the platform and into the tunnel. They exited the tunnel through a different point. The rogue soldiers placed Hana and the Louds outside of the arena.

"Good luck," said Black. "See you by midnight."

The tunnel door closed. Fireworks were shot up in the sky. Their explosion caused the roamers to scatter around and be more active.

Lynn Sr. and Rita felt weak. They couldn't explain why they did in the past few months, but now it was taking its toll on their bodies. Lori and Luan noticed this, which is why they intended to protect them.

The prisoners noticed the roamers coming out of their trash piles. The roamers noticed the prisoners out their platform. They walked quickly to them, raising their arms and biting their teeths.

Lori and Hana searched for their weapons while Luan tried looking for something to defend herself with. The roamers reached for Leni.

Lynn Sr. kicked the roamer out of the way. He fell down to the ground before being picked up by Luan.

Luan grabbed an empty barrel and tossed it a roamer before it grabbed Rita. She grabbed both of them and walked them away from the roamers.

Lori found her hatchet. She ran to the closest roamer and slashed its head off. She pushed a roamer away before swinging her hatchet at another roamer at the side of its head.

Hana grabbed her ninjato sword. She quickly sliced the head of a roamer by moving the sword swiftly to the left, then right, then left again. She ducked and impaled a roamer through its chest. She then moved the sword upwards and sliced its head vertically in half.

Lori and Hana ran through the path of roamers. Luan grabbed a metal pipe and beat the roamers away from her. Leni kept her head low as blood splashed everywhere.

Lori climbed up a mountain of trash. She looked at the dirt road and found the golf cart she has been eyeing for a few months.

"We're not going to that building," said Lori. "We're getting the hell outta this place. Literally."

Lori and Hana cleared a path to the golf cart. Luan continued to beat the roamers until they overwhelmed her. Lynn Sr. and Rita pushed Luan and Rita behind them as the roamers went closer.

Lori and Hana killed the roamers close to Lynn Sr. and Rita. Heads went flying, bodies dropping, blood dripping. Lori yelled as she cut body after body.

The roamers scratched Lynn Sr. His clothes and skin were torn by their infected nails.

"Dad!" yelled Luan.

Lynn Sr. yelled as the roamers sunk their teeth onto his hands. Rita cried as she shoved the roamers away.

Lori killed the roamers near her family. She then saw what happened to her father. She looked at Hana and motioned towards her hands.

Hana raised her sword and sliced Lynn Sr.'s left hand off. He yelled and fell to his knees.

"Let's go!" yelled Lori.

Lori, Hana, Leni, Luan, Rita, and Lynn Sr. stepped inside a golf cart.

"Look at me, Dad," sniffled Luan. "You're going to be alright. Lisa should have a cure ready for your scratches. Just stay calm."

Lynn Sr. shuddered as Rita wrapped her arms around his bleeding wrist.

The golf cart followed the dirt road to nowhere. After a few minutes, Lori saw a metal fence. Lori pressed on the brakes and alerted Leni.

"Can you please open the lock?" asked Lori.

Leni nodded and ran to the lock. Lori and Hana ran around her, protecting her. Leni took a hair pin and picked the lock, and after five seconds, the lock was opened. Leni pushed the fences and opened it, allowing her, Lori, and Hana to return to the golf cart.

Lori started the golf cart and drove it out of the fenced garbage dump. She thought she made it out of the Wasteland.

Suddenly, a few rogues popped out of a trash pile and shot the wheels in the cart. Lori screamed as the cart flipped over and eventually crashed to the small garbage piles that lied outside of the Wasteland. After a few seconds, Lori's vision went black.

Lori woke up to the splash of water on face. She looked around and found herself lying on a wall of scrap metal. She then saw dozens of armored vehicles. And most importantly, she saw Black.

"Fuck, Lori, what a futile attempt," he said. "If you had just listened to me, things would've worked out for your family."

Lori spat some blood from her mouth into her lap. Leni and Luan held their dying father's arms. Rita stood in front of her husband while he struggled to remain conscious with blood dripping from his arm.

Hana stood next to Lori with her sword in her hands. Lori looked at her own hands and found a hatchet, not realizing she was holding it.

"Drop your weapons. Wasn't that fun?" said Black.

Lori rubbed her eyes and looked at her father. His body shook as he slowly turned towards his daughters.

"Go on," said Black. "You still got a minute until midnight."

"Girls, no matter what, keep fighting for what's right and good for you," said Lynn Sr. "This is just a step back. Keep fighting for your happiness. Preserve that happiness. I'll be watching, Lori, Leni, Luan. Tell your sisters and Lincoln that I love them. And I love you girls too. Keep your mother safe for me."

Black pressed his lips against each other and softly shook his head at Rita and Lynn Sr.

"Hey, at least you survived a whole year," said Black as he cocked his gun.

He shot Lynn Sr. in the chest, almost shooting through Luan and Leni as well. Rita shrieked as her husband's lifeless body dropped to the ground. Leni and Luan felt their own hearts sink. Lori was speechless.

Rita lied by her husband's side, sobbing into his chest. She knew that she was under threat by Black as well. She then quickly swallowed her tears and looked at Leni.

"H-H-Honey, Haley keeps a sewing machine and a bunch of fabric in one of the rooms in the infirmary."

She then turned towards a grief-stricken Luan.

"Luan, your retainers should be by Dr. Feinstein's new office. He'll know what to do with them."

She finally turned towards Lori, wiping her own eyes.

"Lori, take care of your sisters. Be the leader. I know you can do it. I love you all."

Rita lied her head on her husband's chest. Black suddenly pulled the trigger on his sidearm and shot Rita on the back of her neck. Rita lied still on Lynn Sr.'s chest, stiff as a rock.

Lori stumbled forward and placed her hands on their bodies. She saw the bright-red blood flowing around her hands, drenching them while she turned towards her hatchet.

She lifted her hatchet, screaming. She ran towards Black, raising her weapon to strike him. She ignored all the rogue soldiers around her and caught them off-guard. However, Black expected Lori's sudden outburst and lowered his Desert Eagle.

In a split second, Black took out Donovan's M9 and shot Lori in her right shoulder. She dropped her hatchet and fell. Her tears dropped to ground before her eyes completely shut off as her face hit the ground.

 **VI - Angels of Fate**

The sunrise lit the town up. Richard and Carol looked at the passing armored vehicles. Richard then grabbed a man whose mouth and hands were taped. Richard looked at Carol and she nodded hesitantly.

Richard lifted the man, who struggled to break free from his capture. The man tried to look back at his home, Houlton, but he could only see trees. Richard shushed him while he tied a noose around his neck. He removed the tape off his mouth and let him hang from the tree.

The man flailed his leg, and tried to remove the tape from his hands. His legs slowed and slowed until it completely stopped moving.

Richard and Carol left the woods and headed back to Medway, leaving the man to turn into a roamer.

ELuan woke up and found herself, Leni, Lori, and Hana surrounded by their clothes and weapons. Lori's hatchet, Hana's sword, Leni's jacket and beanie, and a bunch of other items. She found a walkie-talkie by Lori's face. She then found a dog cage with a Japanese chin dog inside.

Luan knelt by Lori and shook while she watched the bandage around her shoulder turn redder.

She grabbed the walkie-talkie and hesitated to speak into it. After looking around the woods, she noticed that this was the same area where she was kidnapped. She turned on the walkie-talkie.

"Can anyone hear me?"

George held the gate open as Bobby carried Lori inside Houlton. He rushed her to the infirmary, his girlfriend still unconscious.

Luan ran up to Benny and hugged him. She sobbed into his chest, unable to stop her tears from flowing onto his shirt. Lynn walked behind her and rubbed her back.

Leni knelt down and cried while Lincoln, Lana, and Lisa tried to comfort her.

Luna, holding Lily, looked around and found a stranger rubbing a dog's back as she looked around the town. Luna couldn't find her parents.

"Dudes," said Luna. "Where's Mom and Dad?"

Luan and Leni couldn't stop crying. Lily's mouth quivered as a tear from Luna fell to her face. She held back her tears and walked to the infirmary.

-Ten Days Later-

George quickly dashed through the woods. He headed back to a car when more gunshots went off. George turned around and shot back. Richard then shot him in the back, though George was protected by his vest.

George fell down. Richard caught up to him. He aimed his gun at his head before Carol stopped him.

"Keep him alive," whispered Carol.

Richard stomped his foot on George's chest. He took a heavy beating before he ran back to the car. George coughed out blood and drove out of Medway with his car.

Lori held Bobby's hands as she got out of her bed in the infirmary. Lisa handed her an apple, to which she reluctantly ate.

"How is it?" asked Bobby.

Lori didn't reply.

"Let's give her some space," said Clyde. "She's been through a lot."

Lori's siblings, Bobby, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde left the infirmary. For a couple hours, Lori remained in her bed with the apple, wiping her tears away. Suddenly, the candles in the infirmary flickered on and off.

"Told you we'd be back," said Lola.

"And we also told you it wasn't going to be you," said Lucy.

Lori kept her eyes closed.

"Can you not?" said Lori as she opened her eyes. "I really didn't want you guys to rub–"

Lynn Sr. and Rita stood next to each other with Lola and Lucy sitting on their shoulders. Lori gasped while looking at them.

"How are you feeling?" asked Lynn Sr.

"Not too well," replied Lori.

"Aw, honey, what's wrong?" asked Rita.

"I miss you guys. So, so much. This whole journey. I went through it so we could be together. But I failed. I failed!"

"You didn't fail, honey," said Rita. "You'll know what I mean later."

Lori held out her hands. However, that didn't stop her parents, Lola, and Lucy from disappearing. She lowered her hands and frowned.

Lori walked out of her room and exited the infirmary. The RV was driven out of Houlton. George and Dr. White bumped into her.

"Hey, what's going on?" asked Lori

"Richard just beat the shit outta me," said George. "And it's like what Sergei said. Carol is with him in Medway."

"Please go back inside," said Dr. White.

Lori ran off. Dr. White almost chased her, but George stopped him.

"Nah, let her go," said George. "She's gotta deal with Carol."

"That's what I'm worried about," said Dr. White. "She's not in her right mind."

The RV left. Lori entered Vanzilla and drove it out of the driveway. She went through the open gates as Sergei allowed her to go through, following George's request before Becky ran after her.

"Hey, stop!" shouted Becky. "Are you outta your mind? You can drive like this!"

"I'm fine," said Lori. "Just go!"

"No, I'm coming with you. Let me drive."

Becky climbed into the driver's seat of Vanzilla. Becky and Lori were many miles behind the RV. Vanzilla was just not fast enough to catch up to the RV.

Nighttime arrived, and the RV was parked outside of Medway Motel. David and Sandy searched each of the rooms, hoping that they would find Richard and Carol inside.

David opened the door for one of the rooms in the upper section of the motel. Sandy pointed a flashlight inside the room and searched inside it while holding her pistol. David went in after her.

The room had a mattress with unkempt blankets and cans in the floors, but no sign that it belonged to Richard or Carol.

Meanwhile, Richard aimed through the iron sights of his Ruger 10/20. Carol held her knife tightly and watched nervously.

"C'mon, Richard! You don't have to do this! Please!" exclaimed Carol.

"Shut up! I do have to do this!" yelled Richard. "This is exactly what my life led up to! Now take this and go!"

Carol grabbed Richard's Python. She clutched her purple tank top and left. She ran away from Richard and into the main road.

Richard wiped the sweat away from his face and grinned. He waited until David and Sandy popped out of the room.

"This room's clear!" said David.

David and Sandy headed out the room.

"My moonbeam's running outta power," said David. "I would really like to do this on the double."

"Oh, come on," said Sandy. "You're never gonna let that military talk go, right?"

"Not as long as you're here."

"Heh. Must feel good knowing someone understands–"

Richard pulled the trigger. The rifle shot crackled through the air. The bullet tore through Sandy's head and splattered her brains on the window of the motel room.

David flinched before Sandy's body fell down. Her body dragged along the motel wall until her body was completely stiff in the ground.

David looked to his right and found a man in the road with a rifle across his chest. It was Richard.

"No!" yelled David. "You monster!"

Carol kept her head forward. She whispered to herself, trying to calm herself down. But she couldn't. Carol felt guilty. She then ran ahead without stopping and without looking back.

David jumped down the stairs, unable to hold back his tears of grief and anger.

He ran out of the parking lot and into the main road. Richard stood still until David took out his pistol, to which he wanted to avoid. He fled to the woods in the direction towards Bill's cabin.

David ran into the woods and followed Richard. They sped past the cabin.

David then ran into the hanging roamer in the woods. He aimed his pistol at it and quickly shot it down. His pistol ran out of ammo.

David tossed his gun and continued to chase after Richard.

Richard arrived at the pond and found the moon high in the air. But something didn't feel right. It was too quiet. Richard didn't see any signs of life around, not even an owl.

David tackled Richard and intended to finish the fight he started almost a year ago.

Lori's red eyes sought Carol. Becky drove Vanzilla towards Medway when she finally found the girl Lori was looking for. Her headlights beamed on a frightened Carol, stopping her in her run.

"Becky! Lori!" exclaimed Carol. "Thank god! Can you please help me?"

Lori and Becky got out of Vanzilla. Becky laid her hands out, stopping Carol where she was.

"Drop it!" yelled Becky.

Carol looked at the revolver in her hands. She let the gun slide down her hands and fall to the pavement.

"Listen!" cried out Carol.

Lori walked up to Carol and punched her in the face. She fell to the ground while Lori continued hitting her. Lori stomped and kicked and pulled her hair.

Carol shrieked while Becky stood where she was, surprised at Lori's rage. Carol tried to shove Lori, but she refused to budge. She continued beating Carol, until Becky told her to stop.

Lori grabbed Carol's tank top and exhaled a breath of anger onto her.

"You… were in bed with him!" growled Lori. "I knew it! I should've never trusted you! I can't believe you fooled me all this time!"

"Lori… please…" gasped Carol.

Lori shoved Carol down. She wiped the blood from her knuckles on Carol's tank top before crawling to the gun in the road.

Lori grabbed the Python, stood up, and went behind Carol.

"Nothing hurts worse than betrayal," said Lori. "Life will be better without your bullshit!"

Becky walked up to Lori.

"Lori, this isn't you," she whispered.

"Leave me alone!" yelled Lori. "We can't let her live!"

Carol lifted herself up, wiped the blood off her face, and sat on her knees. Lori lifted the revolver and lined it up with her nose. Carol began crying as she felt the barrel of the gun touch the back of her head.

"Lori, I'm so sorry! I know how much of a monster Richard is! I see it now! It's a little late but–"

"A little late?" growled Lori as she cocked the revolver.

"He's a very manipulative person!" cried Carol. "I fell in love with him because I was lonely! I was too blind to see what he was really up to! But by the time I did, he had already killed innocent people! I wanted to leave, but it was really hard to!"

"Why now?" yelled Lori. "What was it that it drilled into your fucking head that he was evil?"

"I always knew… Lori. But he won me over when I was emotionally destroyed! When my parents died, I felt angry at the world! I didn't care what he did! But I started thinking… and I knew this is not what my parents would've wanted!"

Lori began tearing up. Becky shivered softly.

"I don't think you would understand, Lori. But please try to. I lost the only people I truly loved my whole life… and they were a part of me. Losing them meant I lost a part of myself. They were my support, my guide, and I lost them! Lori, please try to understand!"

Lori fell to her knees and dropped the revolver. She trembled and moved her hands over her teary eyes.

"I'm sorry…" whispered Lori. "I do understand."

Meanwhile, in the pond in the woods, David and Richard continued fighting.

Richard tried hitting David with his rifle, but he kept missing him. David backed up and waited for him to strike him as hard as he could. He eventually did make a hard swing, but David shoved the rifle away and gut-punched him.

David grabbed the rifle and tossed it away. Richard then tackled him against a tree.

Richard tried to choke David, but was kicked away. He backed up and took out his knife.

"You feel it now, right?" yelled Richard. "The pain, the sorrow, THE RAGE! It's building up every second! All you're thinking about is ending me! Think how I felt about Missy when she was shot by Sherry!"

David coughed blood.

"I never got to kill the woman who murdered my wife!" continued Richard. "Now, you'll never get to kill the man who murdered YOUR wife!"

"Why'd you have to kill her!" hissed David. "So you can prove your motherfuckin' point? You're a psycho!"

"You turned me into one!" yelled Richard. "It's all your fault! You're a terrible person! I was your best friend, and you flat-out fucking ignored me! Maybe now you'll listen!"

Richard grabbed the tip of his knife.

"You should've listened to me! The whole point of the mission was to turn the group into soldiers to fight the rogues! But no! You got comfortable with them! You began… trusting them. And as a result, we lost people we shouldn't have. All because you wanted to put your nose in businesses that didn't belong to you!"

"So what now?" huffed David. "After you kill me, what then? You made it clear that you're lost!"

"I don't want to live in this world anymore, David. And it's all your fault."

Richard leaned his arm back and tossed the knife. David crouched a little and dodged it as it flew across the air, quickly makings it way into a tree. The handle of the knife smacked against the bark of the tree, launching it to the ground. David grabbed the knife and lunged towards Richard.

David stabbed Richard upward into his stomach while they both stumbled back into the pond. Blood flew out of Richard's mouth and into his beard as he lowered his eyes.

Richard pulled the knife out of his stomach as David grabbed his neck. David pushed Richard's head into the pond water as he kept his grip on the knife. He gasped for air and slowly lifted the knife while David held his head in the water.

David looked at his arms and kept his own hands wrapped around Richard's neck. As Richard continued flailing his head, David noticed that he lowered his arms and released the knife.

Richard raised his head and struggled to make one last gasp before bubbles burst out his mouth. He then stopped flailing and began twitching, until he remained stiff. The bubbles popped and Richard's lifeless eyes remained open, staring at the night sky.

David released his grip on Richard's neck. Richard's arms extended outwards and his body lied on the ground while his head remained in the water.

David gasped and closed his wet hands. He sat with his closed fists on his mouth. His eyes stared at the moon. He heard an owl hoot while his vision became blurry.

David was crying.

He stood up and picked up the rifle before walking away.

Becky parked Vanzilla outside of the cabin. She and Lori followed Carol to the pond in the woods. They hanging roamer was killed. Footprints were all over the place. Lori's flashlight then revealed David's M9 in the ground.

They arrived at the pond. Lori and Becky clenched their teeth as they saw the body outside of the pond. As they walked closer, they realized that the body belonged to Richard.

Carol teared up as she saw what used to be Richard looking around in the pond.

"Are you going to cry?" asked Becky. "I thought you didn't like him anymore."

"It's not that. It's… I'm pregnant. With his child…."

Becky gasped. She walked close to Carol and hugged her.

Lori looked at Richard and knew what she had to do. She cocked the Python and aimed it at the pond. Roamer Richard looked at Lori and was unable to growl at her. It raised its arms at her, then his head. He then raised his head above the water.

Lori aimed at the head and pulled the trigger. The roamer fell in one quick shot, with its blood contaminating the once beautiful pond.

Carol sobbed into Becky's chest.

"It's alright," reassured Becky. "It's alright…"

Lori looked out into the pond. Her mother, father, and two younger sisters stood above the water. They smiled and waved goodbye.

Lori looked at the Colt Python she held. She then looked back at Becky and Carol. A voice repeated inside her head.

"Be the leader," said her late mother.

* * *

 ** _(A/N):_**

 ** _And that's the end of the third volume. The next chapter is most likely going to be as long as this one. This is because there are so many new plotlines that I want to start. I'm looking forward to writing Volume 4! If you enjoyed make sure to follow/favorite this story! See ya!_**

 ** _P.S. Sorry for killing off your favorite Loud parents. R.I.P._**

 ** _Another P.S. Thank you, Mademoiselle-Star2018, for the characters, Hana and Jace!_**


	16. Swarmed

_**Big start to Volume 4! Enjoy!**_

* * *

-Day 10-

The helicopters hovered over the buildings, displaying a large beam of light on the city of Detroit. The beam pointed at the roamers in the destroyed sections of the city, both near and far from the Safe-Zone. A few planes passed by the tall buildings that were labeled from A to D, flying over a highway that led to Detroit.

Tim looked outside the attic window of the house he was in. The heavy traffic in the lanes of the highway moving towards Detroit were stopped before the front gates of the city. Many drivers and passengers stepped out of their cars to see what the commotion in the front was. The soldiers refused to let the drivers inside the fences.

"What's taking so long?" asked Carlota, tapping her arms on the car window. "If I stare at this sign for a minute longer, I'm going to freak!"

Maria sighed as the cars honked around her. She yawned and looked into the rear-view mirror.

"I would rather wait in this traffic than go back to the hospital," said Maria.

"I can wait all day!" exclaimed CJ. "I can't wait to see Bobby again!"

"I'm getting impatient," groaned Carl. "Mi amor is waiting in there, and those guys in the front won't let us in?"

"Now, now, don't get mad at them," said Hector. "I'm sure they have an important thing to do inside."

"Getting people's information is a long process," said Carlos, his face planted on a book. "I'm sure they're going as fast as they can."

"I only hope they have enough food for all of us!" cried Rosa.

"Look!" pointed Frida. "What makes you think there isn't a problem inside?"

A few drivers were getting out of their cars. Commotion filled the highways as jets were heard from the distance. Suddenly, a large explosion came far away from the Safe-Zone caught the attention of the drivers and passengers of the highway.

The Casagrandes all went out of the car with the exception of Frida, who held Carlitos and her camera. She pointed her camera at the city, ready to take a picture of another explosion.

More napalm was dropped into the city, this time, closer to the Safe-Zone. A large explosion on Building C frightened the civilians. Helicopters continued to swarm the skies.

"Oh… my… god," whispered Maria.

The soldiers from the front gates walked away from their post and into the highway. They aimed their guns at the cars at the front and fired them.

More soldiers stormed the highway and fired at all the civilians in their sights. One soldier noticed a flash coming from Frida's camera, in which she accidentally took a picture of the soldiers firing onto the civilians.

Frida lowered Carlitos behind the dashboard and looked away from the soldiers. They aimed their carbines at the woman and shot her, shattering the windows of the car.

Maria and the Casagrandes were in shock. The soldiers shot Carlos and CJ, then Hector, then Rosa. Carlota, Carl, and Maria began running. They ran behind the car in tears.

"Carlota, Carl, I need you two to follow me, okay?" panted Maria. "When I say– hey, Carl!"

Carl began running away from the car before finding himself victim to the soldiers' bullets. The soldiers ran past the two survivors before they turned around.

Carlota yelled and ran away from them, along with Maria. The soldiers fired onto them, shooting the teenage girl nine times in the back. Maria fell down with her, falling next to her brother.

Carlos groaned and moved towards her. He groaned as he placed Hector's legs and Rosa's arms on top of Maria. He then lied on top of her and let his tears fall on her sister.

The rogues shot Carlos in the head, causing his brains to spill onto her chest. More families ran past her, while some were killed in front of her eyes. Their guts and blood splattered on her, leaving her soaked with a coat of murdered souls.

The soldiers approached her. She closed her eyes and lied completely still. The explosions roared through her ears which also captured the chatter from the soldiers' walkie-talkies. Eventually, the explosions and the chatter faded as Maria went unconscious.

The smoke billowed out of the buildings and into the sky as the morning sun shined on every living survivor in the highway. And the only living survivor still in the highway was Maria.

She blinked and moved her arms around. Carlos's corpse still lied on top of her. However, the other bodies weren't in the ground.

Maria stood up, wiping the blood away from her hair, before she noticed she only stained her hair further. She looked around and saw her father, mother, niece, and nephews, all wandering as living corpses.

She wondered why they were passing by her as if she were one of them. She walked to her car, feeling her heart beat faster.

Frida's lifeless eyes stared ahead at the dead city, with Carlitos sniffling in her laps. Maria grabbed Carlitos, whose head was coated in his mother's blood. She wrapped him with a blanket and looked at her sister-in-law. She vomited into the car seat.

The roamers looked at her. They tried catching the distorted scent in the air and couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

Maria wiped her eyes and mouth, before moving away from the car. She waddled through the corpses and blood-stained road before noticing someone in the distance.

She saw a man stabbing roamers with a small pocket knife, urging her to follow him. She looked back at her family and teared up again. Her head felt lightheaded and her eyes throbbed.

Maria then followed Tim into the small narrow street along the fences. Only a few roamers followed both people, smelling the scent of Tim.

"Hey, I think we're safe," whispered Tim. "You're lucky to be alive. Care to tell me your name?"

"Who are you?" asked Maria.

"My name's Tim Crowley. Nice trick you did with the guts there."

Maria trembled. She coughed and looked at the two roamers approaching her. Tim quickly walked up to the roamers and stabbed them in the head.

"Are you sick?" asked Tim. "Did you get bit?"

"No, I don't think so," she said, looking around. "My name's Maria Santiago. I-I-I am looking for my daughter and my son."

Maria looked at the crumbled buildings through the fences, causing her voice to tremble and break.

"Their names are Ronalda and Roberto… but they prefer to be called Ronnie Anne and… Bobby. I don't expect you to–"

"Bobby? I heard that name before. Is he in any way connected to a Carol? Or a Lori?"

Maria nodded. Tim looked at the destroyed city.

"Damn," he said. "I wish I hadn't heard their names in there."

 **Chapter 16: Swarmed**

 **I - Remnants of Herself**

-Day 472-

The leaves in the pine trees outside of Houlton refused to change. The oak trees, however, changed their colors like a chameleon, and were abundant in Houlton. Outside of Houlton, there weren't many oak trees, as they weren't treated well by the wilderness.

Lori stood near the front gates on the trunk of a navy blue truck. She wore her usual cargo shorts and blue tank top, except she now wore Missy's light-brown safari vest. Her hair, now cut to her prefered size– courtesy of Dana, was tied in a ponytail.

Small scars remained on her face to remind her and others what she went through in the Wasteland. Though no one knew where it was, the community didn't deny its existence. The way Lori and Luan described seemed plausible and the community couldn't doubt them.

Leni held repressed memories of the Wasteland, only being able to remember her emotions on that day. And although, she couldn't remember most of her experiences in there, there was one that she could remember as clear as day. The deaths of her parents.

Hana had gotten into the habit of learning English with Jeffrey, as both had nothing better to do in their quiet lives in Houlton. Lately, her life hasn't been quiet.

"I know it's a long shot…" said Lori. "But some of us should go to the cities like Bangor, Augusta, Portland. We already cleared out some of the neighboring towns and we literally got a lotta supplies from them. But this is about much more than supplies. This is about the man who led my family here to rescue this town."

The Houlton civilians looked at Lori. Some of them nodded while others didn't feel convinced enough.

"This is the man who led you all through tough times! If it weren't for him, none of us would've been standing here listening to some… survivor."

Carol watched somberly before Lori gave her a disappointing glance.

"The threat of the rogues is very real!" declared Lori. "Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but they'll come one day… and some of you are not trained to handle these kinds of situations! David's a Marine! He would know how to train–"

"Lori! Behind you!" warned George.

Lori turned around and saw a group of cars coming from the hill. Luna ran towards a guard tower in the prisons. Buck and Pike loaded their weapons and faced the incoming cars. Most of the old gang plus some of the Houlton civilians loaded their weapons and got into position.

The cars came to a stop. One girl came out of the car in front, appearing unkempt. She walked towards the front gates before George ordered her to stop.

"Oh my god, Lori!" she exclaimed. "Bobby!"

Lori moved her hands closer to her holster. Bobby stepped up and looked at the girl.

"Teri?" he gasped. "W-What are you doing here?"

"You're Teri?" asked Lori. "I almost didn't recognize you."

"Well, I've been through a lot! Can you let us in? We're hungry!"

Teri placed her hands through the gates. Lori looked behind her. There were bags in the vehicles, and no one but Teri seemed to be hungry.

"We could let her in, right?" asked Bobby. "Don't worry, Teri! You must be so exhausted from your trip! We got plenty of food!"

Bobby waited for Lori to open the gates. But she didn't.

"Lori? What's going on?" asked Teri.

"How many roamers have you killed?" Lori asked.

"Roamers? You mean the skin-eaters?"

Lori nodded. Teri looked back at the vehicles.

"Just me? I, uh, I killed plenty."

"Uh, huh. How many people have you killed?"

"Me? I didn't kill anyone!" exclaimed Teri.

"Why?"

Teri couldn't answer. She felt she has been cornered into answering a trick question without knowing the trick. It's almost as if Lori knew what her group was up to.

Lori reached for her holster. One guy from Teri's group got out of his vehicle holding an UZI. He took off his shades and looked at Teri.

"This girl giving you trouble?" asked the guy.

"N-no."

"Answer the question," said Lori.

"I didn't have to," responded Teri. "I didn't have to kill anyone. Not that anyone did! We… didn't come across a big group so I– we, didn't have to kill anyone! C'mon, Lori, you can trust me!"

Teri shied away from her. Sweat formed in her face as Lori kept her glare of distrust at her.

"You're not coming in," said Lori. "All of you! You can stay out there! If food is what you want, we can provide you some!"

"You're not letting us in?" asked Teri. "What the hell, Lori?"

"Come on, babe," said Bobby.

"My decision is final," said Lori. "I don't trust your group. I don't trust you, Teri."

"We're getting in!" yelled Teri. "This is a damn good place to live in! I bet you guys have plenty of food and space!"

The men and women in Teri's group exited their car. They held their weapons and placed themselves behind the car doors. Teri took out her small .22 Magnum.

"We're gonna come in, whether you like it or not!" yelled one of the men.

"We're the Oaks! We won't let anyone knock us down!" yelled another man.

"The Oaks never fall down!" yelled Teri.

"What is this, some cult thing?" groaned Lori. "Just leave. Leave, now!"

Teri smirked. She slowly sauntered back. Lori removed her Python from her holster and walked behind the truck.

"Scared, Lori? You're going to wish you listened to the Oaks! We are the mightiest group to survive on the Earth! Zombies! Humans! We do anything to survive!"

"Guards!" shouted Lori. "Defend Houlton!"

Buck and Pike shot their rifles at the vehicles from atop their platform. One of the men was shot in the head while another was shot with bullets that punched through the car doors.

Teri crouched. The Oaks returned fire onto the guards. However, their armor prevented them from doing much damage.

Becky and Dana crouched behind a metal box behind the fences. They aimed their sidearms at the group and joined in the firefight. Becky fired relentlessly at a driver while Dana killed the woman running towards a pine tree.

The eleven-man group, including Teri, were in trouble. Down to seven, the Oaks decided to scatter. They spread out, hoping to seek cover in the woods.

The Houlton civilians ran away from the fences. They sought cover behind the homes, something they were easily able to do.

Sergei used an AKS-74U that he found in the armory against the group. George used a Mossberg 590, a shotgun he has used before.

Two of the Oaks were shot down by Sergei before they were able to reach the woods. George aimed his shotgun at a car door and fired it. The pellets smacked the door and killed the man behind it.

One of the Oaks with the shades fired his UZI above Teri. The bullets rained on the truck that Lori hid behind in. Lori and Bobby clenched their teeth as the metal body of the car trembled. The sounds of the bullets ricocheting caused some of the guards to close their ears.

One of the Oaks drove the car towards the fences. However, the car was too slow to take down the fences and only managed to bend the fences slightly.

Wavehead aimed his pistol at the windshield. He fired one shot and splattered the driver's brain all over his seat.

One woman of the Oaks managed to make it behind a pine tree. She gasped as she aimed a shotgun at the fences. She fired it multiple times at Lori, before realizing she was too far from her. Only one of the pellets managed to graze Lori on her shoulder.

Lynn came to Lori's defense and loosed an arrow from her bow. The woman quickly moved away from the tree, effectively dodging the arrow. She coughed while dropping the shotgun.

She then looked at a man behind the fences. Kotaro aimed his Remington Model 700 rifle at her.

She smiled softly and winked. She watched Kotaro close one eye expecting to wink. And he did. Before he pulled the trigger.

The gun went off and the woman was shot in the chest. Her arms flailed as she dropped to the ground.

The man with the shades went from shooting his UZI at Lori to shooting at Lynn. She ducked behind a house next to the front gates. The man yelled as he needed to reload his weapon.

Lori stood up and raised her gun to shoot at the man. However, a loud shot came from the guard tower, and suddenly, the man was sniped in the skull. His lobes flew out of his left temple before the man fell to the ground, his shades cracking as it hit the pavement.

The gunfire ceased.

Lori and Bobby popped out from behind the bullet-ridden truck and saw Teri in the ground, trembling with fear. Lori cocked her gun and walked to the front gate.

"Lori, I think that was enough," whispered Bobby, reaching for Lori's shoulder. "We could place Teri in prison."

"We can't," replied Lori.

"Yes we can! Your siblings are watching. The town is watching."

Lori nodded. Becky and Dana opened the front gates and let Lori walk towards Teri.

Teri recognized Becky and Dana. She sighed and groaned as she grabbed her small revolver. However, Lori quickly stepped on her wrist.

"What happened to you?" asked Lori.

"Do you know how it feels to be low on supplies?" hissed Teri. "Thirsty, hungry, cold?"

"I do. But we wouldn't do this."

Teri yelled and grabbed her revolver with her other hand. She moved her hands and attempted to aim it at Lori.

Lori then pressed the trigger on her Python before Teri was able to shoot her.

Bobby and Dana gasped at the sight of their dead friend. Becky had a worried expression for Lori.

Lori picked up Teri's revolver. She walked back inside Houlton, rubbing her eyes.

"Hana, can I use your RV?" asked Lori. "This truck… doesn't work."

Hana nodded. Some of the defenders that killed the Oaks went to their respective vehicles while others followed Lori and Hana.

"Oh! Sergei, I need you to check what supplies they had. I also want you to get some volunteers to pick up the bodies," ordered Lori as she walked towards Carol. "How are you feeling?"

"Good. This kinda shook–"

Lori walked away, much to Carol's sorrow.

"Come here," said Becky, comforting Carol. "Tell me how you feel…"

The Oaks' vehicles were moved out of the way. The volunteers moved the bodies away, allowing Lori and the other community members to continue their search for David.

When they left, Sergei and the others took the bags out of the vehicles. Most of it contained ammunition, lighters, silverware, and clothing.

"Some of the others can't stomach this," said Bobby. "What'd you find, Sergei?"

"Stuff that did not belong to them. What they call themselves? The Oaks? The Oaks did not bother to clean blood off of the stuff they took."

"They've attacked people before," said Bobby. "I didn't think Teri would've done this. Wow."

 **II - A Smaller Family**

-Four Weeks Later-

The road lacked any stains that indicated the event that reminded the civilians about the reality they are living in.

Hana's modern RV felt easier on the eyes of most of the civilians compared to David's old RV, though they wished they had seen the latter as well while it moved down the hill. The other vehicles followed the RV while Sergei opened the gates.

Lori stepped out of the RV and pressed on the root of her nose.

"Want some tea?" asked Carol.

"NO! Sorry, just, no, I don't want any tea, thank you."

Lori sighed. Carol walked away while Bobby approached his girlfriend.

"That was a bit harsh, wasn't it?"

"Oh, Bobby, the past few days were so exhausting. I really don't feel like hearing a lesson."

"Let's go home, then. Let's get you some sleep in bed."

"I gotta go somewhere first. Go back home, tell your sister and Clyde that I'm home! Love you!"

Lori quickly made her way towards the military-zone. Bobby kept his hands in his pockets and stared at Lori sorrowfully.

"Love you too…"

Lori arrived at the laboratory. Lisa and Dr. White were mixing chemicals together. Lisa placed a boiling flask on a metal wire above three flat candles. She then poured chemicals from a test tube into the flask, creating small puffs of smoke. Dr. White looked into the microscope, examining the blood cells from a roamer.

"How's the cure coming along?" asked Lori.

"Progress is unsatisfactory," said Lisa. "I could read an entire library of books and medical examinations and I still wouldn't be able to assemble the necessary knowledge to concoct a viable treatment for the necrosis influenza of the rabid kind. Street name– infection of the dead. I'm stumped."

"Don't give up yet, Lisa," said Lori. "There's no rush or anything like that."

"Of course there's a rush!" shouted Lisa. "First thing you do when you return from your futile attempts of searching for David is to check on our progress! It's exhausting!"

"You two are our only hopes in taking our old world back," said Lori. "Sorry if I made you feel like you were being rushed."

"Sorry, for my outburst," said Lisa. "Progress is very slow. I hate being reminded of that."

"Another failure," said Dr. White. "The sodium chloride dissipated."

"Salt?" asked Lori.

"It was worth a try," said Lisa. "How'd you know that?"

"I remember chemistry class in my junior year," said Lori as she walked away. "You can do it, Lisa."

Lori careened to the infirmary, feeling the burden of responsibility as the eyes of the civilians set on her.

She walked inside, greeted Haley, and went upstairs. She entered a large room and saw Leni next to a young woman and two older ladies.

Leni had her hair tied up in a messy bun on the back of her neck with strands of hair reaching the shoulders of her light-green tunic. Her pink leggings gave her a more fashionable look along with her light-green flats.

"Hey, Leni," greeted Lori. "How are you doing with sewing?"

"Oh, it's wonderful! I'm teaching Kathy here how to use those cup-thingies that you put on your finger."

"A thimble?"

"Yeah, it's that what they're called! Anyways, I finished making the hips on these jeans bigger for you!"

"Oh my god, did you have to say that out loud?" whispered Lori.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it," said one of the older ladies. "You're turning into a fine, young woman!"

"I'm sure Bobby wouldn't mind a few extra inches on the measuring tape, if you know what I'm saying," said the other older woman.

The three women laughed while Lori forced a nervous laugh. Leni smiled.

"Can you explain that, Mrs. Anderson?" she asked. "I don't get it."

"Oh, don't worry about it, dear. Go back to Kathy."

"I think Lori has something to say," said the other older woman.

"Thanks, Mrs. Coleman," said Lori. "Leni, how are the other outfits?"

"They're nice. They're not done yet, and I don't mean to brag, but I think they're the best work anyone's ever done!"

"Which one are you almost finished with?"

Leni walked to the unfinished clothes hung in a rack. She inspected each one and rubbed her head.

"I don't know which one!" giggled Leni.

"C-couldn't you have worked one by– never mind," said Lori before looking at each product. "Oh, I like this one."

Leni grabbed the purple scarf.

"This is supposed to be a ski mask AND a scarf! It's for Luna!"

"What about this one?" asked Lori, rubbing an inside-out jacket.

"It's a leather jacket with an iced-coffee color! But I want it to be comfortable for Luan. So, I'm sewing polyester on the inside!"

"I'm glad you're finding this fun," said Lori.

"It keeps my mind busy," said Leni.

Lori walked out of the infirmary. She decided to walk back to the military-zone before returning home.

She arrived at what used to be Unit A. She climbed up the guard tower where Luna defended the town at.

Luna kept her hair short, especially throughout the summer. Her purple flannel shirt replaced her old rock shirt while she switched from her old skirt to jeans. She also wore purple high-top sneakers.

"Hey, Luna. Anything new?" asked Lori.

"Nah, nothing new. You know, I'm teaching Sam a thing or two about using this baby."

"Speaking of Sam, how far are you along… with the bases. Hit… home run… or th-third base?"

"Oh, nah, dude. We don't have the time for that. Look this feels weird, can't we talk about something else?"

"I was just about to head back home. Just wanted to see how my sister was doing."

"You should spend more time with us," said Luna. "You go off looking for David and the Wasteland a tad too much. Bobby's missing you like crazy."

Lori nodded. She grabbed Luna's shoulder and hugged her. Luna felt the pain of the woman who was responsible for leading the entire town.

Luan and Benny were outside of Houlton with their swords. Luan followed Benny east of Houlton into a small Canadian parish in New Brunswick.

Luan allowed Dana to cut her hair, giving her hair a more smooth-like appearance. However, the narrow scar in her right temple remained, not allowing hair to grow on it.

Benny on the other hand, didn't have a difference in his appearance than a year ago, except he had facial hair scattered around his jaw.

Luan wore a yellow hoodie with her necklace on top of it and a light-pink skirt. She hiked through the crunchy, colorful maple leaves in brown boots, carrying a bucket of maple syrup.

Most notably, Luan's teeth were inside her mouth, though covered with her retainers. She often wondered how life would've been if everyone wore retainers. Perhaps, this post-apocalyptic world wouldn't have been so bad.

"Look, there!" said Benny.

Luan placed her bucket down and reached for her katana. Benny removed his backpack and tossed it on the ground before unsheathing his sword.

"It's just one roamer," said Luan. "I got this."

She then realized she didn't have her katana. Benny chuckled and leaned in close to her.

"I saw it first, cutie-pie," he whispered.

Luan smiled and looked at him. Benny raised his eyebrows and winked. Luan couldn't help but giggle at her pet name.

"You're so adorable. Go get him, hunk!"

Benny grinned and held his katana high up in the air. He swung it sideways and sent the roamer's head flying off to the bark of a maple tree. He then heard a groan behind Luan.

"There's another one," he said. "You can have that one."

Benny handed his sword to his girlfriend. Luan grabbed the ninjato and swung it down. She sliced the head in half and cut all the way down to its chest. The roamer fell.

"Not gonna lie," said Luan. "That was gross."

"Not gonna lie," sighed Benny. "I missed your jokes."

"I don't think it was the right moment."

"You would wonder if he had a brain to sneak up to me like that! That joke knocked it dead! Or– I'm sorry… I'm being too insensitive, right?"

"It's alright, Benny. I'm just not in the mood for jokes."

Benny picked up his bag. Luan formed a soft smile as she handed Benny's sword back.

"You know what I'm in the mood for, though?" asked Luan.

She looked around and scanned the bushes, trees, and houses. No sign of roamers.

She grabbed Benny's shirt and smacked her lips against his. She unbuttoned his shirt and rubbed her hands all over his body.

Benny in return placed Luan against a tree and was in the process of removing her hoodie when they heard a growl.

They both groaned. Benny buttoned his shirt back and found the roamer a few yards away.

"This wasn't a good time to do it anyways," said Benny.

Luan nodded as she tried to shake away her blush.

Benny grabbed his sword when suddenly, Hana popped out of the bushes and sliced the roamer's head off from the back of its neck.

"What the–?" gasped Benny.

Hana whistled to her puppy, Kimi, who sprung out of the bushes. Kimi avoided the corpse in the ground.

"Oh, it's you!" exclaimed Luan. "What are you doing here, Hana? We-were you watching us?"

"Watched you," said Hana. "Followed you. Protected you."

"Yeah, definitely not a good time," commented Benny.

"Hana, you can't stalk us like that!" exclaimed Luan.

"I will come back. First, I let you have the sex."

Luan groaned and tried to hide her blush with her hands.

"No– don't call it– what are you doing here?" sighed Luan.

"Your sword. Very interested."

"Right, 'cause that means you get to follow us," groaned Benny.

"Yes," said Hana. "Way you two fought shinda. Do not do that in real fight."

"Well, we just use them to kill roamers," said Luan. "Unless you're talking about using them to kill the enemy. In which case, we do know how to kill an enemy."

"Doubtful," said Hana. "Enemy was weak. Enemy now… not weak."

"You're talking about General Black?" asked Luan. "We'll just use a gun next time we see him."

"No, no gun," said Hana. "Ever heard of kenjutsu? Perhaps, kendo?"

Luan and Benny stared at Hana with a blank expression before Kimi jumped up at Luan's left leg. She licked it before running back to Hana's arms.

Meanwhile, south of Houlton, below the road that led to the front gates of the community, Vonda trained Lynn in archery.

Plastic jugs of empty milk and water hung from a rope tied to a straight branch that extended to another tree. The rocky field was bumpy, causing the targets to be higher than the archer in some areas while lower in others.

A few arrows were stuck on both trees and other arrows lied on the ground where the heavy wind blew them to. All the jugs were intact.

Lynn kept her bow drawn back with an arrow pointing at the steady yet slow jug. Her ponytail rode the wind while her Canadian sweater flapped softly. Her arms remained as still as her hiking boots on the rocky soil, and her eyes were determined to make this shot hit a target.

Lynn's arms jerked back.

"Woah, easy there," said Vonda.

Lynn loosed the arrow. Its sloppy rise caused the wind to knock it out of its flight and down to the rocky soil.

"Fuck!" yelled Lynn. "Fuck, fuck, FUCK! Damn, why can't I fucking do anything right? I'm so shit at this!"

"C'mon, Lynn. You're just not used to shooting at windy weather! That's what we're training for!"

"To hell with the training! I just wanna go back home to Royal Woods. I wanna eat a meatball sub and win a roller derby game! But I can't because of… THE… FUCKING… ROAMERS!"

Lynn fell to her knees. The rocky soil scraped against her knees, but she didn't care. Vonda rubbed her back and crouched next to her, looking ahead at the milk jugs.

"You need to clear your mind. It's obvious that something's bothering you. And you don't have to tell me what it is, I think I got the idea. Clear your mind. Then shoot. Like this."

Vonda grabbed an arrow from Lynn's quiver and drew it back with her bow. The wind blew her wavy hair and rubbed against her cold eyes. However, she stood still like her mother's vest. She then loosed the arrow.

"Wow," said Lynn. "You missed."

Suddenly, another arrow flew and hit the jug closest to the left tree.

"Had to check wind speeds," said Vonda. "Let's take a break."

The leaves flew past the quiet houses near the front gates. Lincoln and Clyde lied on the couch with Lana and Lily where Clyde polished Lynn's baseball bat with a wet towel. Lincoln wore an orange hoodie and was slightly taller than before the GIE. Other than his clothes and size, Lincoln looked exactly the same.

Lincoln stared into what used to be his parents' room. He couldn't brush off the thought that those doors would never be opened again.

"Hey, Lincoln, you there? You look zoned out."

"Sorry, Clyde. I was just thinking about stuff. What were you saying?"

Clyde's curly hair was trimmed in the sides, though still puffy on the top. He wore a green fleece sweater with khaki pants and a black leather belt with sneakers. His pants covered his metallic prosthetic leg that Lisa adjusted as Clyde grew.

"I was just talking about my bionic leg. Can you believe it was one year since I first laid my eyes on this bad boy?"

"Yeah," said Lana. "You know who helped build it, right? This girl!"

"This girl!" mimicked Lily.

Lana and Lily giggled together. Lana continued to sport her red hat, covering up her pigtails that reached to her belly, and her overalls which weren't as baggy as before. Her front teeth were in place, though there were other missing teeth.

Lily showed off her cream blonde hair that touched the back of her neck. She wore a white t-shirt with a lavender skirt and pink slippers.

"Has it been a year?" asked Lincoln. "I thought you got your bionic leg on October the 14th."

"Yeah, I did," said Clyde. "But Lisa and Lana finished the leg on the 13th. Then, I got the leg the next day."

"Are you guys actually tracking the dates?" asked Lana.

"We don't have to," said Lincoln. "Lisa keeps track, remember?"

A knock on the door sprung Lincoln to his feet, ready to answer the door. He opened the door and greeted Ronnie Anne and Rusty with a wave. He then greeted Tabby with a warm hug. Ronnie Anne walked past them, rolling her eyes.

"Are you going to have a meeting?" asked Lana. "Can we stay?"

"I wanna stay!" exclaimed Lily.

"Sure thing," replied Lincoln, grabbing Tabby's hands.

"So, what's the haps?" asked Tabby.

"Nothing much," said Clyde. "Lincoln wanted to tell us something. I don't know what it is since he wanted to wait until we were all here."

"Where's Lynn and Vonda?" asked Rusty. "We're waiting for them?"

"No," said Lincoln. "They don't need to be here."

"Why, what happened?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Nothing, nothing! It's just that I wanted to ask you guys… um… would you like to join Tabby and I on supply runs?"

"What that?" asked Lily. "'Nother word for poo-poo?"

"No, this doesn't apply to Lana or you. You guys are just listening to us."

"Supply runs? Sure thing," said Rusty. "Although, I don't think my dad will let me go outside the gates."

"My brother never felt comfortable about me going outside," said Ronnie Anne.

"I don't know," said Clyde. "I've grown a little scared of going outside, just a little, ever since that… day."

"We gotta contribute somehow," said Lincoln. "Plus, I want to be around you guys more. Both Tabby and I."

"Okay, I'll try to ask my dad," said Rusty.

"And maybe Lori could convince Bobby to let me go," said Ronnie Anne.

"Alright, but I'm using a long melee weapon– like this bat! Maybe I could put some nails in it, perhaps wrap it in barbed wire–"

"Great! That's all I wanted to tell you guys," said Lincoln.

"Cool!" exclaimed Rusty. "So… what do we do now?"

"Let's go find Bobby!" said Lincoln. "Lana and Lily, do you wanna go outside and walk for a little?"

"You know," said Lana, "you don't have to talk to me like I'm a little–"

"Yeah! Yeah! Go outside! Walk!" exclaimed Lily.

"Fine, let's go."

Lincoln and Tabby looked at each other and smiled, much to Ronnie Anne's dismay. They all exited the house.

In the infirmary, below Leni and the others, a medical checkup was just completed. Dana and Wavehead chatted with each other while Becky tried to make Carol feel less anxious than she already was.

"All done," said Haley. "You are slightly high in iron and low in vitamins. Other than that, you are surprisingly healthy!"

"That's a relief," sighed Carol. "So, the baby's all good now?"

"To be honest, without an ultrasound machine, I can't be a hundred percent sure. But… your health should be a good indication of its health. I think your baby is fine."

"B-B-But you're not one-hundred percent sure?" stuttered Carol. "It's possible that my baby could be–"

"Carol, don't worry so much," said Becky. "She said you're fine. Keep worrying like that, baby's gonna be born with wrinkles on its face."

Haley and Carol looked at Becky with puzzled expressions.

"You know what I mean," said Becky. "Anyways, it might not seem like some people care, but we're here for you."

"Thank you, guys," said Carol.

"No problem," said Dana.

"Any idea of what you're gonna name it?" asked Wavehead.

Becky and Dana grabbed Carol's hands. Haley handed her a bottle of multivitamins.

"Nope," whispered Carol. "No idea."

Lori walked back to her home. Before she went inside, she made her way to the front gates.

"Hey, Lori," called out George. "So, I know we're not having the best of luck finding David, so, I wanted to ask you if we should keep going."

"Yeah, well there's no reason to stop the search, right?" asked Lori.

"We are putting ourselves in danger," said Sergei. "What if those rogues show up again?"

"We'll be ready for it," said Lori.

"Weeks ago, stopping those Oaks guys didn't mean anything," said George. "Sure, we got the firepower, but do we got the manpower?"

"Your point?"

"We gotta start training these people more. More than half of these people can't fire a goddamn pistol."

"Noted," said Lori. "But we're still going to look for David. We can't stop. His knowledge, training, discipline. The town needs it more than ever. Besides, I'm not a good firearms instructor."

Lori headed back home. Sergei nudged George.

"I don't know. I thought you were the best instructor after David. FBI training, no?"

"You're right, Sergei. But it's not about the gun training. I'm worried for Lori. She seems… distant."

"It's like how you Americans say it. Understatement of the year."

 **III - Ready or Not**

-Two Months Later-

Vanzilla arrived at a Canadian town, ten miles east of Houlton, driven by Bobby and carrying Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Tabby, and Clyde. They all exited the van and set their eyes at an abandoned supermarket.

"Sucks that Rusty couldn't come," said Clyde.

"It is very dangerous," said Bobby. "I don't blame his father."

"Oh come on!" groaned Ronnie Anne. "Rusty went on a boat and battled the Piranhas!"

"Yeah, and you know who else went? Liam. Chunk. Lori could barely walk for a week."

"Liam was a farm boy! I'm a tough city girl as Lincoln would put it."

"Alright, we're going back home."

The kids shouted in protest. Ronnie Anne groaned.

"Fine, sorry, sorry."

"Remember, this is not a game!" warned Bobby. "There is a clear chain of command! Understand?"

Ronnie Anne and Clyde nodded.

"Lincoln and Tabby have been on supply runs since last winter," said Bobby as he turned towards them. "You can guide them. Help 'em out a little. Now, Lincoln, wanna repeat the plan?"

"With pleasure."

Lincoln turned towards Tabby, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde.

"I shall call this, Operation Looting A Store For Food Water Medicine Other Necessities And To Think Of A Shorter Name For This Operation!"

Tabby and Clyde giggled quietly while Ronnie Anne rolled her eyes. Lincoln explained the plan.

"First, we scan the perimeter! We're looking for any lurkers, holes in the buildings, possibly an exit!"

Ronnie Anne and Clyde faced the store and took a step.

"Wait! I didn't tell you to go yet! After you're done doing that, we'll all meet up at the window over there! I'll tell you more when we meet up!"

Lincoln pointed his fingers at the group.

"Tabby, you're going with Ronnie Anne. I'm going with Clyde. Bobby, I suggest going with your sister."

"Of course," said Bobby. "Let's go."

Tabby and Ronnie Anne headed left and walked away from the walls. They turned around the corner and met up with a roamer.

Tabby let Ronnie Anne take the kill. She placed the golf club behind her back and swung it, beating off some flesh from its head. The roamer fell and the group continued.

Clyde saw a roamer approaching from the back door of the supermarket. Lincoln motioned him to kill it. He raised his baseball bat and swung it down. The bat crushed the skull of the roamer, dropping it to the ground.

Lincoln closed the back door and made a mental note of it.

The children saw each other, though Bobby told them to keep walking. Eventually, they met up again by the front windows of the supermarket.

"There's a back door," said Lincoln. "If anything happens, you go out through that door. Now, the next step. Know what you're going for."

"Food, water, anything of nutritional value," said Clyde.

"Anything else is a lower priority," said Ronnie Anne.

"Good," said Lincoln. "We usually have someone who hangs out here, guarding us, but in this case, we'll need all the manpower we could have."

"Alright, same partners?" asked Clyde.

Lincoln nodded.

"Next step, make some noise."

Lincoln banged his elbow on the window of the supermarket and turned on his flashlight.

"So, we're good now?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Give it a second," said Lincoln.

A roamer sprung into the window, gazing its eyes on the children. Lincoln opened the door and signaled the group to move inside.

Lincoln shone his flashlight around the roamer before thumping it with his mallet. The rats in the floor scurried away as the roamer dropped to the ground, its head leaking with roamer blood.

"Clyde and I'll take left," said Lincoln. "Remember where to meet up. Here, take this."

Lincoln handed Ronnie Anne his walkie-talkie that he uses to communicate with Clyde.

The two groups split up, leaving Bobby to follow Ronnie Anne and Tabby. Bobby allowed both of them to stick tight while he circled behind them.

Clyde shivered as the roamers growled at the ray of light. He swung his bat at their legs, causing them to topple down. Then, he raised it his bat and struck them with slow but mighty blows on their skulls.

"Good job, buddy."

"Thanks, Lincoln. I see some water bottles over there!"

Lincoln walked towards the water bottles, moving his flashlight around. He spotted three roamers lurking around the water bottles.

"Clyde, take out the one to my right."

Clyde nodded. Each of his footsteps were light and quick, and before he knew it, he was in front of the roamer, knocking it to the ground with his bat before killing it.

Lincoln moved his mallet to the left with force, then gathered momentum to move it back to the right, killing both roamers.

"We did it!" exclaimed Clyde.

"Not so loud. But yeah, we did it!"

"This is a lotta water."

Ronnie Anne and Tabby looked around the wine aisle.

"Do you think we're going to need this when we're twenty-one years old?" asked Tabby.

"Uh, I guess," replied Ronnie Anne.

Tabby and Ronnie Anne moved to a different aisle, where they found Bobby. He pointed his flashlight at a container of ground coffee before noticing the two girls staring at him.

"Keep going," said Bobby. "I'm just looking for something."

Ronnie Anne and Tabby headed for the canned food aisle. Bobby grabbed the ground coffee and placed it on his backpack before he looked for more items for Lori.

"Oh, look, canned food," said Ronnie Anne. "This wasn't that hard."

"Wait, Ronnie!" exclaimed Tabby.

Ronnie Anne ran to the shelf with the canned food and grabbed it. She then looked back at Tabby.

"What?" she asked.

"Always gotta check for the roamers," said Tabby. "Specially since they like to lurk in the dark."

"Oh, come on, you guys seriously can't be that paranoid!" she chuckled. "Can't blame Lincoln. He would only want you around all the time."

Tabby rubbed her head as her eyes turned wide. She gasped and reached her hands out to Ronnie Anne before her hoodie was grabbed by a roamer. Her golf club was on top of the shelf, out of reach.

Bobby moved the flashlight around and found a group of roamers at the end of the aisle. He dropped the formula milk and reached for his knife.

"Nah, too many," said Bobby before reaching for his pistol.

He shot the roamers as he moved back, careful to not corner himself.

Ronnie Anne kicked the roamer behind her with her right foot, hitting it in its knee. The roamer dropped to the ground, holding its grip on her hoodie. She dropped to her knee as well, struggling to remove her hoodie.

Tabby ran towards her. She then saw the flash of the gun and heard a loud bang echo off of the supermarket walls. She slipped on an empty can of beans, tossing her knife near Ronnie Anne.

The roamer pulled back her hoodie, almost strangling her, making it impossible to remove the sweater. She tried grabbing the knife, but the more she leaned forward, the stronger the hoodie strangled her. She clenched her teeth as she leaned forward, turning red as her hoodie wrapped around her throat.

A roamer fell on top of Tabby, grabbing at her leather jacket. Lucky for her, the roamer's nails weren't sharp enough to rip through the leather. She grabbed a nearby can and smacked it on the roamer's head.

Ronnie Anne gasped as she moved back closer to the roamer. It growled, chomping its teeth as her head got closer to it. She then placed her hands on the floor and stretched her legs outwards. She stomped on the handle of the knife with her left foot and slid it closer to her back.

She grabbed the knife and tried to reach for its head. However, her arms weren't long enough to hit its skull. She then grabbed the roamers' wrist and began cutting it.

Tabby sat on top of the roamer and smashed its skull with the can over and over. Eventually, the roamer's skull shattered and the can pushed blood out of the wound.

She stood up and looked at her friend. Ronnie Anne sliced the roamer's second hand off and slid away before it had the chance to lunge at her. She turned around and swung the knife down at the roamer.

"Oh my god," gasped Tabby. "Are you alright?"

Bobby arrived at the aisle with Lincoln and Clyde. Ronnie Anne blew a strand of hair out of her face.

"I was going to ask you guys that," she chuckled.

Ronnie Anne handed the knife back to Tabby.

A roar in the road that led to the front gates of Houlton led Luna to aim her scope at the hill outside of the town. She then removed her eye out of the scope and smiled.

"Jace."

The motorcycle moved closer to the gates, catching Lori's attention in the middle of her conversation with Luan, Benny, and Hana. She grabbed her AK-47 from across her chest and ran to the gates.

Buck and Pike ordered Jace to stop before the gates.

"Chill," said Jace. "Don't remember me? I told you dudes I would be back before winter."

"We remember," said George. "Doesn't mean I can't pat you down. Sorry, part of the job."

"You think you're still TSA?"

"FBI. And no, that was before. Before shit hit the fan. Still, better safe than sorry."

Lori walked out of the gates, her eyebrows pointing downwards. Jace smiled and waved at her.

"Who the hell are you?" asked Lori.

"W-What do you mean?" asked Jace. "Does no one remember me?"

"The hell are you talking about?" hissed Lori.

"No, Jace," said George. "SHE doesn't remember you because SHE never met you."

"That's no reason for the aggressiveness– oh wait! You're the– you were missing! You're Lauren?

"Lori," corrected George. "We never told you her name."

"I did," said Luna. "Lori, that's our friend, Jace. It's a long story, but we'll tell you when we go back inside the fences."

"Not yet he won't," said Lori. "Look, things have changed in the past six months, and I'm the one in charge around here."

"What happened to Dave?" asked Jace.

"It's David," corrected George.

"Long story as well," said Lori.

Luna and George pulled Lori behind. Luna turned around and talked to Lori.

"Don't be a party pooper, you can trust this guy," said Luna. "The past six months? He was searchin' for his folks, including his older sister. He was even tryin' to look for you, Leni, Luan, and… Mom and Dad."

"Then, I can go straight to the questions," said Lori.

Luna sighed and turned around. Lori walked towards Jace.

"How many roamers have you killed?" asked Lori.

"These questions again?" groaned Jace.

"Good. You should have no problem answering them."

"About forty now."

"How many people have you killed?"

"None. Same as last time."

"Why?"

"Killing is still bad, last time I checked."

"Care to explain?" asked Lori.

"Woah, that sounds like more than three questions," said George.

"I trust you, Jace. I just want to know if you're useful."

"We don't need to kill people, dude. If we got problems, we'll just leave each other alone. Simple as that."

"How are you still alive?" asked Lori. "Come in."

Jace's lizards crawled to his shoulders. Lori couldn't help but laugh to herself.

"Oh, Lana is going to love you," she said.

"I know, looking forward to see her again."

George and Luna walked inside the gates. Jace returned to his motorcycle and walked it inside the town. Lori tried to get ahead of the group, but it seemed as if they knew where to go.

"Sorry if my sis acted like a total hardass," said Luna. "Stuff happened while she was gone."

"It's alright," said Jace. "I'm just glad you were there for me."

Luna smiled. Jace flicked his hair, which reached his jaw. His face beamed with joy as he walked next to Luna.

The group arrived at Jace's home and walked inside. He yawned and lied on his couch, as Lori took a chair from the dining room.

"So, tell me your story," said Lori.

James and three other Houlton civilians walked outside the gates in the woods. They each held hunting rifles and were looking for wild deer, meese, or any other game.

"Alright, Mr. Coleman, show us the way," said James.

"The deer really are here, son. Just gotta be patient."

"Patient. I can do that."

A bullet flew out of the branches of the tree and struck the cap of one of the civilians, spewing his flesh onto the ground. Another civilian was shot on his chest, then his arms, then his neck. Both men fell to the ground.

A bald rogue with shades and a circle beard walked out of the bushes with an FN SCAR. In his uniform, he had two connected silver bars as his insignia and a name tag labeled, MOSS. Next to him was the rogue with the glasses, known by the survivors as Lieutenant Lead.

"Go back home and tell your leader to surrender herself," said Lt. Lead.

"She ain't surrendering to no one," said Mr. Coleman. "'Specially since y'all killed her folks in the–"

Captain Moss shot Mr. Coleman's leg with his SCAR, causing him to drop to his knees. He groaned in agony as Lt. Lead walked towards James. He handed him a note and patted him.

"For the leader's eyes only," he said. "Now, take his ass back to Dr. White and his whore."

Lt. Lead and Capt. Moss returned to the shadows in the woods.

James picked up Mr. Coleman and walked back to Houlton.

Jace wrapped up his story, with Lori and Luna being attentive.

"Figured I was gonna do no good finding them with snow all over the road, and then I found myself returning here," said Jace. "That's it. I rambled my damn mouth, right?"

Lori exhaled and blew all the dust out of the table. Jace ate a cookie from a cabinet and offered one to Luna. She politely declined while keeping a gaze at Jace.

"Now, enough about me," he said. "Let's hear a story from you, moonrock. Bet you got plenty of them."

Luna giggled.

"Nah, greaser, I don't got a story to tell. But she does."

Lori crossed her arms. Jace and Luna smiled and looked at her.

"You're not going to hear it," said Lori.

"Hear it? Luan EXPLAINED what happened while she was stuck in that prison and junkyard. Why can't you?"

"You wanna hear it?" asked Jace. "Then yeah, I wanna hear it as well. Your side, Lori?"

"You don't talk too much about it," said George. "Hardly at all."

"Fine…" said Lori. "Maybe if Lynn were here, so I wouldn't have to repeat myself."

"I can get her!" said Luna.

"I can come with her!" said Jace.

Luna smiled and poked his nose.

"Stay. I can get her myself."

"I'm going to get Lisa," said Lori. "Maybe she could figure out what Black's intent–"

Pike busted through the house door. He slammed it shut and walked to the dining room, searching for the leader.

"Lori," he said. "We got a situation."

Lori groaned and stood up. Jace, Luna, and George followed her out of the house.

Sergei helped James carry Mr. Coleman to the infirmary. They met Lori outside of the building.

"Oh my god," said Lori. "What happened?"

"The soldiers, they did this!" exclaimed James as Pike ran to the wounded man. "They got two others as well!"

"Where are they?"

"In the woods by the hill!"

Lori nodded. Luna and George grabbed their weapons while Jace and James followed them unarmed. They ran to the front gates, finding Buck guarding the gates.

"Did you see them?" asked Lori.

"Nah, but I heard 'em!" said Buck. "We gotta get our defenses ready!"

"On it!"

Lori turned on her walkie-talkie and contacted the usual defenders of the town. Luna ran to the front guard tower on Prison A. Jace followed her.

"Did you see their name tags?" Lori asked James.

"Uh huh. Lead and Moss!"

"Fuck, one of them's a lieutenant of Black. Alright, Buck, stay here and guard this gate! I need to gather everyone together so contact me if you see anything outside!"

"Wait, they told me to give you this!"

James handed Lori the note. She opened it up and read the malicious words that tarnished the paper with ink.

'Lori Loud. Surrender now or siege will be laid upon Houlton. Wave the white flag on top of the gates.'

Lori turned on her walkie-talkie.

"Pike! Guard the northwest gate! Luna, scan the east! Becky, keep an eye out for the northern highway! Everyone else, meet up in the center of town! Go ahead, spread the word!"

Luna placed her helmet on while Jace scanned the area with a pair of binoculars.

"Jace, you should really go. I got this."

"Just wanted to wish you good luck, moonrock."

Luna smiled with her eyes and nodded. Jace climbed down the guard tower, following Lori's order to meet up at the center of town."

Lori stood in front of the civilians in the park at the center of town, looking into the frightened and skeptical crowd. She realized that Dr. White, being the other leader of Houlton, couldn't appear due to Mr. Coleman's gunshot wound.

"Everyone, please calm down," reassured Lori. "We'll have the situation handled only with your help. You all hear me?"

Lynn and Vonda met up with Hana, Benny, and Luan.

"Now, I'm gonna be honest with you. I expected an attack like this– we all did. You all trained with guns, learned how to fend off the roamers, and seen what our attackers are capable of."

Dana and Wavehead stood along with Jace, listening to their leader.

"But we– the town of Houlton– are not prepared to defend ourselves against the menace of the rogues. I've been sending our best trained people on a hunt that literally ends up nowhere. It's time to change that."

Sergei, Kotaro, and Ted continued to hear a strong-willed woman younger than half their age.

"Back in Royal Woods– the hometown of the few of you– David created a militia to take down the rogues. It ultimately failed. But not this time around. We will train and we will FIGHT against them!"

Lori found Carol and Leni approaching from the distance.

"I would like to ask you to volunteer to join our militia. It's not for everyone. It is very dangerous… but I see it in your eyes… and some of you already made up your mind."

Lori heard Becky talk in the walkie-talkie.

"Lori, I see a van coming this way! I think– oh, it's just Bobby and the others. That's a relief."

Lori nodded and looked into the crowd again.

"If you're joining… talk to Dr. White or me whenever you see us."

Lori raised her left palm and waved softly before leaving. She headed for the north gate of the town.

Bobby drove Vanzilla closer to the north gates. Becky opened the gates and allowed Bobby to drive inside.

Lori waved while keeping a grave face. Bobby parked the van and exited the vehicle with Lincoln, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Tabby. They all had small dots of roamer blood on their clothes and large stains on their weapons. Bobby held the top strap to his backpack while he paced his steps slowly towards Lori.

"Sup, babe. Something wrong?"

"Yeah, two of our own were killed just twenty minutes ago. Mr. Coleman was shot, so Dr. White's treating him."

"What? Is everyone else alright?"

"It happened outside the fences."

Lori signaled the children to come closer.

"We don't know for sure when the rogues are gonna attack again or if they're even still out there," said Lori. "But we're working on forming a militia to defend this town."

"Why can't they just leave us alone?" groaned Lincoln. "You don't think they're picking us off one by one, right?"

"Don't know. All I know is we're going after them."

The rogues in the woods walked away from the hill. Moss and Lead gave each other a fist bump as they led their soldiers to their camp.

 **IV - The Response**

-Eleven Days Later-

The center of town was decorated again, though not it didn't appear as luminous and merry as last Christmas. A tall Christmas tree with ornaments and presents underneath it attracted many of the civilians.

Lori looked over her clipboard. She had the names of everyone who volunteered to be part of the militia and defend Houlton.

The militia received extra training from George, Buck, and Pike. Though Buck and Pike were excellent instructors, when asked about their military background and why the chose to work for the K.H.A.N., they gave puzzling answers. Lori figured that their family were in danger, just like Sandy's situation with David and their son.

Members of the militia were allowed to carry guns wherever they go, though the guns are required to be on safety mode. Only if they were patrolling or guarding were they allowed to have the safety off.

Drinks were served around, though some of the underaged tried to get a hold of it.

"Becky!" exclaimed Dana. "You can't drink that! You're underage!"

"Sure. Like that matters anymore."

Becky sipped the bottle of wine and exhaled with a smile on her face.

"Want some?" she asked.

"No, thanks. We're supposed to be sober, remember? We're protecting these people."

"Sure, look at Sergei. Sober as a judge."

Sergei cackled with Ted and Kotaro. He took another sip from his bottle of vodka and burped.

"I'm gonna get myself some of that," said Becky.

"You're gonna fry your brain," said Dana.

"Dude, legal drinking age in Canada is like eighteen or nineteen in some places. And it's just like a mile away."

"Whatever."

Dana turned around. She saw Hana drinking in a table with Kimi.

"Sup," said Dana. "Aren't you in the militia? Can't drink, you know."

"No. Drinking age, Japan. About twenty. What is your name?"

"I'm Dana. Nice to meet you."

"You look pretty. What is better word? Sexy."

Dana rubbed her head and chuckled nervously. Hana petted Kimi in the head before winking at Dana.

"I think you look cute, too."

Dana then walked away.

Jace looked around the park. He found Luna standing close to the Christmas tree, though he wanted to lead her to a specific location.

"Hey, moonrock," called out Jace. "I heard that you rocked this place last year. Someone said something about your friend?"

"Right, my girl, Sam. We rocked this place with Xmas jams."

"I bet you did. Wanna come walk with me?"

Luna nodded, grabbed Jace's hands, and walked with him as snow set into the town.

Luan and Benny sat on the porch of Dana's house by the town center. Luan stood up and turned the doorknob to the house, opening the front door. Seeing the home empty, she turned around, moved her thumb to her mouth, and bit her lower lips while she strutted towards Benny.

"The house is empty," she said. "Wanna come in and… do it?"

Benny smiled and quickly stumbled upwards. He chuckled and rubbed his head as he walked inside.

"Wait…" he said. "I don't know. Do you really think it's the right time?"

"I'm feeling lonely," said Luan. "And I… think you might help."

"Not like this. I know you're thinking about your parents right now. They wouldn't like it if I took advantage of you right now."

"No… Benny, you're not taking advantage! Let's just forget about my parents now! This is going to help me forget!"

"It really isn't," said Benny. "This is not right. Look, Luan, as much as I want it too, it's not the right time. You should be with your siblings, they can help you get through this. I just don't want you to do something you'll end up regretting, even if we're a couple."

"Well, I guess you're right. Thanks, Benny."

Luan hugged him and kissed his cheek. She then leaned close to his ears.

"You just guaranteed yourself a first time…"

Luan giggled and looked at his eyes while leaving. She wiped a tear and giggled again as she headed towards the town center.

Jace and Luna stood below a light pole. Jace rubbed his hands together and chuckled.

"Look above," he said.

Luna found a mistletoe tied with a string hung from the light pole. She closed her eyes and smiled. Jace winked at her.

"You know the rules," he said.

"You got me, greaser."

Luna cupped her hands together and gave Jace a soft peck on the lips before winking at him back. Jace smiled before noticing Sam walking close to the pole.

"Hey, you're Sam, right?" asked Jace.

"Yeah. You must be Jace Taylor. Luna talked about you," said Sam before brushing Luna's hair. "Hey, Lunes. You didn't tell me you were gonna hang out with him."

"I was waiting for you by the tree," said Luna.

Sam grabbed Luna's face and kissed her in front of Jace, whose jaws widened in shock. He gulped and exhaled a large breath of cold air. Sam then released her tongue from Luna's.

"Geez, Sam, missed me that much?" asked Luna.

Sam looked at Jace.

"Bother you?" she asked.

"Not at all," he replied.

Jace then flinched at seeing Becky whoop at the top of her lungs. Next to her was Dana standing in embarrassment as she tried hiding her face from the onlooking crowd.

"Come on, Becky, no more vodka for you," said Dana.

"I… would love to see Lincolnovich spin his underwear out for me," slurred Becky. "He can definitely call me babushka again."

"You're so wasted," said Dana. "Don't you remember? That was Lincoln."

Luan walked to town center looking for Lori. She found Luna, Sam, and Jace looking at the scene that Becky caused.

"Hey, Luna!" exclaimed Luan. "Wanna help me find Lori?"

"Sure–"

Gunshots thundered across the sky, all coming from the east. Sam pulled out a Glock 42 from her coat and flicked off the safety switch. Dana placed a scope into her MSR-10 and ran towards the military-zone.

Luna followed Sam to the prisons while Jace and Luan stood below the light pole. They both looked above and frantically eyed each other.

"Nah," they both said.

Jace grabbed Luan's arms and ran with her to the park. Many of the civilians were encouraged to stick together while Bobby, Lincoln, Tabby, and other non-members of the militia protected them.

Sergei grabbed his small carbine while Ted and Kotaro ran home to grab their weapons. Becky looked around and pulled out her Glock 17.

"No, no, no," said Sergei. "You're not coming with us. Stay here. You're too drunk."

"What?" gasped Becky. "You're drunk too!"

"I know how to hold my vodka! Stay!"

Sergei ran to the prisons along with some of the civilians of the town.

Dr. White drove Lori and Benny to the military-zone. They both were ready to fight the rogues.

Lead's forces attacked the fences by the prisons and the runway.

"Weaken the defenses!"

The rogues in the tip of the spear pushed forward with ballistic shields. The soldiers behind them shot at the prison towers, shattering all the windows and lights.

"Incoming!" yelled Lead.

The militia arrived by the prisons, some by foot and others by vehicles. Luna rushed to the front guard tower in Unit A, placing her gear on.

"Move north!" yelled Lead. "Make your way to the highway!"

The rogues shot at the militiamen, most wearing protective gear.

"Shoot the fences!" ordered Lead.

The rogues aimed between the wall of ballistic shields and shot at the fences that guarded the runway. The militia took cover behind the prisons, which allowed the rogue soldiers to run across the fences.

On the other side of the town, Captain Moss led his soldiers to the northwest gate with M4s in their hands. Under the barrel of the M4s were M203 grenade launchers, capable of destroying an entire town if used all at once.

"Romeo! Three… two… one…!"

A few rogues launched their grenades near the fences to the right of the gates. The explosion sent dirt and snow flying everywhere while shattering the fences.

"Lima! Three… two… one…!"

Different rogues launched their grenades near the fences to the left of the gates.

The civilians in Houlton looked to the west and saw a slow, bright light in the horizon. The explosion added to the thunder of attack.

"Foxtrot! Three… two… one…!"

Lori ordered some of the militia fighters to drive to the west part of Houlton, taking Benny and Wavehead.

Kotaro took one of the trucks and drove some fighters to the west. The militia fighters on the east continued chasing the rogues along the fences, unable to penetrate their ballistic wall.

Becky ran to the infirmary and found Carol and Haley with other survivors as the gunfire continued to rage from the distance.

"Heya, Carol," slurred Becky. "Still reading The Scarlet Letter?"

"Yeah, but not right now. No doubt there are going to be patients who need my help. Becky, are you intoxicated?"

"No… I just want to be here with you."

"Ugh, take a seat. I'm going to get us some water."

Becky sat down outside of the room while Carol looked out the window. She then grabbed two cups of water in the infirmary kitchen, worried about Lori.

Benny and Wavehead jumped out of the trucks and fired at the rogue soldiers. However, they moved quickly through the woods, appearing as shadows moving along the fences.

All the rogue soldiers moved north and met up by the highway where many armored vehicles waited for them. The militia stayed behind the fences, seeking cover from houses and trees.

The rogues tossed hand grenades at the fences, bending the metal wiring and weakening it. Some of the fences pointed inwards towards the town, with its base off the ground.

"They're retreating!" yelled Lori. "Fall back and defend the perimeter! Take the wounded back to the infirmary!"

Lori contacted Dr. White with her walkie-talkie.

"Any fatalities?" she asked.

"Not as far as I know," he replied. "Only two wounded. These soldiers weren't trying to attack us."

Lori looked around.

"You think they were trying to scare us?" asked Lori.

"To induce fear into the heart of the leader… wouldn't that make it more likely for her to surrender?"

"I'm not scared," said Lori. "Are you?"

"I am. They're attacking our home, killing our people, destroying the kind of normality we're supposed to have. But it doesn't matter."

Lori grabbed the note from her pockets.

"You're the leader," said Dr. White. "Best I could do is advise you, but I don't have the courage to do what it takes to be a leader. Take charge."

Lori ripped the note and watched the last armored vehicles leave the highway. She headed back to the center of town with George by her side.

Becky drank her cup of water while she feasted her eyes on Carol's golden hair. Her eyes then moved down to her lips as Carol placed it on the edge of her cup.

Carol looked over and caught Becky staring at her. She smiled as she placed her hands on her belly.

"You're really hot, you know that," said Becky.

"It's just the alcohol talking," replied Carol.

"Your hair, your eyes…"

Becky and Carol locked eye contact. Carol gulped and found herself unable to escape the grasp of Becky's dilating eyes.

"Your lips…"

Becky leaned towards Carol faster than she could lean back, leading to both girls sharing a kiss. Carol blushed as the taste of alcohol entered her tongue. Becky then leaned back and wiped her lips softly while smiling.

"I… have to– look! Patients! I have to look– help some patients out," stuttered Carol.

Becky tilted her head and winked at Carol. She nodded.

Carol rubbed her arms as she entered the patients' rooms to help out Haley. She looked back at the halls and thought about the girl who just kissed her.

Lori arrived at the town center with the rest of the militia. The community gathered around her on their own and prepared to listen to her.

"The rogues are gone," said Lori. "They won't be back tonight. They're only trying to bring the fear out of us. And as long as we don't give in to that fear, the rogues will fail. Thanks to our militia, you're all safe. Continue celebrating, everyone."

-Eight Days Later-

The splosh of the snow grew louder with each footstep that the militia took as they marched through the woods. The pine trees provided cover for the militia, should they encounter the rogues they were looking for.

Dana nudged Becky on the arms as they trudged behind Lori.

"So… you and Carol?" smirked Dana.

"She finally told you about it?" murmured Becky. "I don't want to talk about it."

"C'mon, I see you got the hots for her."

"That night was a mistake. Besides, I don't like girls… like that."

"Guys, focus," said Lori. "We can come across the rogues at any second."

The people leading the militia wore were in full riot gear that they found in the prisons while the rest of the militia wore bulletproof armor found in the armory. Benny and Hana were two of the leading members as they cut through annoying branches with their identical swords.

"Hey," Vonda whispered to Lori. "There are trimmed branches over there. And below…"

Vonda went prone and found strings with cans attached to them.

"Just like I thought," she said.

"Alright," said Lori. "George, take the right flank. Sergei, take the left. Benny and I will go forward. And watch out for the string– go over it."

Hana crouched and walked ahead of the group. Lori called out to her with a whisper, though Hana ignored her.

"She's going her own way," said Benny. "Should we follow her?"

"Nah," said Lori. "Just go through with the plan."

Lori held out her revolver and snuck towards the strings. She walked over it and crouched under the trees. She stepped on the snow with a light and steady footstep, muffling the noise. The militia stopped as she raised her palm.

"I see them," said Lori. "Two tangos. Think we can melee our way through this."

Lori moved her finger across her throat as a signal for George and Sergei. They took out their knives and stalked the two rogues by the lonely tent smoking. One was talking while holding his cigar.

"I know it's against the rules, but damn– the leader is something else. Would you…?"

"Dude," replied the other rogue. "I got a wife back home. Plus, ain't she like seventeen or some shit?"

"No, she's–"

Hana leaped from the bushes and decapitated the married rogue. She then drove her sword into the smoker's stomach and walked him back to a tree.

"Where… is… Black?" hissed Hana.

"I ain't telling you… bitch!"

"Bitch? I don't like sound of that word."

Hana pulled the sword out and stuck it in his throat.

Lori flinched and looked back to her militia. She swallowed hard and motioned her group to move forward.

Hana walked back to Lori and tossed her their dog tags. Lori shuddered and placed them in her pockets. She continued walking ahead in the snow.

Back in a snow-filled Houlton, Lana wanted to see her new favorite reptiles again. She snuck away from Lincoln and Clyde and found herself wandering the streets of Houlton. She used her fingers to count how many blocks Jace was from her house. Then, she walked towards his home.

Lana found Jace talking to Jeffrey before he walked into the graveyard behind the church. She waited for Jeffrey to walk back inside the church, but he stood outside, flipping his Bible.

She grabbed a ball of snow and tossed it inside the church, alarming Jeffrey. He walked inside and closed the door, allowing Lana to pass by him and to the graveyard.

Lana peeked from the corner of the church and saw Jace staring at the tombstones. Lizzie licked Jace on his face and gazed at Lana.

Jace turned around and smiled at Lana as she tried hiding her face.

"Come here, Lana. Lizzie and Izzy want to lick your face."

Lana walked to him and grabbed the lizards. They crawled all over her, causing her to giggle.

"What are you doing here?" asked Lana.

"I miss my mom and dad and my sister, Alex. I have very little hope that they're still breathing, so I kinda want to be there for them, spiritually."

Lana frowned. Leni and Luna walked to a narrow pathway between the church and a house that led to the graveyard. They snuck to the corner and peeked at Jace and Lana.

"You miss your mom and dad too?" asked Jace.

"And my sister. I mean, Lucy too, but for some reason, I was able to move on from her… death. But Lola, my twin sister, she's– I can't get over her. How come I can get over one sister but not the other? Does that make a bad person?"

"Not at all. I get it… she was inseparable. I assume you two always did things together and fought each other, but those are the memories you have. And to think about the future memories you could've made… it's painful to think about."

"Everyone keeps telling me that she was spared from this world… but that doesn't really make me feel better. What if there is no heaven or other world? What if Lola is just… dead?"

"We still have a pursuit of happiness even in this hellhole, and sometimes… we do get a moment of joy. And deep down in your heart, you wanted to experience those moments with her."

Jace took out a small picture from his wallet, which contained only photos of his family. The picture was of young version of him with another young boy, both wearing pirate costumes.

"That's Alex," said Jace. "This was before we went trick-or-treating for Halloween. One of my favorite memories."

"I thought Alex was your sister," said Lana. "You didn't mention a brother."

"I get that a lot. You see, when Alex was ten, she identified as a girl. So, instead of calling Alex a he, we called her a she. Then, two years ago, when she turned eighteen, she got a… gender reassignment operation."

Jace then took out a photo of him with his parents and Alex.

"That was after the surgery. She looks so happy…"

"I'm confused," said Lana. "I'm sorry, but I didn't know you could go from a boy to a girl."

"It's alright, I don't expect you to understand it yet. But I just want to tell you… it's okay to want your sister here. Even if you know this world brings suffering… you want to suffer with her."

Jace grabbed Lana's shoulder and pulled her into his chest as she sniffled softly.

"Make new memories with your friends and family," said Jace. "And never beat yourself up over thinking like this. It's okay. You're not the only one."

Luna and Leni held their hands over their chests to calm their rushing hearts.

Jace turned around and motioned them to come over.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Jace.

"Just wanted to see Leni," said Luna.

"And I was at the church," added Leni. "I told her you were at the graveyard and she just HAD to talk to you too."

"Ah, I see," said Jace. "Leni, you got some snow on your hat."

"Do I? Yeah, I think it was snowing inside the church because a snowball hit me on the head. I'm totes alright, though."

Jace smiled as Lana let out a soft chuckle. Lana then hugged Jace, surprising him. He then hugged her back, as Luna and Leni tried to hold back tears of joy.

Over the course of the next couple weeks, Lori and the militia encountered small groups of rogues. More often than not, the rogues escaped from the militia, usually unharmed as they wore powerful ballistic armor.

Sometimes, the militia won the skirmishes and were able to take out the rogues. The dog tags were collected, but Lori didn't have the courage to look at their names.

However, eliminating the rogues is not all what Lori wanted. She needed to find General Black's location, but she was unable to find someone willing to give up information about their respected commander.

On a particular cold day, where the snow covered the ground but not the air, Lori and the militia encountered Lead's forces. A firefight erupted between both groups, resulting in the first casualties on Lori's side. However, Lead's forces faced bigger losses.

Lori and the militia ran past the bodies of the rogues as they chased Lead. Hana picked up the dog tags from the rogues, placing them in her pockets.

"Lori!" shouted George. "Roll over!"

Lori crouched and dodged incoming fire from the rogues hiding behind three pine trees. Some members stopped at their track and faced the rogues, while Lori continued chasing after Lead.

Sergei pulled the pin from a grenade and tossed it behind the trees. The rogues popped out, only to get caught by the militia's raining bullets.

Lori saw Lead's footsteps and ran up a hill. She used her hands to climb up the slippery slope as Benny and Lynn caught up to her.

"He can't be far!" exclaimed Lori as she reached the top of the hill.

"Oh, he ain't," said Captain Moss, who was hiding on top of the hill with his rogues.

"I'm right here," said Lead. "Surrender now or–"

Lori raised her Python, but Lead grabbed her wrist and shoved her hand away in a blink of an eye. He grabbed the barrel of the revolver and pulled it out of her grip.

"What a bitch," said Lead.

He aimed the revolver at the sky and shot it until no bullets were launched. Then, the rest of the rogues fired their weapons in the sky, creating a noisy drumfire of bullets.

Lori watched in dread as the rogues created a giant wall in which she was unable to escape from as she stood in the edge of the hill.

Moss walked up to Lori and kicked her down the hill, watching her tumbling body land on the solid ice.

She shivered and groaned as she struggled to pick herself up. The rogues snickered before leaving. Moss left one last message before he led his forces back to their camp.

"So… you've chosen siege."

Lori turned over and looked at the empty hill as she heard the marching footsteps turn softer and softer until they left no specks of noise.

 **V - A Cold Day in Hell**

-Day 611-

"Easy in, easy out," said Bobby. "We get what we need and we leave– that means food, water, medicine."

Lincoln, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Tabby nodded their heads.

"Relax, we got this," said Lynn.

Bobby and the rest of the children quickly scanned the perimeter of the store before they caught the roamers' attention inside. They dispatched the roamers and then proceeded to loot the store.

The group felt more rushed as they finally attempted to loot the small city of Bangor. No more looting and relaxing in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere.

Near the Penobscot River, Becky led Dana, Wavehead, Luan, Benny, and Hana through the abandoned residential homes to loot for supplies. The streets were littered with trash while some power lines hung low into the sidewalks. Hana's RV outshined the dusty cars in the road.

On the other side of the river, George led Vonda and two Houlton civilians– James and Jenny– through small shops near the riverbank. A bridge stood not more than two blocks away.

All the groups in Bangor partook in a massive supply-run as the surrounding towns of Houlton were drained of supplies.

Bobby and Ronnie Anne stood behind each other's backs as they moved from one aisle to another. Lincoln and Tabby stayed close as they navigated through the dark floor with their flashlights. Lynn and Clyde stepped across the viscid tiles on the floor as they passed over two corpses.

"Ahead, three roamers," said Clyde.

"I got it," said Lynn. "Stay back."

Clyde kept the flashlight on Lynn's new targets as she pulled out her arrows. She ran up to them and shoved each arrow through their eye sockets before taking them back.

"Maybe, I can take on the next couple roamers?" asked Clyde.

Lynn picked up her arrows.

"No way."

"Lynn, you killed all of the roamers we encountered ever since we arrived in the city!" complained Clyde. "Is there something going on?"

"Fine, I'll let you call dibs next time we see the lamebrains. Though, try not to get too close to them."

"How else will I kill them?"

"You're right, you should let me handle 'em."

"Seriously, Lynn?"

Bobby and Ronnie Anne shined their flashlights at the two bickering adolescents.

"Will you two shut up?" exclaimed Ronnie Anne. "We can hear you from the other side of the store!"

Footsteps pounded near the four survivors. Ronnie Anne raised her knife as Lincoln and Tabby stopped walking.

"Oh, it's just YOU two," sighed Ronnie Anne.

"What, you thought we were the biters?" said Tabby.

"Whatever. We're done here, right, Bobby?

Bobby made a thumbs-up. He motioned the group to follow him out of the store and enter another one, ready to fill up their backpacks.

Luan used Luna's crowbar once again to fight off the roamers in the road. Lucky for her, the roamers' bodies have been decaying for more than a year, making it easier for her crowbar to smash their skulls.

Benny sliced the roamers one by one while Hana watched him. She then stepped up and turned the corner of her eyes so they caught sight of Luan and Benny's attentive faces.

"Look. Learn," said Hana.

Hana tilted her sword sideways and ran up to a roamer, delivering an uppercut in the form of a blade. She then moved to the two roamers behind and slashed her sword to the right, slicing their heads in half.

"Maybe if I had my katana, I could do that," said Luan.

"Here," said Hana, handing Luan her own sword. "Go ahead."

Luan and Benny copied Hana, though they weren't able to slice the heads of two roamers at the same manner that Hana did.

"Hold handle like this," Hana told Benny. "Luan. Use momentum."

"Is it really the right time to learn this now?" exclaimed Benny.

Hana elbowed a roamer and smacked it out of her way with a crowbar. Her head responded affirmatively to Benny as the roamers lurked closer.

Becky and Dana swung their machetes around, sending a slash of blood into the air while corpses dropped. A gust of wind blew their hair in their faces, blocking their vision.

Wavehead paced himself back inch by inch as while the roamers approached him. When they were at a close distance, he thrusted his trench knife with four knuckle slots straight into their eye sockets.

The group caught their breath as they found themselves proud of taking out a small group of roamers.

Then, they all heard the dreaded roar of rotor blades.

The Super Huey helicopter hovered over the city, catching the attention of all three groups in the city. It also caught the attention of the roamers wandering the city.

The helicopter slowed down and hovered in the air, filling the air with nerve-wracking vibrations.

"Look!" yelled Luan. "Not again…"

"Oh my god…" murmured Dana.

Hana nudged Luan with her crowbar and grabbed her katana back. She then raised it and pointed it towards the city.

"No!" exclaimed Benny. "We're not fighting them! Run!"

Becky shook her head and motioned her group to follow her. The thunder of the herd returned. The roamers in the inner city were riled up from the helicopter in the air.

"Where we go?" asked Hana, her face forming droplets of sweat.

"Away from the chopper! We're going back home!" shouted Benny.

The helicopter moved faster.

"The chopper is going home!" yelled Luan. "Our home!"

"Just keep going!" shouted Becky. "Just go!"

The herd tore through the streets and homes, knocking down mailboxes and bumping into cars. The wind grew stronger as the gray clouds commenced the blizzard that the groups would face.

Tabby shivered as she held out her hands. Snowflakes pelted themselves onto her palms and into the skin of the other survivors.

Clyde shivered, prompting Lynn to hand him her scarf. Lincoln wore his winter hat on his head while Tabby placed her earmuffs. Ronnie Anne used her hood to cover her head while Bobby searched for the keys to Vanzilla.

"We can't stay here much longer," said Bobby. "Can't drive with all the snow."

"We're going now?" asked Lynn. "We didn't even rummage through those shops!"

"I don't think we have the time," said Bobby. "Plus, the roamers are attracted to sound. That helicopter and the herd that will come might be a pain to deal with too."

Bobby's group followed him to Vanzilla, taking up the back seats as they enter it. Bobby started the engine and turned on his walkie-talkie.

"This is Bobby. We're inside Vanzilla. We're heading back to Houlton. Anyone hear?"

"This is Becky! We have a... herd... on our tail! Go! Now!"

Bobby placed his walkie-talkie down. He stepped on the gas pedal and drove Vanzilla ahead into the highway. The group passed by the potential stores and buildings they could've looted until all they noticed were trees.

The distance between Becky's group and the herd were further apart than when they first saw them, but more roamers joined in the chase.

Dana held her machete with her left hand and her silenced M9 on her right. She, along with Becky and Wavehead resorted to using their sidearms to kill the dangerous roamers.

"Swarm ahead!" yelled Benny.

"Stop!" ordered Becky.

"What do we do?" exclaimed Dana.

Becky frantically moved her head around. The river prevented them from moving to the right, the herd behind them meant they couldn't backtrack, and the swarms ahead prevented them from running any further ahead in the road, leaving them only one choice.

"To the left!" yelled Becky.

"Damn, that's where the city's at!" gasped Benny.

Becky and her group fought off the aggressive wanderers in the road, melee-style, before they entered the streets once considered busy.

The dry trees allowed the group to see which streets harbored roamers. The group passed by these streets and headed towards another intersection. Becky shouted orders along the way.

"To the right! Left! Keep going ahead! Keep going! Right! Left!"

The group didn't know how many blocks they were from escaping the city. It could've been five blocks, though they knew it had to be more than that.

The group then found themselves in an intersection where roamers were scattered in all roads.

"Where to now?" asked Dana.

"The right! Fight 'em off!" ordered Becky.

Becky shot the two closest roamers, missing a shot in the head, while the rest of the group ran in. Hana sliced her way to the left while Benny cleared the other side. Dana and Wavehead mimicked Becky and unleashed their bullets at the group of roamers in the middle.

"Fuck!" yelled Becky as she turned around. "These roamers are following our asses! Push ahead!"

Luan stayed close to the sidewalk and cars, beating the roamers into the metal bodies and windows.

"Luan! This way! Is safest!" whispered Hana.

Hana ran into an alleyway near the left intersection. Luan called after her but Hana ignored her. She looked around and then chased her.

"Hana! Come back…!" she shouted.

Becky found Hana and Luan running away. She then looked ahead into a less roamer-infested road and realized that they weren't too far from safety.

"Benny!" shouted Becky. "Take this walkie-talkie and find George's group! Find 'em somewhere! I'll go look for Hana!"

"Should we wait for you?" he asked.

"Not with this blizzard growing stronger! Just go! We got an RV back over there! Go! Go!"

Benny nodded.

Becky ran to the left intersection and into an alleyway. She found Luan many yards away, and decided to keep chasing her.

"Alright, let's keep going ahead!" shouted Benny.

Dana and Wavehead were the only ones who nodded causing Benny to realize that Luan was gone. He gasped as he figured that Luan chased Hana along with Becky.

"Let's go, Benny!" said Dana.

"Yeah, c'mon man!" said Wavehead, stabbing a roamer approaching Benny.

Benny ran ahead into the road, left to wonder about the fate of the three young women.

The gray clouds dumped even more snow and beefed up its wind speeds. George, Vonda, James, and Jenny struggled to fight the roamers near the river.

"We gotta go to the bridge!" shouted George.

"It's like last time," gulped Vonda, as she tightened her quiver. "Herd."

A crow sat on top of a traffic light. George and his group ran past the intersection under the crow. The crow then looked at the incoming herd and remained on top of the traffic light, glancing at the roamers' faces. It looked further into the horizon and was met with hundreds of faces, all rotten and decayed, spooking it away.

George unholstered his gun and used his left arm to cover his face from the wind. A roamer tried to grab him, but he shot it point-blank. Its blood flew into the wind, spraying into the clothes of Vonda, James, and Jenny.

Vonda shook the blood off of her bow and smacked a roamer into the frosty grass. She grabbed Jenny's arm and led her through the cold storm.

Jenny shivered as a reaction to the blood rather than the wind. She never had blood stain her clothes before so this was new yet horrifying to her.

James only ever felt deer blood on his favorite jacket. However, unlike his wife, the cold nipped away at his skin.

George and the others arrived at the bridge from where they came from, but it was now riddled with roamers. The herd congested the bridge on the city side, making it almost impossible for George and his group to cross.

"Let's find another way!" yelled Jenny.

"Our car is on the other side!" shouted George. "We gotta get there!"

"How?" asked James.

"Like this," said Vonda, pulling an arrow from her quiver.

She drew back her bow and loosed her arrow. A gust of wind blew it off the narrow bridge.

"Whoops," said Vonda. "Not like that."

She pulled another arrow from her quiver and held it with her right hand as she held her bow with her left. She then ran to the closest roamer and whacked it with her bow before she knelt down and stabbed it inside its eye socket.

"No, no, that's so gross, I can't do that!" exclaimed Jenny.

"Not only that," said James, "what about our safety? I don't wanna get bit."

"You're wearing a leather jacket!" said George. "You'll be fine! Just go for their damn head and watch your back!"

"No, I can't!" said Jenny. "Can't I just stay back and use my gun? I can–"

"And what happens when you run out of ammo?"

The roamers faced Vonda and the rest of the group. She stepped back and yelled for help.

"We'll be there!" yelled George before facing James and Jenny. "We need all the manpower we can get!"

"I can't," whimpered Jenny. "I'm not like you or Lori. I don't know how to fight against a group of those things!"

"Listen to me you two. Do you think Lori was always the tough badass she is now? No! She was like you– went through less shit than you two. Just a 17-year-old teenager enjoying a normal life before the world around her turned to hell."

"Well… if she could do it…" muttered James.

He stepped up with a pistol and a knife. Jenny nodded her head and faced the swarm of roamers at the end of the bridge.

"First, we thin the herd!" said George. "Vee! Stay back!"

George, James, and Jenny aimed at the swarm with their sidearms. The swarm growled and stumbled in their direction. The roamers bumped into a tanker truck, many small cars, a van, and other vehicles in the bridge. They scattered about, making some of the roamers clear targets.

"Now!" exclaimed George.

The three adults fired onto the scattered roamers. George dropped the roamers one by one, each shot striking their skulls.

James– not as accurate as George– was able to get some shots on the undead skulls. Blood flew out from the back of their head as they collapsed to the ground.

Jenny– less accurate than her husband– missed many headshots. Some of their bodies were stained by bullet holes, but they continued prowling towards the group.

"Shit!" yelled Jenny. "No more ammo!"

"I'm out too!" shouted James.

"Same. We use our knives now," said George.

Vonda joined the group and lunged towards the roamers, smacking them with her bow before stabbing them with her arrows.

Jenny held out her knife with an unsteady motion and found a roamer approaching her. She whimpered as she drove the knife into its head. She then pulled it out and watched the roamer fall into the bumper of a car.

After watching his wife take out a roamer, James stepped up towards two roamers and stabbed each one through their eye sockets. Another roamer approached behind him, grabbing his arms. Its nails were unable to penetrate.

Vonda whacked the roamer away from James, causing it to stumble across the bridge. The roamer, unable to power through the wind, was blown off the bridge.

"Guys!" exclaimed Vonda. "Just smack them and they'll fall right off the bridge!"

"That's right," said George. "No muscles in their damn bodies."

George went ahead and kicked a roamer in its stomach, sending it to the edge of the bridge. The roamer growled loudly as the wind bullied it against the guard rail. Then, an ice blast blew it off the bridge, causing it to fall to the freezing river below.

The group ran across the bridge, finishing off the roamers between the vehicles with a stab to the brain. The roamers found by the edge of the bridge were pushed off by the group.

George and his group fought through the last few roamers when they finally reached the end of the bridge.

"The car– do you remember where you parked it?" asked James.

"I do," said George. "Follow me."

George's walkie-talkie crackled.

"Guys, where are you?" said Benny. "We need help!"

"Damn," muttered George. "We gotta help them out first."

The wipers struggled to move the snow away from the windshields of Vanzilla. They got stuck in the middle of the windshield and failed to provide vision for Bobby.

Bobby left the heater on inside the van for the children and exited the van to clean the windshield.

Using the stock of a rifle, he wiped the snow off of the windshield. He then noticed that the snow quickly took over the windshield as the blizzard grew stronger.

Man, how do I fix this thing?, thought Bobby. Wait. Aha!

Bobby opened the hood in the bumper of Vanzilla and checked the engine. He then checked the windshield wipers and removed them in order to lubricate them.

"The wind's getting real strong," said Tabby. "Look at the trees."

The children stared out into the woods before the snow covered up the windows.

Bobby placed the windshield wipers back into their place and closed the hood of the van. Next, he entered Vanzilla and shifted the gear stick to drive. He pressed the gas pedal, but only heard a groan come from the wheel.

"We're stuck, aren't we?" asked Lynn.

"No, not yet," replied Bobby, frantically pressing the pedal. "Not yet, no, no– we're stuck!"

The children groaned. Lynn sighed in defeat.

"No surprise there," said Lynn. "This metal box's a piece of junk. C'mon, we can walk from here on."

"I don't think the closest town is that close," said Bobby. "Medway's gotta be miles away."

"You hear that?" asked Lynn.

Bobby shook his head.

"That's the march of the dead. They'll keep marchin' and marchin' and marchin'… and before we know it… we're dead meat. Literally as your girlfriend would say. Don't you wanna go back home to her?"

"Okay, fine. Come on, guys. We're walking from here on."

The children groaned and exited the vehicle. The wind grew softer, but its strong gusts grew increasingly frequent. Vanzilla stood in the road while snow piled up on its wheels. The last few snowflakes dropped on the van before the snowfall stopped. Now, the wind was the real test.

The herd continued walking in the road, following a Humvee. The roamers growled as they struggled to move their legs in the snow. The wind also made their steps slower as it caused their legs to sway when it was in the air.

Back in Bangor, George, Vonda, James, and Jenny ran into the city, finding stray roamers in the road. The wind blew snow in all directions as freezing fog set in, disguising the survivors and the roamers.

"It's getting hard to see out here!" yelled James. "Are you sure we're going the right way?"

"The TV shop is there!" yelled George. "I think that's Benny!"

Vonda's hair flew all around her face, blocking her view. She didn't notice an approaching roamer to her left.

James and Jenny powered through the wind and arrived at the TV shop with George. They met with Benny and Wavehead.

"Where are the others?" asked George. "Wait– Vonda!"

The roamer stretched its arm through the white wind and reached for Vonda. When it did, Vonda turned to him and gasped, unable to react quickly.

The roamer tried to walk forward. However, Dana came from behind and slashed the roamer out of Vonda's arms.

"There's Dana," said Benny. "Becky and Luan had to look for Hana. Not sure where they are, though."

Dana and Vonda met up with the rest of the group. George grabbed Vonda and hugged her, exhaling a large puff of winter breath.

"Okay," sighed George. "Let's go back to my car! We're leaving!"

George took charge and led the rest of the group out of the TV shop. The wind continued its punishment and blew the snow into the faces of the survivors.

"It shouldn't be too far," said George. "And– oh, damn."

Another swarm of roamers blocked the intersection that held the car on the other end. More swarms from each road of the intersection glared at the group who caught their attention.

"We can't fight these four swarms!" yelled Dana.

"We're not going to!" yelled Benny. "This building! Let's go through it!"

George looked at the rest of the group and nodded. Benny opened the door and turned on his flashlight. He then motioned the group to enter. Before the roamers arrived, he closed the door and barricaded it with a drawer he found.

Benny pointed his flashlight at the corner of the room and yelled softly. The flashlight revealed a living corpse– a roamer– but with missing lower limbs.

"Crawlers!" yelled Benny. "Oh my god, it's crawling."

The crawler dragged his guts across the floor while pulling itself with its arms. Its torn abdomen muscles flapped and hung around while its golden glowing eyes looked above at the survivors.

Jenny vomited onto the floor, James shivered, Dana scrunched up her face, and Wavehead pinched his nose. George looked away while Benny thrusted the sword into the roamer's head.

Suddenly the windows of the building cracked. The roamers swung their hands at the window and lunged their heads forward with their mouths open and teeth ready to bite.

The group looked around and found themselves surrounded by the cracked windows and heard thuds against the walls.

"We have to go out the back door!" exclaimed Dana.

"Where is it!" cried Jenny.

"Follow me!" said Benny.

Benny ran out of the lobby room and into the halls of the building. The group followed Benny along the hallways, hearing growls inside some of the rooms.

The windows shattered and allowed the roamers the enter inside the building and search for the survivors. They growled and followed the light coming from the hallways.

"They're right behind us!" shrieked Dana.

"I can't see in this shithole!" yelled Benny. "There's something over there!"

Benny pointed his flashlight at the floor and found an exit sign pointing to his right. He smiled and waved his hands towards himself, motioning the group to follow his way out of the building.

The roamers filled the hallways and found the group. They ran towards a door at the end of the hall as the roamers prowled towards the group, hungering for flesh.

Benny pulled the door handle then pushed, but the door would not open.

"The snow," whispered Benny.

George joined in the push of the door and tried to move the snow out of the way, but the door still couldn't open all the way.

"I'm thin enough to go through!" said Wavehead. "I'll clear the snow out!"

"Do that!" said George. "Let's keep these roamers off our back!"

"I got this!" said Dana.

She grabbed Wavehead's gun which belonged to D and aimed it at the roamers. She shot the approaching roamers, creating a large flash of light that filled the dark halls.

Wavehead fell to his knees and moved the snow with his arms. He then pulled the door opened and allowed the group to leave the building.

"Thank you very much!" said Jenny.

As soon as George, Benny, Dana, Vonda, Jenny, and James were out, Wavehead closed the door. The group found themselves next to a dumpster, walls with graffiti, and a large fence with a car on the other side.

"That's the car," said George. "Everyone, get on my back and jump across the fence!"

Wavehead placed his back against the door and his hands on the walls to keep the roamers inside. The roamers' hands stuck out of the building, begging to be released.

George lifted Vonda and allowed her to jump on top of the fence. She hung on to the top, then jumped down to the sidewalk, landing on her feet.

Next was Dana, who was lifted to the top of the fence. Next, Benny, then Jenny, and then James.

"You coming?" asked George.

"No, just go!" said Wavehead. "I'll go through this alley!"

George nodded and climbed up the fence. He made it to the top and jumped down to the sidewalk where he found the swarms of roamers from the intersection.

"Everyone! Get inside the car!" exclaimed George.

George ran to the driver's seat. Everyone else sat on the back seats, leaving the passenger seat open for Wavehead.

This seating choice made everyone feel uncomfortable, except Jenny who sat by the window on her husband's lap. George made a U-turn and shifted the back passengers around.

Dana sat on Benny's lap and felt a hard object on her bottom. She tried to move herself around before her eyes widened and came to a realization. She looked back and reddened along with Benny before they both looked away uncomfortably.

"It's adrenaline– from earlier," said Benny.

"Yeah– adrenaline– that's right," murmured Dana.

The car headed towards the front of the building, now revealed to be an apartment building.

Wavehead pushed himself out of the door and held his trench knife. He ran along the alleyway and ran to what seemed like a dead end. He looked back and saw the groups of roamers stumbling along the snow.

The snow became stained with black, brown, and red fluids as the roamers stumbled along it, and was blown away by the wind.

Wavehead found another alley to his left and saw a gate at the end of it. He ran towards as the wind relentlessly tormented his body. He stumbled along the alley walls and noticed the graffiti on the wall.

'NO TRESPASSING OR YOUR DEAD' read the graffiti on the wall.

"What about my dead?" Wavehead commented with a sarcastic tone as he shook his head.

He reached the black gate and has yet to see the roamers. The car arrived at the street.

"Hey, over here!" yelled Wavehead. "I can't open this gate!"

Jenny came out of the car and ran to his help.

"What is it?" asked Jenny.

"I need to get through this gate!" said Wavehead.

"There's no lock or handle in here. There's a keyhole!"

"Here! Take this knife, jam it in, and–"

Jenny was aghast at the sight of the roamers coming from the alley. Dozens and dozens aimed towards Wavehead and prowled towards him.

Wavehead wondered what Jenny was looking at before he realized the looming threat behind him. He then handed Jenny his knife.

"Hey, listen! Put the knife inside the keyhole and twist it!"

Jenny grabbed the knife and hesitated to place the knife inside the keyhole. She continued to stare at the roamers approaching the boy.

"C'mon, don't worry about 'em," said Wavehead. "You can face 'em. You have guts!"

Jenny nodded terrified. She inserted the knife inside the keyhole and glanced at the roamer. She twisted the knife and she pulled the gate, but the gate wouldn't budge.

"Twist it all the way!" said Wavehead.

Jenny tried twisting it and whimpered as she moved the handle down. She yelled and glanced at the roamers. They were mere feet away from Wavehead.

Jenny pulled the knife out, stepped back, and shook her head.

"No, don't go, yet! You have guts, Jenny! Guts!"

Dana, Benny, James, Vonda, and George watched as the roamers reached the gate.

"Oh my god," whimpered Jenny. "Oh my god!"

The roamers lunged towards Wavehead and bit down on his shoulders. The groups of roamers pushed against each other and shoved Wavehead against the gate. Wavehead screamed at the top of his lungs as the roamers bit his back, neck, arms, legs, and the back of his head.

"Wesley!" cried Dana. "NO!"

The roamers continued to push against each other, crushing Wavehead against the gate while his bloodcurdling scream turned into screeching as his throat was torn off.

Jenny looked at Wavehead and found herself unable to end his misery. She ran back into the car, sitting on the passenger seat with tears on her eyes.

Dana planted her face onto Benny's chest and held him tightly as she sobbed. George and the rest of the group were left speechless.

The roamers devouring Wavehead were crushed by the roamers behind them. The young 18-year-old's lifeless hands hung outside of the gate as his crushed corpse blended in with the other bodies behind the gates.

The small red car drove away with roamers following it. The exhaust from the car was blown away from the wind and dissipated into the air. The car left tracks in the snow and followed those made by Vanzilla. The car eventually made it to the highway, leaving behind Becky, Luan, and Hana.

George took an exit in the highway to avoid the herd that they would've encountered ahead. After a long drive in the road, he went back to the main highway, trying to forget what he saw in the city.

Finally, he arrived at Medway, where he saw Bobby's group on foot near the motel. As he slowed down, the power of the car's wheels weakened, and eventually, they stopped.

"Damn. Too much snow," said George, breaking the silence in the car. "Let's just leave this here and meet up with the others."

Bobby coughed into his arms and turned towards the engine noise. He smiled and waved as the passengers stepped out of the small car.

Jenny went outside as pale as the snow that she stepped on. James wrapped his arms around her as he coughed away from her. Vonda and Benny stepped out of the car with a desolate Dana, whose eyes were red.

Dana rushed to Bobby's arms and held him tightly.

"Wesley's dead. But Becky… she's gotta be okay… right?"

"Luan's gone too?" asked Lincoln.

Benny nodded.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," he said. "Dana, don't worry. They're all fine."

"Let's stay in the motel," said George, "before we freeze our asses out here. When the snow melts, we'll go back home."

The groups moved to the Medway Motel together, fading into the white air.

 **VI - Monsters**

-Three Days Later-

The snow remained settled in the roofs of the homes in Houlton. Fumes of warm comfort flew out of the chimneys. The pond near the park froze into a rink of ice. Some of the civilians were in the pond, playing hockey with a flat, smooth rock.

Lori sat in a lawn chair next to Luna on top of guard tower A1. She patted Luna, prompting her to check on the hill with her sniper rifle.

"See anything?" asked Lori.

"Nah," replied Luna. "Just snow."

Luna sat back in her chair.

"If our cars can't go to the city, what makes you think they can come right to us? I know they're holed up somewhere."

"That's a good point, Luna. But three days… did they even have enough food?"

"They're gonna come. I know it, dude."

Sergei called out to Lori.

"We have a problem!" he warned.

"Rogues?" asked Lori.

"No, roamers."

Lori and Sergei ran to the north gate where the fences were parallel with the highway. In the rush to solve the problem, Lori found a killed roamer in the street. She continued running and found the problem.

"Shit," she said. "Lana? What are you doing here!"

"Jace was–" she replied before being interrupted by Sam.

"Don't worry, she was safe! I was with her!" said Sam.

The fences near the gate bent close to the ground. A swarm of roamers somehow made their way outside the town without anyone realizing.

"Just back up!" said Lori.

Lori reached for her pockets, but realized that she left her walkie-talkie next to Luna back in the guard tower.

"Can you get Buck and Pike?" asked Lori. "I need some other fighters as well!"

"Da!" replied Sergei, turning to Rusty. "Here, take this."

Sergei gave Lana his small carbine and ran for the south gates.

The roamers piled up on top of the fence and forced it down. The roamers stumbled on top of the fence and ripped it apart from the rest of the mesh fences.

"What do we do?" asked Sam.

"We're shooting these roamers," said Lori. "Sam, use your rifle. Lana, do you know how to shoot?"

Lana raised her shoulder.

"A little!" she said.

The roamers stood up and opened their hazardous mouths.

"Push the safety lever down on the right side," said Lori. "Aim through the iron sights… the sights on the top of the gun and aim at their heads. You pull out a magazine like this… and insert it like this."

Lana nodded. Lori aimed her AK-47, Sam aimed an M4, and Lana used Sergei's AKS. The swarm of roamers growled at them and held their infectious nails out.

Lori pulled the trigger on her rifle and released the bullets into the roamers' bodies. Sam and Lana followed, tearing the flesh away from the roamers using their guns.

Bodies fell as the three survivors stepped back slowly. Lori grabbed a magazine from her belt and placed it in her rifle. Lana asked for one, for which Lori replied by tossing her a magazine.

Lana approached the roamers with her rifle, getting better headshots in as she was closer to them. Lori paused and watched in admiration while Sam followed Lana.

Lori pushed forward and shot the roamers near the fences, stopping them before they enter the community. Lana took out her empty magazine and pulled one out of Lori's belt.

She finished off the last roamers as Sam knelt down and bashed the skulls of the roamers who weren't quite killed.

Sergei arrived with Buck, Pike, Kotaro, and Ted, to a finished battle against the roamers. Lana stepped back and watched in surprise as she witnessed the swarm of bodies in the ground.

"Here's your gun back," said Lana.

"Nice job, everyone," said Lori. "Now, we gotta repair this crap. And someone get me a cup of coffee."

Meanwhile, in Medway, the thunder of the herd grew louder as the roamers marched aimlessly. The snow crunched and snapped as the herd arrived at the road by the motel.

"Uh oh," said Lynn. "Everyone…! HERD!"

Lincoln, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Tabby rushed out of their old room with their bags in their hands. Vonda looked out her room and found Lynn running inside to grab her backpack.

"They're already here?" wondered Vonda. "How did they walk through all the snow?"

Benny and Dana knocked on Bobby's room and warned him of the incoming herd. George grabbed his bags and headed down to James and Jenny's room.

"No, please. It's so cold!" whined Jenny. "Why now?"

"Just get your stuff, honey," said James. "Come on, it's not that cold. Just go, George. We'll be there."

Bobby stepped out of his room with his winter clothing, prepared for the blistering cold. He held his knife out and looked out into the parking lot. Indeed, the roamers were by the motel and were already infiltrating the parking lot.

The kids hopped downstairs and met up with Bobby, Dana, and Benny. George and Vonda ran out to the woods and towards the road before the roamers can overwhelm them at the parking lot.

The kids ran to the woods as well while Bobby, Benny, and Dana stayed behind to protect James and Jenny.

"We won't all fit in the car!" exclaimed Jenny.

"Fuck the cars!" said Dana. "We're going by foot! Hurry up!"

Dana pulled Jenny out of her motel room as James closed the door. Jenny shrieked as she saw the overwhelming amounts of roamers in the parking lot.

"It's alright!" said James. "Just relax. Stay close to the others."

Bobby knifed the closest roamers and shot the furthest roamers with his Luger. The slide stuck out and revealed an empty chamber, much to his dismay. He tossed the Luger on the ground and only held his knife out.

Benny sliced his way to the woods. He used what Hana taught him and used the edge of his blade to push the roamers out of his way.

Dana followed Benny and swung her machete at the roamers between them. She yelled with each swing, placing her entire weight to them. One of her swings was so powerful, it decapitated a roamer, though the head was cushioned by the snow.

With very little wind getting in the way, Vonda shot her arrows at the roamers. The roamers fell like a line. This allowed her to pick up the arrows as George fought off the nearby roamers before they overwhelmed them both.

Lynn whacked the roamers out of the woods, allowing Clyde to finish them off with his bat. Lincoln and Tabby stayed close while Ronnie Anne watched Bobby fight off the roamers.

"Clear the way for them!" said Lincoln, noticing Benny and Dana running to the woods.

Lincoln and Tabby stabbed the roamers by the dead vehicles in the parking lot. Benny and Dana arrived at the woods, now heading to the road.

James and Jenny had trouble catching up to the young fighters. James elbowed the roamers out his way while Jenny stayed close. She watched the roamers as they attempted to surround them.

Suddenly, James pushed his wife ahead to the dead vehicles. She turned around and screamed for her husband.

The roamers surrounded James and sealed his fate. The roamers grabbed his body and began ripping his flesh apart. He fell to the ground, but his knees were unable to touch the snow. A roamer held him by the back of his neck and another at the side of his stomach. The roamers held onto him and pulled him away from the ground as he screamed in anguish.

Jenny ran towards the swarm of roamers before being stopped by Lincoln. Tabby fought off the roamers around them while Lincoln struggled to keep Jenny from running to his husband.

"Stop!" exclaimed Lincoln. "It's… too… risky!"

"Go away!" cried Jenny.

She shoved Lincoln away from her, causing him to stumble in front of a roamer. Tabby quickly stabbed the roamer and ran towards Jenny.

One of James' arms was torn off by three roamers, and after, the rest of his body fell to the ground. The roamers devoured his entire back as Jenny watched him with a gaping mouth.

"Jenny, get back!" shouted Tabby as she grabbed her arm.

Tabby shoved Jenny away like she did to Lincoln. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pang on her back as she ran back to the woods holding Lincoln's hands.

"Everyone move to the road!" yelled Bobby.

The group ran to the road, including Jenny who couldn't look back at the parking lot.

"Is everyone okay?" asked George as he stared at the incoming herd.

"No…" murmured Tabby, looking back at the parking lot. "That dude–"

"Tabby!" yelped Lincoln. "Your back!"

"What? Did I get…?"

The group was speechless. Ronnie Anne placed her palms over her mouth. Vonda rubbed her arms and glanced at an uncomfortable Lynn. Clyde's lips quivered as he looked at Lincoln.

"No, there's gotta be a way to stop you from turning!" exclaimed Lincoln.

"Can't amputate my back off, Linky."

"We gotta go!" yelled George.

The group ran away from the herd in the road. Lincoln held Tabby's hands as he tried to think of an idea to prevent her from turning into one of the undead.

"What if we freeze the bite?" asked Lincoln. "It… it could work!"

Tabby nodded as she picked up snow. She rubbed it until it melted into cool water. With Lincoln's help, they were able to smear the water into her bite wound.

"Oh my god, it's so cold," trembled Tabby. "W-we can… we can let… frostbite…"

"That's right," said Lincoln. "Frostbite to stall the trigger of the infection!"

"Could it work?" asked Lynn.

"I don't know," said Clyde. "It's not like amputation."

The group kept moving along. Tabby held on to Lincoln as the blistering cold nipped away at her bite wound. The pain of the wound grew worse and worse until it went numb.

The herd moved very slow in the icy road where the roamers stumbled and bumped into each other.

When the snowstorm appeared, conditions became harder not only on the humans but the roamers as well. The roamers found it extremely difficult to follow the road, walk in the snow, and power through the snow. Some of the roamers were sluggish and reached a point where they began to freeze. Their bodies were unable to move, and all that was active from them were their bright golden eyes.

This usually happened to the weaker roamers as the roamers in front of the herd powered through the wind through will encouraged by hunger for the human flesh. This created a scatter of groups of roamers, though almost every roamer belonged to a swarm.

The swarms acted as waves, and the wave behind George and his group was the first wave of roamers. Despite the waves being scattered distances apart, they all headed in the same direction– northeast. The same direction the group walked in to get home.

Tabby grew weaker by the hour, coughing, shivering, turning pale. Her bite wound remained dark while developing white blisters that matched the skin around it.

She then began to shiver violently.

"Hey, everyone, stop!" exclaimed Lincoln, before turning to Tabby. "What's wrong?"

"S-S-So… c-cold," quivered Tabby.

"Oh, Jesus, your wound!" shrieked Lynn. "What are these– bumps?"

"Frostbite," said Vonda. "Look, the inside of the wound is black."

"We… we f-froze the b-bite… right?" said Tabby.

"At what cost?" said Ronnie Anne.

The group looked at her. She kept her eyes closed for fear of her tears freezing them shut.

"I know what you're thinking, Tabby," she continued. "You're not getting better."

Tabby looked at both Lincoln and Ronnie Anne. She motioned them to hug her. And they did to keep her warm enough to calm her trembling.

Clyde, Lynn, and Vonda joined in the hug while George, Bobby, Dana, Benny, and Jenny watched them.

"The blizzard…" said Tabby. "It's… not going away. I think it's time… to accept what is."

"Time to accept what?" said Lincoln. "You just need to keep pushing!"

"I knew it… from the moment… I was bit. I had little hope… that I would get… better. I played along, Linky. But look at me…"

"It's just the cold," said Lincoln. "Not the bite. We can just stay here and warm you up."

Tabby shook her head.

"Come on," said Ronnie Anne. "Tabby, you're my friend and you actually made me feel like I wasn't alone in the world. I hate to admit it, but I didn't like who you were at first… especially since you hung around Lincoln so much… but I've grown accustomed to you… and you became one my closest friends. We were supposed to kick ass, but here you are… going out from the cold!"

"It's alright," said Tabby. "Though I have something… to admit too. I look around… and I see a world… that I can't be… happy in."

The winter wind blew snow into Tabby's leather jacket and into her hair. Her teeth rattled softly and she coughed once more.

"You guys are the best… but I'm sorry… this world just sucks. It's not worth it… fighting through this pain… only to live in more pain. I just want to see… my parents again."

"I understand," said Vonda. "We shouldn't deny you your wishes."

"You are awesome," said Clyde. "It's been fun hanging around with you."

"Yeah, it was," said Tabby. "Lynn… can you carry my bags? Whatever's left… still needs to go back home."

"You got it," said Lynn. "Anything for the girl with spunk."

"What do I tell Rusty?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"The truth," said Tabby. "So he can spare his father… the pain that comes from this… reckless behavior."

"You're a hero," said Lincoln. "It wasn't reckless."

"Can I have a moment with Lincoln, alone?" asked Tabby.

The children nodded. Tabby handed her backpack to Lynn. They walked back with the rest of the group, leaving Tabby on Lincoln's arms.

"You're great… kind… loving… selfless," said Tabby. "That's why… I did what I did. You inspired me. And you can inspire others. Like Ronnie Anne. She still likes you."

"Her and I were always just… friends," said Lincoln. "You're leaving and that's what you wanted to tell me?"

"Come on, Linky. I want what's best for you. And trust me… she's the one… who you should go for."

Lincoln looked at Ronnie Anne and sniffled. Tabby grabbed Lincoln's arms.

"You'd make a really good boyfriend. Trust me… I know from experience."

They both let out a soft laugh before tearing up again.

"Man, what a day," said Tabby. "I gotta take a nap… can you please go now?"

"I'm not leaving you yet!" exclaimed Lincoln.

"Okay," whispered Tabby as she closed her eyes. "Goodnight, Lincoln."

Tabby's exhaled her cold breaths out and out until she exhaled her final breath. The ice crystals glittered on her hair as her pale face was covered in snow. Lincoln closed his eyes and turned around. The herd could be heard from the distance.

Lincoln placed Tabby on the ground as careful as he could before returning with the rest of the group. They left the area without looking back, as the herd closed in closer and closer to home. They marched on past Tabby, leaving her body at peace.

The group walked in the woods by the road, as the trees provided some protection from the powerful blizzard. They continued walking for hours, eating the supplies in their backpacks.

After a few hours of walking, the group found two cars by the road. George and Bobby each checked a car, learning that it had very little fuel left. However, the batteries remained functional, so the group took shelter inside the cars.

Bobby turned on the backseat heater for Lincoln, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne while the front heaters warmed him and Dana up. Lynn, Vonda, and Benny sat on the back seats in the other car with George and Jenny in the front.

George and Bobby drove the cars until they ran out of fuel, not making much progress. The sky turned dark, prompting the group to stay inside with the heater on.

Benny wrapped his arms around Lynn's shoulders as they wondered where Luan was. Vonda looked out the window, thinking about her parents. She wondered why she still wanted to live and took a quick glance at George. She remembered.

Bobby rubbed his hands on Dana's back. Bobby was worried for Becky, but Dana had an additional emotional loss. Free from the adrenaline of running away from the herd, she thought about Wavehead's comments before he died.

She then looked at the other car and glared at Jenny with vengeful eyes.

"Such a coward," murmured Dana. "No guts at all. No guts…"

"What was that?" asked Bobby.

Dana shook her head.

Bobby looked into the rear mirror. Clyde wondered how Rusty was going to take the news. Learning of the loss of his friend would cause him and his father to grow paranoid of the harsh reality of the outside world.

Ronnie Anne lied on Lincoln's chest with her hoodie on. She sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve. Lincoln stared out the window and watched the snow flying around. Ronnie Anne glanced at him and Lincoln glanced back. Tears rolled out of their eyes as they both looked away from each other.

Eventually, the group fell asleep, even Ronnie Anne, who found Lincoln to be very reassuring. And Lincoln thought the same as well.

The herd arrived near the cars, which alerted Bobby who was up, watching out for the group. Since the roamers were already attracted to the cars, he honked the horn and woke the survivors up.

"It's time to go!" exclaimed Bobby as he exited the car.

"Damn, it's still kinda dark out," said George.

"We're not too far!" said Bobby.

The group left the cars behind and ran along the road. The roamers ran after, stomping on the snow and ice in the ground.

The sun rose in the east mountains that provided a beautiful sight for the community. Lori woke up and poured herself some coffee. She placed her blue sweatpants and blue jacket. She then placed Missy's vest over her jacket.

The sun rose higher as Lori grew more anxious of the group's return. She visited Dr. White and Lisa, wondering if there was any way they could track the group down, but their answer weren't too positive.

The sun rose to the top of the skies when Lori climbed the guard tower. She used her binoculars to see the north fences, which were being repaired by some of the civilians.

She was then tapped in the shoulder by Luna.

"Holy shit, Lori, look!" exclaimed Luna with joy. "It's them–!"

Luna's mood tarnished and her voice grew upset. Lori quickly looked into the hills that led to the front gates of Houlton.

"Oh my… god," murmured Lori.

Swarms of roamers followed Bobby, Lincoln, Lynn, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, Benny, Dana, George, Vonda, and Jenny. They panted as they stumbled down the hill. The roamers tumbled down the slippery slope, reaching the bottom of the hill before the group did.

"What are you doing, dude? Tell the guards to open the gates!" exclaimed Luna.

Lori contacted Buck and Pike.

"Open the gates, now!" shouted Lori.

Lori and Luna climbed down the guard tower and ran to the front gates. They sprinted to the town and across the streets. Luna's gear slowed her down and caused her to be behind Lori.

Buck and Pike opened the front gates after witnessing the large wave behind the supply-runners. Clyde was out of breath and fought his way to the town. Lynn whacked the roamers outside of the gates.

Buck and Pike fired their rifles at the roamers behind the group, taking large amounts of headshots. The wave continued to head for the town when the guards realized they needed to reload.

Lynn and Vonda reached the town first with Benny and George behind them. Lincoln, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Dana came soon after they killed a couple roamers by the cars that belonged to the Oaks. Bobby remained behind Jenny, making sure she was safe.

Jenny arrived inside the gates, falling to the ground while coughing her lungs out. Bobby panted and ran to Lori's arms before collapsing to the ground, dropping his bloody knife.

"Go! Go! Go!" yelled Pike.

Buck, Pike, and Luna pushed the gates until they closed before the first few roamers smashed themselves in the gates.

"Gates closed!" said Buck.

The roamers began to stumble onto the fences, placing their fingers through the holes. They tried inserting their mouths through the fences, but found themselves unable to. They scattered to their own spot, creating a large line of roamers along the fences.

"Can you breathe?" asked Lori. "Bobby–"

"Yes! Please get us inside," he puffed.

Lori, Luna, Sergei, Kotaro, and Ted helped the supply runners to Lori's home. Lori looked around and found defeated expressions.

"We're… we're missing some people," said Lori, her voice breaking.

"My husband…" whimpered Jenny. "The girl with the pink streak on her hair…! The kid that looks like that kid with glasses…!"

"So, James, Tabby, and Wesley Hill?" said Lori. "Roamers got 'em?"

Bobby nodded as grabbed his cup of coffee. Lori looked at Lincoln and Dana. She placed her hands over her chest and closed her eyes.

"What about Becky, Luan, and Hana Konda?" asked Lori, almost not wanting a response.

"They're MIA," replied George.

"Here's Becky's walkie-talkie," said Benny. "We have no way of contacting them now."

"Oh my god…" groaned Lori. "I'm glad you guys are safe. Tell me everything that happened out there."

The fences by the front gates were weakened. The roamers moved slowly and eventually froze into undead statues as the blizzard continued to rage through the town.

-One Week Later-

The first wave of roamers remained sluggish and were unable to damage the weak fences. Their reactions were also lacking since a rattle to the fence wasn't enough to catch their attention.

Jace, Luna, and Sam stood outside of the south corner of the town.

"You owe me a fiver if I hit three of those deadies with a single bullet," said Luna.

"Deal!" replied Jace.

Luna aimed her scope with her sniper rifle and pulled the trigger once. The bullet tore through the skulls of three roamers before lodging itself on a fourth roamer. All four monsters fell to the ground, letting go of the fences. The other roamers were slow to turn around.

"Cough it up," said Luna.

"Cough– you meant money?" asked Jace. "The hell are you going to need money for?"

"I want to buy a special night from you," winked Luna.

Luna and Sam grinned while Jace chuckled forcefully. Sam then grabbed a hunting rifle.

"Three of us in a bed if I can hit four," said Sam.

She aimed at the roamers before shifting to the right. She pulled the trigger and missed the roamers.

"Oops," said Sam sarcastically.

"Haha. Real funny guys," said Jace before taking another sip from his bottle of liquor.

Sam cocked the bolt on the rifle and aimed at the roamers. She pulled the trigger and managed to take out eight roamers.

"Goddamn!" said Jace.

"Your turn," said Sam. "Beat that, wanker."

"No, thanks, I'm good."

"Come on. Afraid of losing… to a girl?"

"It's not that, it's…"

"Don't you wanna get your kills up, Mr. Forty-Roamer-Kills?" asked Luna.

"Whatever, let's just take out these roamers before they get too close," said Sam.

"It's cool, bro," said Luna. "Not everyone's a fighter against these monsters."

Sam shot the rifle, then pulled the bolt, then shot again. After repeating two more times, the roamers were all cleared out.

"That was easy," said Sam. "Let me take a sip."

"Finish it," said Jace. "I gotta piss."

"Miss you already!" said Luna.

Luna and Sam grinned as Jace made a genuine laugh before entering the woods. Sam then took a sip from the bottle before passing it to Luna.

Carol and Dana sat on the porch of Lori's home. They each stared at the front gates, watching Buck and Pike guard it. Carol then shifted around in discomfort, stretching her lower back forward, while placing her hands on her belly.

"Hey, Dana? I hope you don't mind, but can you massage my back?"

Dana nodded. She stood up and sat behind Carol, placing her palms on Carol's back. She sighed and still shifted in discomfort.

"Can you do it like how Becky does it?" asked Carol. "Put your thumb on my spine and just… wriggle it."

"Like this?"

Carol groaned.

"It doesn't feel any better."

"Well my bad! Maybe if Becky was here, she could give you a better massage! In fact, why don't you go out and look for her!"

Dana placed her hands back under her chin. Carol patted her laps and looked at her.

"I miss her too, more than I thought I would," said Carol. "She's tough, Dana. She'll come back home as soon as the herd is gone."

Dana looked back at Carol. She covered her eyes and sighed.

"Wesley's not coming back," she muttered. "He's gone. Forever."

"You gotta stay strong for Becky," said Carol. "I'll also be there for you, even if we don't exactly have the best history."

Jenny walked to Lori's house. She walked up the steps and met Carol and Dana on the porch. Dana lowered her eyebrows.

"What do you want?" hissed Dana.

"I want to… apologize about what happened to your friend. I'm sorry that I couldn't open the gate."

"Yeah. What a cowardly thing you did back there."

"I was scared! But, I'm owning up to it. I promise to not to do something like that again. I'm sorry."

"Sorry's not going to bring him back."

"I suppose not," Jenny said. "Also… I wanted to give you this."

Jenny took out Wavehead's trench knife. She held it out, waiting for for Dana to grab it, but all she could do is stare at it. Jenny placed it down on the porch and walked away. Dana grabbed the knife and held it out in her palms.

"I just want to fucking stab her with this," said Dana.

Carol rubbed Dana's back and took notice of the presence of the falling snowflakes.

Lori and some members of the militia marched through the woods by the road. They observed the partially frozen roamers in the snow, moving at the pace of a slug.

"You see that?" said Lori. "We can use that to our advantage. But we stay in tight formation. No guns unless you have to absolutely use it. We don't want to make more noise. Follow me."

Lori, George, Bobby, and Benny were in the front. Lynn and Vonda stayed in the sides with their archery weapons while the rest of the militia were in between the front fighters.

Benny took out the first roamers in their second wave. The roamers attempted to raise their arms before they were sliced off by his sword.

Lori walked up to a roamer and swung her hatchet, slicing a quarter of its head off. The roamer slowly fell to its knee before landing its deceased face on the snow.

Bobby thrusted the sword into their skulls while keeping his distance. Preston took out a roamer next to him with his pocket knife.

Lynn and Vonda fired their arrows at the same rate. However, Vonda got more headshots with her arrows, causing Lynn to shoot the arrows faster. Before she knew it, she was out.

"We're getting through this layer," said Lori. "Good job, guys."

"That means I can get my arrows back," said Lynn.

When Lynn grabbed the last of her arrows she noticed a roamer falling to its knees. However, it wasn't stabbed, instead, it was reaching for her.

"Fuck! These things still see me!" exclaimed Lynn.

"Of course they can," groaned Lori. "Careful, their eyes aren't frozen!"

Lynn jammed an arrow up through the roamer's jaw, sticking out of the top part of its skull. She pulled it out and looked carefully into the arrowhead, noticing bits of lobes and brain tissues. She shuddered and shook the arrow before placing it back in her quiver.

An explosion shook the earth far from the group and caused the birds to flee from the woods. The terrifying noise of the rotor blades approached the group as shells were seen dropped from the sky.

The roamers growled and were seen moving around much faster. Billows of black smoke lingered around the woods from where the group stood.

More napalm was dropped and the group were able to see the flames engulf the bombed area. Another helicopter arrived, napalming the woods on the other side of the road.

"Get outta here, now!" yelled Lori. "Run back to Houlton! Stay out of the woods!"

The helicopter roared near the second wave of roamers and dropped napalm on the surrounding trees.

Lori shrieked and closed her ears as the frosty air turned into a zone of intense heat. The fires consumed the nearby trees, even those by the side of the road, melting the snow in the road.

The roamers were attracted to fire, but their herd-like mentality prevented them from scattering too far. The roamers were already feasting their eyes on the humans.

Most roamers began to break apart, and the herd grew weaker. However, the double Super Hueys hovered above Houlton, and the noise of the helicopters proved to overcome their other distractions.

Carol and Dana looked up at the sky. Jenny approached the front gates when the helicopters caught her attention. Buck and Pike noticed that the helicopters hovered directly above the center of town.

"Two Super Hueys in the sky!" said Pike.

"Nevermind that!" said Buck. "They dropped napalm!"

Pike turned on his walkie-talkie.

"Is it true, Lori?" asked Pike. "They're dropping incendiary bombs?"

"Yes! Yes, it's true! It's melting the snow! The herd is coming! Also– Lynn!"

"Lori? Lori? Damn, she ain't saying shit."

Lincoln grabbed Lana and Lily's hands as they watched the helicopters haunt their town. Clyde and Ronnie Anne came out of their house and saw Dana and Carol in their porch.

"This isn't good!" said Clyde. "What do you think they're–"

The two helicopters dropped a couple shells on the park. A few seconds after, explosions filled the center of town with fire raging across the grass. The ice rink cracked and blocks of ice shattered, exposing the debris-filled water in the frozen pond.

"Holy shit!" yelled Ronnie Anne. "We're under attack! We gotta go inside!"

Carol moaned as she pressed on her stomach. She began to sweat and press on Dana's hand with a strong grip. Lincoln, Lana, and Lily joined the four survivors.

"What's wrong?" asked Clyde.

"I'm sure it's nothing," panted Carol. "Has it been nine months already? Oh…."

"It has," said Dana. "Oh my god, are you–?"

"My– it's leaking. Something's leaking down there."

"Oh my gosh, you're going to give birth now?" said Lincoln. "Let's take her to the infirmary!"

Dana placed Wavehead's knife in her back pocket and walked Carol close to the border of the military zone and the town where the infirmary resided in. Lincoln, Lana, Lily, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne followed them.

Luna and Sam ran around the woods. They searched for Jace as panic set in on the mental states of both girls.

"Jace! Jace!" called out Luna. "Where are you?"

"Here!" yelled Jace from a couple yards away. "I'm coming!"

He came out from behind a tree, his hands on his zipper as he ran towards Luna and Sam. He tried to catch his breath, but both girls dragged him out of the woods.

Another explosion coming from Houlton caused the girls to rush to the fences faster.

"Jesus Christ, what was that?" exclaimed Jace.

Luna remembered the flames and the explosions when Lisa hacked into the traffic cameras back in Detroit.

"Napalm," Luna answered.

They arrived at the front gates and called out to the guards.

"Open the gates!" exclaimed Luna.

"Sure thing!" said Buck. "Better get your ass somewhere safe! The herd's coming for this damned town!"

Pike opened the gate. Luna, Sam, and Jace entered while Sergei, Ted, and Kotaro exited.

"Where the hell are you guys going?" asked Pike.

"Figured if we could get one of them cars started, we might lead these roamers away," said Ted.

"Whose idea is this?" asked Pike.

"Mine," replied Sergei. "It worked before. Why not work now?"

"We got bigger cars," said Pike.

"We need something we can abandon on the road. Something we don't need," said Kotaro. "Like those cars!"

"Hey, Pike!" exclaimed Buck. "Let 'em do their thing! It could work! If it don't– damn, then it's their funeral!"

Pike nodded. Sergei, Kotaro, and Ted ran to the cars on the side of the road that belonged to the Oaks. The men went inside one car each, turning the keys on the ignition switches. However, the engines only groaned and the men moved on to the other cars.

"Nothing works!" said Kotaro.

"Either fuel's all out or the damn batteries ran out of juice!" said Ted.

"Er, we go back inside," said Sergei. "I got an idea."

The Super Hueys remained in the sky, watching the herd come from the road in the opposite side of the hill. The pilots also watched the civilians run around the town, scattering like cockroaches.

Haley stepped outside of the infirmary with Leni and her student, Kathy. They looked above at the sky to find the cause of the fiery explosions at the town center.

Haley then noticed seven members of the old gang running to the infirmary. She saw Carol and assumed the worst based on their timing.

"She's– she's going to labor!" said Dana.

"Alright, get her inside!" exclaimed Haley. "Can you get Dr. White?"

"Yes. He's in the lab by the armory, right?"

Haley nodded. Dana ran off while the others entered the infirmary.

The Super Hueys moved away from the town and allowed the military's work to unfold on the people of Houlton.

Lori dropped her walkie-talkie into the snow and ran towards Lynn, whose right leg was caught by the sticky flames.

Lynn screamed and rolled around in the melting snow as the herd advanced towards the group. After a few seconds, the flames puffed away and left behind burned flesh and blisters. Lynn clenched her teeth and groaned as she pressed on the ripped holes in her pants.

Lori shot an advancing roamer with her revolver and picked up Lynn. She placed her arms around her shoulders and helped Lynn limp back home.

"How bad does it hurt?" asked Lori.

"I wanna cut my leg off!" cried Lynn. "Motherfuckers will pay for this!"

A roamer growled at Lori and ran at her. Bobby yelled as he chopped the roamer in the head.

"You dropped your hatchet," panted Bobby. "We got way more roamers behind our back. Here– let me help you."

Bobby and Lori carried Lynn up the hill with the rest of the militia members. Benny and Vonda kept the roamers away from them as the fire raged through the woods.

"We have to go faster!" exclaimed Benny. "All the waves are coming in!"

"The fences aren't going to hold!" shouted Vonda.

Buck and Pike watched the militia members run inside the town. Then, they caught sight of their leader and the herd on top of the hill. With them, came the inferno in the woods.

"We gotta help them again!" yelled Pike.

"Damn right!" replied Buck. "Use them new scopes!"

Benny and Vonda ducked as the bullets flew above them. One by one, the roamers were dropped to the ground. However, for every roamer killed coming down the hill, dozens more flowed to the top of the hill.

Luna, Sam, and Jace arrived at the top of Guard Tower A1. Luna and Sam quickly placed on their gear while Jace struggled to put on the vest.

"I'm ready!" said Luna.

"Ready too!" said Sam.

"I'm still trying to put my… gear on!" said Jace.

Luna aimed with her scope and scanned the area. She found hundreds of roamers marching down the hill, all chasing Lori, Bobby, Lynn, Benny, and Vonda. She moved her eyes away from the scope and vomited outside of the tower.

Jace looked into Luna's M110 sniper rifle and found the herd on the road towards the front gates. Many of them followed the fire in the woods, allowing them to scatter, yet they all headed towards the direction of the fences.

Sam shot her AR-15 at the herd, killing very few roamers to make a difference. She then let go of her rifle and picked up Luna.

"Come on, stay with me. Stay with me."

"My sisters!" yelled Luna. "Everyone in the town! We're totally fucked!"

Sam looked into the herd and couldn't find a way to comfort Luna. She believed her.

Lily climbed on top of a couch near the front entrance. She looked out the window and found frightened civilians running back to their home. She then turned around and tapped Leni on the shoulder.

"Why are people scared?" asked Lily.

"You know those two floaty things in the air? Those are called helicopters. They sound pretty scary and then to drop a boom-boom on the center of town!"

"That boom-boom was loud," whimpered Lily. "I'm scared. I want Mommy and Daddy! Are they really gone?"

Leni's memories flashed before her eyes. She hugged Lily and then sat her down on the couch.

"They are gone," said Leni. "I'm totes sorry to tell you this but… they're never coming back."

"Lori tell something to me. She said people come back. Even if they die."

"You don't understand it now… heck, I don't understand it totally. But I do know one thing. Once people die, they are never the same. They are monsters."

"Lori say people are monsters," said Lily. "Are Mommy and Daddy monsters?"

"No," said Leni. "They are not monsters. They are gone. It's good that you listen to your oldest sister. Lori says a lot of good things. She's, like, the bravest person I've ever known. She protected me more times than I can count."

Benny and Vonda fended off the roamers near the vehicles in the side of the road. Bobby and Lori passed through the vehicles as the flames caught up to the fences.

Buck and Pike shot the roamers behind Benny and Vonda. The roamers dropped to the ground while the rest pushed forward. Lori and Bobby made it inside the gates with Benny and Vonda.

"I wish I wasn't such a letdown," said Leni. "I have done almost nothing to help out the community."

Jenny watched Buck, Pike, and other members of the militia struggle to hold the fences. The gates closed and the roamers were unable to enter.

Lori placed Lynn down and pushed the gates as the roamers struggled to get inside. Jenny ran in and helped her out, while the herd continued to advance.

"You help me," said Lily. "You make me feel happy."

"Besides that, I think I might be somewhat useful," said Leni. "It was one of the last thing Mom said. She wanted me to help the community out. And now I'm doing my part."

The fences bent forward in some parts near the front gates. Some members backed away from the fences. They grabbed their weapons and aimed it at the herd.

Jenny, Lori, Buck, and Pike struggled to keep the gates closed. George stayed behind them, shooting the roamers that leaned their hands close to them.

The roamers crushed each other against the fences. They pushed onward and onward.

Jace scoped out the west fences. The roamers were already breaking through the grenade-battered fences. He gulped and called out to the civilians below. But they were too far.

"You know that boy from church?" asked Leni.

Lily nodded.

"His name is Preston, my lovable friend," added Leni. "He's very nice and kinda cute. But you know what he tells me? There's life after death."

Carol screamed from inside the room. Lily held Leni tightly.

"Life always springs up after death in this new world," said Leni. "That's why we have these monsters. But this– this is an exception. A new life will be born."

Lori ordered everyone to fall back. The guards, the militia, the civilians all stayed away from the gates and the fences.

Leni leaned close to Lily.

"One day, you'll live in a world where for every life that dies, a new one will be born… and not in a form of a monster."

Lynn struggled to get up as Lori and Bobby grabbed her arms. Then, they all turned towards the front gates.

The herd pushed. The hinges in the gates snapped and the roamers in the front were eager to enter. Lori's eyes grew wide as they caught sight of what came next.

The gates fell.

And the herd made their way inside.

.

.

.

* * *

 ** _Sorry for leaving you hanging like that! I promise the chapters are going to be back to normal length (less long) for the rest of the volume. Had to set up the beginning of the volume, so... yeah! I can tell you guys... if you think the death toll in this chapter was high... just wait until Chapter 20._**


	17. Surprise

_**Hey, Mr. Potassium here. Sorry for the wait! I love keeping you guys at a cliffhanger, but not for too long! Anyway, the wait's over! Before you hop on into the story, I just wanted to tell you all that I have a poll on my profile, in case you're interested in taking it! That's all! Enjoy!**_

* * *

-Eleven Days Earlier-

A roamer with a knife stuck in its chest turned around, looking at a building close to the gunfire in the intersection. It growled and pushed itself against the wind, not noticing the incoming survivors.

With one swift cut, the roamer's head was tossed into the wind, blowing it away from the radio tower. Hana dipped her sword into the snow, wiping the blood off her blade.

Sploshing footsteps and heavy panting notified Hana that Luan was still behind her. Luan dropped to her knees and hacked a dry cough.

"How… do you… run so fast?" she coughed.

Hana reached her arms out and picked Luan up.

"Morning jogs," Hana replied.

Luan took off her hoodie and allowed the snow to fall on her head.

"How is it… that I'm still sweating… in this cold weather?" panted Luan.

"Keep going," said Hana. "Winnebago not too far."

"Oh crap. Why don't you just call it an RV–?"

"Hey!" shouted a voice from behind the fog of snow. "Are you girls nuts or something?"

Hana held her sword upright, prepared to take out their threat. However, Luan held her shoulder and stopped her.

"That's Becky," she said. "Don't you recognize her voice?"

Becky became more visible. Hana lowered her sword.

"You American _on'nanoko_ all have same voices."

"What are you doing out here?" yelled Becky. "Why'd you run off on your own?"

Luan struggled to explain before Hana interrupted.

"Kimi. Cold is danger," said Hana. "She will not survive in Winnebago alone."

Becky appeared puzzled.

"Kimi's her dog," explained Luan. "And Winnebago's the RV."

Becky sighed.

"Please don't do that ever again," said Becky. "Lori would freak if I lost you girls! You know I'm responsible for you two?"

"We both nineteen of age," said Hana. "I'm adult. I take care of myself. No one tells me what to do. No one responsible for me."

"Well, I'm still responsible for you, Luan!"

"Becky, come on! We can't just leave her companion alone in an RV while we run away from a herd! She won't survive! Remember the last time that happened?"

A few roamers arrived at the intersection and found the three survivors by the radio tower. Becky looked at them before her hair was blown by the heavy wind. She moved her hair away and found more roamers in the intersection.

"How can I forget?" said Becky. "Alright, where's the RV?"

"Follow," said Hana.

A swarm of roamers looked at the incoming survivors. Some roamers raised their arms and growled at them until they were struck by a blade. A few roamers dropped to the ground with half of the faces sliced off.

A particular roamer had its eyes cut in half as the blade didn't completely slice its head off. Fluids dripped from its ripped golden eyes. The roamer then relied on its hearing to detect the survivors.

However, Luan clubbed the roamer with her crowbar. Becky was next to her, slashing the roamers away.

A roamer swung its hand at Hana, but she leaned back and sliced the other incoming hand with the blade of her sword. She then made another slice at the roamer and dropped it to the ground.

Luan looked at Hana and shook her head, doubting her own abilities. A roamer swung its hand at Luan, but Luan could only block it with her crowbar. The roamer then swung its other hand, causing Luan to block it with her arm. The roamer gripped her sweater and placed Luan in a struggle for her release.

A blade went through the roamer's head and barely reached Luan's own head. She flinched and watched Hana pull back the sword. The roamer released Luan and collapsed to the ground.

"You could've killed me!" said Luan.

"Yes, I could've," replied Hana. "But I didn't. Follow."

Luan blew out of her lips and followed Hana along with Becky. She looked back at the radio tower and saw the swarm of corpses they left behind.

The roamers were unable to follow the helicopters or any of the passing survivors as the snow became too difficult to move through. Some roamers were even buried under the snow, lurking like a rattlesnake in the desert, looking for their next prey.

Eventually, the three young women made it back to the suburban streets and ran towards the river. Hana then turned to the right and ran along the street by the river, fighting against the winds.

"This RV better be close!" said Becky.

Hana remained silent. She leaped over the power lines in the streets and hopped over a snowdrift. She continued jogging ahead, without glancing back once.

"Winnebago," said Hana as she ran faster.

"Geez, wait up!" exclaimed Luan.

Hana walked inside her RV and slid the door shut. Luan and Becky arrived to the RV and sighed in frustration.

"Hey, we were right behind you!" said Luan.

"Kimi! _Anata wa anzendesu_!" smiled Hana.

Hana knelt down and allowed Kimi to lick her face. The heater in the RV was still on, so the only ailment the dog suffered was loneliness.

Becky rubbed the back of her head and cleared her throat.

"We should probably go back to the group," said Becky.

Hana looked out the window.

"Herd of _shinda_ ," she murmured.

Becky and Luan joined Hana in watching the herd approach them. Hana then went on the driver's seat and turned the engine on. She turned the RV around and drove to the highway.

"We're not going back with them?" asked Becky.

"Not good idea," said Hana. " _Shinda_ behind us. I drive away from _shinda_."

Becky sat on the comfy seats by the windows. Kimi looked at her and panted, eventually jumping to her lap. Luan sneezed, causing Kimi to leap off of Becky's lap.

"Bless you," said Becky.

"Thanks. God, my nose feels cold."

Luan looked at Hana, who only stared ahead at the road with both of her hands on the steering wheel. Kimi ran up to the passenger seat and stayed there, admiring her companion.

The RV left the city of Bangor with a herd behind them– all roamers unable to catch the survivors. However, their persistence, and the fact that the survivors needed shelter from the harsh blizzard, all prompted Hana to drive as far away from the city as she could.

 **Chapter 17: Surprise**

 **I - The Gates Have Fallen**

-Present Day-

The radios chattered inside the helicopters, with voices asking for confirmation of the plan's execution. Captain Moss chuckled as he responded affirmatively along with Lieutenant Lead.

"The weak can't survive," said Moss. "They won't."

The fences rattled softly with the pebbles on the ground.

The birds flocked away.

The billows of smoke lingered in the woods outside the town.

Roamers invaded the town by the dozens. The snow in the front gates were now marked by diamond-lines from the fences as the undead beings stepped on them.

The barbed wire on top of the fences snapped and swung down, sticking onto the skin of some of the roamers.

The roamers that clawed the fences were stampeded by their rotting friends behind them, causing their bodies to become a corpse with crushed organs and cracked decayed bones.

There were many targets within their sights, increasing their appetite for live flesh. They preyed on the closests humans first.

Lori's eyes remained wide as the herd engulfed the entrance like a flood from a broken dam. She choked on what seemed to be a space of dry air as the roamers walked towards her.

"Lori!" yelled Bobby. "Watch out!"

The leader pulled out her revolver and shot one of the roamers in its skull. She turned to everyone by the front entrance.

"EVERYONE! GET INSIDE, NOW!"

She shot her gun again and took down a roamer. The roamers kept on flowing inside the town, increasing the power of the herd.

Bobby and Lori picked up Lynn and aimed for the infirmary. Benny stood behind them with the blade of his sword in a vertical position.

The two guards in armor, Buck and Pike, ran to the military zone– the giant field with the prisons, the military base, and the runway. They carried their heavy gear with their bodies as the roamers kept up to their pace.

Jenny groaned as she limped. She slipped on ice and fell on her knees. Her left knee swelled softly as she followed Buck and Pike.

"Go back, go back!" yelled George.

Some of the militia members were shooting at the roamers flooding the gates. They backed up with each kill, though they realized that they didn't carry extra ammunition with them.

One of the men was bit in the arm and then in the neck. A woman was clawed in her stomach as the herd surrounded her. Another woman was scratched from the back before being devoured.

"For fuck's sake, run!" yelled Vonda.

The militia nodded in agreement and ran away from the front gates. They ran up the streets and away from the military zone.

In the north and east gates, the roamers came out from the smoldering woods. Some of the roamers had red flesh with smoke lingering around them. Others had skin made of charcoal.

The civilians struggled to get inside their homes. An older man struggled to get his keys out before the roamers flooded his porch. He yelled as the roamers pushed him against the door.

Another older man saw the disturbing scene and quickly made his way down his front stairwell. However, the snow that he neglected to shove away caused him to lose balance.

He fell to the snow in the ground and shuddered as the roamers fell on top of him. He gagged and then struggled to scream as the roamers tore his back and spine apart.

Kathy, who happened to be in front of her home jumped down from her porch and fled the area. She ran for the infirmary, wishing to find Leni, before finding George and Vonda running in the streets.

Benny sliced off a head, then thrusted his sword into a skull. Bobby and Lori ran synchronized with each of their steps landing on the ground at the exact time. Lynn limped with her uninjured leg and kept her burned leg in the air.

The roamers knocked down mailboxes, stair rails, signs, and garden decorations. They trampled on the gardens and the dry grass. The pine cones and rocks rolled as the roamers chased after their victims.

The town center created a sort of smoke signal, attracting the nearby roamers that split up from the herd and the ones who weren't even part of the herd.

Lori and Bobby kept their eyes away from the town center. They only focused on getting Lynn medical help. However, the herd behind the fences to the right began to tear apart the support bars holding them up. Suddenly, the fences gave way to the roamers away from the front gates.

"Go! I got this!" exclaimed Benny.

"No, wait–!" yelled Lori.

Benny ran to the fences and began slicing the roamers with his sword.

"Ugh, literally? Just keep going, Bobby!"

Lori and Bobby carried Lynn away as she looked back at her friend. Benny led the roamers away from them before running away himself.

The roamers scattered at the intersections, following different civilians as they struggled to find a house to get into. Most of the civilians were too scared to unlock their doors and let their people in, causing more casualties.

Lori and Bobby panted as they caught sight of the infirmary building. Lynn felt the cold nipping away at her burnt skin, but she still held back her tears.

"We're almost there!" said Lori.

"I'm powering through," said Lynn. "But shit– it hurts worse than a torn ACL!"

Lily pranced around a flower of the same name in a porcelain vase. She then jumped to a couch and looked out the window. She stared at two of her sisters and one of their boyfriends.

"Look, Lori!" exclaimed Lily.

Leni looked outside and smiled.

"And you know who the other two are?" asked Leni.

"I'm not dumb. They Lynn and Bobby!"

"You're totes right!" said Leni before frowning. "Aww, Lynn looks hurt."

Lori and Bobby ran inside the infirmary with Lynn's arms on their shoulders. Lincoln and Lana looked out into the hallway, finding their injured sister on the couch while Lori and Bobby locked the doors.

"We need help!" exclaimed Bobby.

Buck, Pike, and Jenny went through the open fence gates that separated the military zone from the town.

"Where are we running to?" asked Jenny.

"Military base!" said Pike.

"If we can get there!" said Buck.

Buck removed his helmet. He grabbed his throat and coughed as the snow pelted him in the face. Pike and Jenny stopped and glanced over their shoulders.

"Roamers are still on our ass?" asked Buck.

Pike nodded.

"Why don't we enter Unit A?" he suggested.

"Let's go!" exclaimed Jenny. "There's nowhere else to go!"

Buck tossed his helmet at the roamers and ran with Pike and Jenny to the prisons. He spotted Luna, Sam, and Jace on top of a guard tower, where he waved at them. He then ran inside the prison, closing the metal door and locking it.

The roamers flooded into the prison area. They smashed their hands against the metal doors.

Other roamers surrounded the guard tower and clawed at the three survivors up top. Luna grabbed her stomach and stumbled back.

"Oh man, oh man!" gasped Luna. "I cocked up going up here! What do we do now?"

"Just relax, just– Luna?" said Sam worriedly.

Luna took off her helmet and vomited into the herd outside the guard tower. She retched as she watched the vomit splatter onto the face of a roamer. The roamer didn't flinch, though now it was clawing at different directions.

"Luna, look at me!" said Jace, grabbing her shoulders. "It's okay to be scared! I know it– I'm feeling what you're feeling! But don't panic!"

Luna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He rubbed her hair and motioned Sam to come closer. She walked over to Luna and held her.

"Everything's gonna be chill," said Jace. "We're all here, right?"

Luna looked at Jace in his eyes and smiled. She then cleared his throat and shifted her eyes at his girlfriend.

Sam leaned close to her head for a kiss before realizing what she just did to a roamer below the guard tower. She moved her head and hugged her, letting her know they were alright.

"We don't have to do anything now," whispered Sam. "Just stay quiet. And the roamers will leave."

"What about the others?" asked Luna.

"We can shoot the roamers that are giving them trouble," replied Sam. "We got a few bullets and we have to make 'em count. But we'll give up our location."

Luna grabbed the bullets from her pockets and scanned them.

"So, what is it going to be?" asked Sam.

Luna looked at the roamers in Houlton. She found them wandering aimlessly, as there weren't any civilians outside their homes– at least from where she could see.

She sighed and placed her fingers over her mouth before moving away from the guardrails. The three survivors became invisible to the roamers.

Kathy followed George and Vonda to their home. However, a group of roamers in the street caused them to make a detour.

George held his shotgun and aimed it at a roamer behind him. He shot the gun and killed roamer after roamer.

"What are you doing?" asked Vonda.

"Keeping the roamers off our back!" said George.

"Are we not going to find safe shelter?"

"What safe shelter?"

"The Spokes house is over there!"

George pointed his shotgun at another roamer before Vonda grabbed his arm. Kathy followed both of them to Rusty's home, where they found him and his father.

"Wait!" yelled a man.

George turned around and found a few members of the militia. They came from a different street, though they ended up by the same house.

However, the militiamen were fighting off roamers while George, Vonda, and Kathy weren't.

"Let's go inside!" said Vonda.

"Not yet," said George, aiming his shotgun on a roamer.

The roamer pinned one of the militia members on the ground and struggled to claw through her armor. He blasted pellets on a roamer and reloaded his shotgun.

A man yelled as he shoved his hand into the jaw of a roamer.

"Dad!" yelled his son.

"Reggie, stay back!" the man said.

The roamer was struck by an arrow. Vonda ran to the man and picked him up.

"Are you alright, Mr. Harrison?" asked Vonda.

"Yeah. Where are we going?"

"Come inside!" yelled Rusty.

The militia members and the other three survivors ran inside his home. The roamers flocked to the streets and towards the house. In the street, was human blood.

"Oh gosh, what happened to Lynn?" asked Lincoln.

"I got burned by those assholes!" said Lynn. "Now, I can check that off my fucking bucket list! Burned by napalm!"

"Someone call Haley!" said Lori. "That wound is gonna get infected!"

"We can't–" said Lincoln.

Carol screamed. Lori, Bobby, and Lynn gasped as they looked into the room.

"Is that Carol?" asked Bobby.

Lincoln nodded. Haley came out from the large room and pulled down her mask.

"You can put Lynn in the bed across the room. But don't get close to Carol!"

Lori and Bobby carried Lynn into the room and saw Clyde and Ronnie Anne in the room. Lori found herself struggling with keeping her jaw closed as she looked at a sweaty Carol in her bed. Bobby let out a nervous smile before realizing the situation they were in. He then placed Lynn in a bed with three other wounded patients.

Clyde and Ronnie Anne gasped at the sight of Lynn's leg.

"What happened to you, Lynn?" asked Clyde.

Lynn panted as she found it harder to talk.

"Military dropped napalm on us," said Lori. "Who's going to treat her burn?"

"You," said Haley. "I can't take off my gloves. And I can't grab Lynn's wound and assist Carol's delivery at the same time."

"Where's Dr. White?" asked Lori.

"Dana went to the laboratory to retrieve him."

"Just her?"

Lori walked out of the room. Bobby patted Lynn's head before following Lori.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I gotta help Dana. See the danger out there? No way she can get here by herself."

"What about Lynn? She needs you here!"

"What's going on?" asked Lincoln. "I don't hear any more helicopters."

Lori knelt down and grabbed Lincoln's shoulders.

"The herd. It arrived. And the roamers are out there. I need you to follow Haley's instructions and help Lynn out. I'll be back."

"Lori…"

"I need to do this. Don't worry about me."

"Let me come with you."

"No," said Lori. "You stay here. If I need backup, I'll take Bobby… if he's up for it."

"I'm always there for you, babe," said Bobby. "Come on, little bro. Help your sister out while we get the doc."

Lincoln hugged Lori and Bobby before waving at them. Lily watched Lori and Bobby walk to the front doors of the infirmary before turning to Leni.

"See? Brave, right?" said Leni.

"Yeah. I'm gonna be like her!" said Lily.

Bobby grabbed Lori's shoulders.

"Wait. Are you sure wanna risk your life for Dana and Dr. White without saying goodbye to… them?"

Lori sighed, knowing Bobby was right. She walked over to her sisters. She hugged Leni then picked up Lily.

"Behave while I'm gone," said Lori. "And do not go outside, no matter what, okay? I'll be back. Love you two."

"Love you too, Lori!" said Leni.

Lily looked at Leni and attempted to mimic her.

"Love you too… Lori."

Lori and Bobby exited the infirmary.

 **II - The Monster Within**

Dana panted as she looked behind at the prisons.

"Oh no," she muttered. "That's a lotta dead ones."

A lone roamer hanging outside the laboratory wandered around. Dana took out the machete from her backpack and ran towards the roamer. As the roamer turned to look at her, the blade of the weapon cut through its skull, killing the infected one. Dana panted and looked around the runway.

"How did this roamer get here?"

Dana entered the former airport and found the laboratory to her right. She entered the large room and found Dr. White and Lisa experimenting on a small white mouse.

"Who's there?" asked Lisa.

"It's me. Dana. I got something important to tell you guys!"

Lisa placed her cup away and gave a small piece of cheese to the mouse. Dr. White put his syringe down and looked at Dana.

"Carol's giving birth," she explained.

"Is Haley in the infirmary with Carol?" asked Dr. White.

"Yeah, but she asked for you."

"Strange. She knows a lot more about delivering newborns than I do. Why would she ask for me?"

"I don't know but we gotta– wait. Do you not know what's going on outside?"

"This lab is soundproofed," said Lisa. "Both on the interior and exterior surfaces."

"The military napalmed the woods and the town center!" said Dana. "That attracted a really large herd, you know the one from the city?"

"She wants me to treat the victims," said Dr. White. "I understand now."

"Okay, we have to go now, though!"

Sergei, Kotaro, and Ted burst into the room, causing Dana to yelp.

"God, this room was really quiet!" said Dana.

"We need your help, Lisa," said Sergei. "We got couple vehicles to help us with herd, but we need ammunition."

"The armory is next to the makeshift barracks," said Lisa. "I'll lead you there."

Dana held her machete and nodded at Dr. White.

"Looks like it's just you and me," said Dana. "Got a weapon?"

Dr. White shook his head. Dana tossed her gun at him, which he failed to catch.

"Come on," said Dana. "We have to go now!"

"I don't use weapons," said Dr. White. "I don't have the strength for it."

"Fine, just stay behind me then."

Dana and Dr. White exited the laboratory and walked on the runway. Dr. White shifted his glasses and looked into the distance, finding the herd by the prison. However, he couldn't find anyone on the guard tower.

"We're not going there, are we?" said Dr. White.

"If you don't wanna go there, tell me another damn way to get to the infirmary!"

"We could go through the back of the base and into the town," said Dr. White. "You know that bitterness was uncalled for."

"Well, blame this world for taking the nice out of me," said Dana. "Wait…"

The roamers broke through the fence door and entered the military base. Dana shook her head.

"We can't get through that, can we?" she said.

"Not anymore," said Dr. White. "We have to go close to the Units."

"Let's go," said Dana. "Run!"

Dana and Dr. White ran to the lower section of the military zone by the prisons. Dana then tapped Dr. White on his shoulder.

"Look over there! That's Benny!"

Benny ran around with his sword, slicing the roamers and killing them.

Meanwhile, Lisa, Sergei, Kotaro, and Ted were rummaging through the crates in the armory. Lisa then visited a room where she found barrels of napalm gel and other incendiary chemicals. She also found wires and snares.

"I have an idea," said Lisa.

Sergei, Kotaro, and Ted followed her out of the armory carrying ammunition and weapons. They walked past the military base and found it overrun by roamers.

"Mother of Tesla!" shrieked Lisa before closing the door.

"That's not gerna' hold," said Ted.

"She bought us time!" said Kotaro.

"Roll the barrels!" said Lisa. "We're initiating my plan!"

Back in the town, Benny held his katana how Hana taught him too, unlike a baseball bat. His hands and the arms of his topcoat were drenched in blood.

After killing a certain amount of roamers, he knew he could make it back to the infirmary. With a few roamers on his tail, he dashed to the infirmary only to find Lori and Bobby outside.

"What are you two–?" he said.

"We're helping Dana!" said Lori. "We need to get Dr. White's ass here!"

"Coming?" asked Bobby, taking his knife out.

Benny spun around while sticking his blade out. He decapitated two roamers and sliced the arm of another. He made another swing and finished the roamer off.

"Where to?" asked Benny.

"The laboratory!" exclaimed Lori. "You brought some friends with you?"

"Don't tell Luan!" grinned Benny.

Bobby yelled as he stabbed one of the roamers in the head. He fell down with the roamer and was reminded of the twist-strategy.

Lori swung his hatchet around, chopping heads halfway through their skull, dispatching as many roamers as she could. Blood was sent flying everywhere, as more bodies dropped.

Benny spotted a roamer on top of Bobby. He thrusted his sword forward and struck the roamer through its head.

Bobby covered his face with his arm as the body fell on top of him. Then, he shoved it out of the way and stood up.

"Thank you," said Bobby.

"Don't mention it," said Benny. "The herd's getting all riled up."

"Let's go!" said Lori.

Benny flicked his sword, sending all the roamer blood to the snow. Lori and Bobby ran ahead, leaving behind the infirmary.

Lily stood on the couch, staring out the window. She looked at the bodies in the ground and bit her lips. A roamer then jumped into the window, creating a loud thud, spooking Leni away from the couch.

"What happened?" asked Lincoln.

He gasped as he saw Lily staring at the roamer on the window.

"Lily, move away from that!" he exclaimed.

The roamer growled and rubbed his teeth on the window. Lily stared at the roamer's golden eyes, seeking for its soul. However, she couldn't see anything. The roamer released its mouth from window and stared at the girl. It hissed and moved away from the window as Lily stepped down from the couch. She bit her lips and looked at Lincoln.

"That was the monster?" asked Lily. "He look sad."

Lincoln knelt down and looked at Lily.

"Aren't you scared?" asked Lincoln.

"No. I'm brave like Lori."

"Well, what do you make of that?" said Lana. "She's going to be so hardcore."

"And foolish," said Lincoln. "Those things should be feared! Lily, look at me! Next time you see those monsters with the bright yellow eyes, you run, got it?"

Lily bit her lips again and nodded. She still couldn't figure out why her family hated the monsters. And she was so curious to find out.

Lori, Bobby, and Benny moved ahead into the military-zone. They stepped over the fence gates and found the roamers huddled around Unit A– the closest prison.

"I don't see anyone up there," whispered Bobby, looking at the guard tower.

"Come on, Luna," murmured Lori. "I know you're safe somewhere."

"The herd sees us!" said Benny.

The roamers jogged towards the trio, lunging at them. The roamers weren't as scattered as the ones in the town, so Lori found no use in fighting with her hatchet. She took out her revolver and motioned Bobby and Benny to follow her.

"Look!" said Bobby.

Dr. White and Dana ran towards Lori, Bobby, and Benny before realizing how close the herd was.

"Run to Unit D!" yelled Lori. "C'mon!"

Dana and Dr. White regrouped with them and ran towards the prison by the east fences. Lori found some roamers near Unit D. She aimed her revolver at the roamers and shot it, missing her shot completely.

"Damn, the movies made it look easy," said Lori.

"What's that?" said Benny.

"Running and getting a headshot," she said.

Dana aimed her pistol at the roamers ahead of her and shot multiple times until she got a headshot. With each shot, the fresher roamers were stopped briefly, but the more decayed roamers didn't flinch with each shot.

"Hear that?" whispered Jace.

"Yeah," said Luna. "I know that sound. It's Lori's piece. Her baby. Colt Python."

"Is it really?" asked Sam.

"Mhmm. Richard told me way back when we came across those Piranha bastards in Albany. Just to think if they didn't take his wife…"

"She would've been a better shot than I with this gun," said Sam, still gripping her AR-15. "And Carol would've been kickin' ass with Lori."

The roamers ran after Lori, Bobby, Benny, Dana, and Dr. White, leaving the guard tower alone. The roamers by Unit A also left the area, following the gunshots.

"Open the door, Bobby!" yelled Lori.

"I don't have the keys!" he replied.

"I do! Move," said Dr. White.

Dr. White wheezed as he struggled to get his keys from his coat. The frosty wind bit his fingers as he tried to open the door to the prison. Lori placed bullets into the chambers of her revolver while Bobby, Benny, and Dana protected her.

The corpses dropped one after the other as the door jiggles grew louder.

"Anytime now," said Dana.

"Got it! Get in!" said Dr. White.

The five survivors entered the prison. Benny, being the last one in, shut the door and pushed it, preventing the roamers from getting in. The roamers, however, kept banging on the door.

"Lock it!" said Dr. White, tossing the keys to Benny.

Benny grabbed the keys and shoved his shoulders against the door. He placed the keys inside the keyhole and flicked it before removing it. He slowly moved back, hearing the roamers bang against the door. The light coming from the bottom of the door was overwhelmed by the shadow of the dead.

Benny looked around the prison.

"There's no way out now," he said.

Lori walked by the cells and sighed, trying to think of a solution.

"Can you lead us to the chambers?" she asked Dr. White.

The doctor walked into the large hallway, followed by the rest of the group. He went downstairs and opened a door, finding a small group of roamers inside the chambers. Outside of the breach, where the blown-up helicopter resided, the herd walked by. He closed it before the roamers spotted the group and backed away.

"Not too many in the chambers," he said. "But it's like hell outside the prison. We won't be able to get out through the opening without them pouring in."

Lori sat on the walls. She closed her eyes and murmured to herself, trying to recollect her thoughts. Her heart pounded in her chest, as she heard the dead knocking on the prison doors.

George and Mr. Spokes shut the door. The roamers pounded their fists and hands on the wooden door, scratching and clawing against the surface.

"We need a barricade!" groaned Mr. Spokes.

Vonda and Rusty ran to the couch and took hold of it, pushing it towards the door.

"Move, Dad!" said Rusty. "Man, this is heavy!"

Mr. Spokes and George moved away from the door, causing the roamers to shove it open. However, before the door could fully open, Vonda and Rusty pushed the couch against the door, crushing the arms of some roamers.

Vonda jumped to the couch and leaped close to the door. George wondered what she would do as she took out her bow. She poked the roamers away until she was able to close the door.

"Now, Rusty!" she exclaimed.

Rusty groaned and pushed the couch against the door, preventing the roamers from entering. The wooden door banged against the frame, causing the hinges to jiggle.

Vonda leaped out of the couch and stood behind George, watching the wooden door jerk back and forth.

"We don't have much time here," said Vonda.

"We could leave through the back door," said Mr. Spokes. "But then where would we go?"

George peeked through the curtains, finding the swarm of roamers outside the house flocking to the front door. The other roamers scattered around the streets, wandering by the houses.

"The church," said George. "If we can hop through the fences and head south in that direction, we'll be able to regroup with the others."

"And do what?" asked Rusty. "Do you see how many of them there are?"

"Our chances will be better if we have more manpower to fight against this herd. Better than just going from house to house, risking a locked door each time."

"It's going to be alright, son," said Mr. Spokes. "If we just stick together, we'll be okay."

"I know that, Dad. I've been around those things. I'm worried about you."

"Before we go…" said Mr. Harrison, stepping forward. "I have to show y'all something."

Mr. Harrison rolled up his sleeve and revealed his lower right arm. A wound with eight small gaping holes was smeared in blood.

"I'm sorry, son. I really am," he said.

Reggie ran up to him and held him, crying on his chest. Mr. Harrison held him and sniffled. Vonda's eyes watered up, something that Rusty and George didn't recall her doing before.

"Mr. Harrison…" said Vonda. "We could've–"

"It's not worth it," he replied. "The infirmary is too goddamn far. I would've passed out and be a burden to y'all. So let me just stay awake… and do something."

He turned towards his son.

"Everything's gonna be fine. I've talked to Elder Jeffrey. He'll take care of you, so play nice with his nephew, you hear?"

"First, Mom, then you…"

"You got this. I believe in you. I love you, son."

The hinges in the door jiggled louder. Mr. Harrison motioned George and Mr. Spokes to come to the kitchen.

"I just want to give you two a piece of advice. Show your child the way of surviving this shithole of a world. But don't let 'em go. Stay close. Bond more. Cause you're never know when you'll lose them. Or when they'll lose you. Ruddy, you're doing well with your son, Rusty. And George, I realize that Vonda ain't really your daughter. But I know you'll treat as if she was."

The hinges in the door snapped. The roamers broke through the door and cracked it in half with their weight. The group aimed their weapons at the roamers trying to get inside the house.

Mr. Harrison, George, and Mr. Spokes ran to the living room. George aimed his shotgun at the roamers when Mr. Harrison shook his head.

"Lead 'em out!" he said. "I'll stay! I got these ugly bastards!"

"Dad!" yelled Reggie. "Come with us!"

"Go! Just go! Don't look back!"

Vonda grabbed Reggie's arm and dragged him to the back door with the other survivors as he screamed in protest. Mr. Harrison aimed his gun at the roamers breaking the couch.

George closed the back door and held the group in behind the house.

"Jump over the fences!" said George. "The church is that way!"

The roamers shoved the dented couch out of the way. Mr. Harrison shot the roamers one by one with his small sidearm, dropping them to the ground. His sweat soaked his burning face as he let the rest of the swarm come inside the house.

"Five, four…" he muttered. "Three. Two… one."

The roamers growled as they advanced to the cornered man. He pointed the gun at his right temple and pulled the trigger, painting the wall behind him red.

The roamers dropped to the ground and prepared to feast on his tainted corpse.

Reggie held back his tears after a few seconds, realizing that his father wasn't going to fire another shot. Vonda looked ahead and struggled to hold back her tears. Rusty sighed and realized that he was now the only child with a living parent.

Every single member in the group had lost their parents in some way, except him. He felt somewhat guilty.

Dana leaned on the wall next to Bobby and Lori. She thought about Wavehead and Becky.

"If we just wait it out…" murmured Benny.

"No, Dr. White has to treat the injured, especially Lynn!" murmured back Lori. "Where's Lisa?"

"She went to the armory with Sergei and the others," replied Dr. White. "I have no idea what they're doing there."

"Something smart, I'm guessing," said Benny.

"Let's check out the courtyard," said Dr. White. "See if there's anything worth checking out."

The group left the hallways and found themselves outside in a large concrete field with a few roamers lurking around. However, the herd remained outside the fences, throwing the idea of climbing the fences out of the way.

The group walked back inside and continued to formulate ideas. Dana, however, couldn't focus on escaping the prison. She thought of something else.

"Have you ever imagined how prom night could've been?"

Lori and Bobby looked at Dana. Dr. White took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes before placing them back on. Benny scratched his hair and looked around.

"I have," replied Lori, turning to Bobby. "We have."

"Did you see our dresses? They're beautiful. You looked absolutely stunning. And you, Bobby, looked very handsome in your tux. You two are the cutest couple in the room– besides Leni and Chaz of course– but for some reason, I see Carol winning prom queen. You, Becky, and I are just standing there, getting totally jealous, but it didn't matter. It was one of the best nights of our lives!"

Dana wiped a tear off her eye.

"Lori… how could it be the best night of my life if it never happened? It was supposed to happen! All the hard work we did, we at least deserved that!"

"I know exactly how you feel," said Lori.

"Chaz, Tad, Derrick, and Wesley were too young to die. You, Bobby, Benny… we're all too young to die!"

"We're going to get out of this," said Lori. "We just have to find a way. I know you can be brave!"

"Brave unlike some people in this town," said Dana. "Wesley believed that Jenny actually had the guts to save him. The last words he ever emphasized… guts…"

Dana blinked twice before opening her jaw softly.

"He remembered…" she said. "I remember now! Lori, I know how we can get out of this!"

Dana stood up beaming confidence with her posture.

"We could get a couple roamers, kill them, and cut them open!"

Lori, Bobby, and Benny smiled, now realizing what she wanted to do.

"I don't see where this is going," said Dr. White.

"We smear the roamer guts on ourselves!" said Dana. "It'll blend us with the other roamers!"

Lori, Bobby, and Benny cheered.

"Wait, wait, hold up!" continued Dr. White. "That sounds utterly ridiculous!"

"I tried it before," said Dana. "It worked. The roamers can't tell you and the other dead ones apart!"

"Zombie guts? Intestines and organs? Should I tell you how hazardous that is?"

"There's no other option," said Lori. "We have to do this."

Dr. White looked at his lab coat.

"Fine. But let's wear some protective clothing first! I've got some lab coats in an office upstairs."

"Get 'em," said Lori. "We'll get some guts from the roamers in the courtyard."

Dr. White walked to the stairs in another room while Lori scanned her hatchet. Dana held the back of her machete blade and moved the handle. The handle moved slightly.

"Kill all the roamers inside the courtyard," said Lori. "Then, drag the closest roamers inside the prison. Ready?"

Dana, Benny, and Bobby nodded. Lori opened the door to the courtyard and ran to the closest roamer. She swung the blade to its face, crushing the brain from the front.

Dana sliced the top part of a roamer's head off and made it pour the blood from its brain into the ground.

Bobby reached for a roamer and grabbed its shoulder before thrusting his knife into its eye.

Benny snuck up behind a roamer and was closer and closer. Then, his straight-bladed katana cut through the roamer's chest, and Benny kept it there, turning the roamer around. He lowered the handle of his katana and raised the blade of the sword, preventing the roamer from escaping.

Lori dispatched two more walking corpses and walked to the body closest to the courtyard. She found a particular corpse and closed her eyes, trying to drive the rotten smell out of her nose.

Bobby shivered upon touching the arms of the dead roamer, feeling the soft, decayed flesh. One of his fingers were able to feel its frozen bone.

Dana grabbed the legs of the roamers, feeling the cold, torn pants. Recognizing the fabric of it, Dana knew that in the corpse's human life, she tried to show off her behind in tight jeans.

Benny dragged the roamer to the door and pulled out the sword. He then swung it and decapitated the roamer. He grabbed the body and dragged it inside the prison.

Lori closed the door and dragged a body into one of the cells. Dr. White arrived with four new lab coats and a box of non-latex gloves.

"That was quick," he commented. "I'm not looking forward to what we'll proceed to do."

"Neither am I," said Lori, taking out her hatchet.

She placed on a lab coat and a pair of gloves, with the rest of the group following. Lori swung her hatchet on the abdomen of her dead roamer, causing a squirt of black blood to jump out slightly.

Bobby looked away as Lori chopped more. Benny felt his stomach turn. Dana squinted and stared down at her own roamer. She raised her machete but she found herself unable to turn away from Lori.

Lori dug her hands into the gaping hole in the abdomen. She took out a mess of splattered guts and looked back at Dana, who nodded softly. Lori felt her throat getting warmer and her chest breathing harder. She placed the guts on her coat and smeared it around.

"This is literally so fucking gross," said Lori. "And you were drenched in this shit?"

"Yeah," replied Dana. "I had some organs hanging from my shoulders too."

Bobby placed his hands on his mouth. Lori dug deeper into the corpse and pulled out ripped intestines, though some were still in one piece. Lori gulped as she placed it around her shoulder.

"Oh my god…" groaned Benny.

Bobby retched and covered his nose.

Dana chopped a limb from a roamer. She held it up and poured it down her coat before rubbing the chopped end onto herself.

Benny sliced the roamer's chest open and ripped its ribs out. He groaned as he snapped the ribs. He then grabbed the roamer's heart and placed it on the ground. Using his palms, he pressed it against the ground, crushing it before he rubbed what remained of it on his coat.

Bobby removed the splattered parts of the roamer's face and dug into the shattered skull, pulling pieces of its brain out. He flicked it away, shaking his goosebumps out at the same time.

"Here," said Lori, holding up the roamer's intestines. "This isn't going to smell pretty but try not to–"

Bobby vomited onto Lori's coat as she placed the intestines around his shoulders.

"–puke. It's fine, it makes me smell more dead anyways."

"That smells fucking musty," said Benny, pressing onto his stomach. "The hell did you eat?"

"It's gastric acid mixed with decaying organs," said Dr. White.

"I'm so sorry," said Bobby. "I know I can do this, but… my stomach…"

"Just hold my hands," said Lori. "Everything's going to be fine, okay?"

Bobby nodded.

"I would kiss you right now, but my mouth reeks of vomit now."

Lori grabbed Bobby's arms and kissed his forehead. Bobby was surprised at how affectionate that felt.

After a few minutes, everyone's coats were smeared with dark-red blood and flesh, some with pieces of organs stuck to their coat. Lori, Benny, and Dana took off their gloves, leaving Dr. White and Bobby with tainted gloves.

"Here's the plan," said Lori, holding her hatchet. "Benny, Bobby, and I will go to the armory to see what Lisa and the others are up to. Whatever they're planning, it's gotta happen."

"Let me come with!" said Dana.

"No, you're taking him to the infirmary. There are other people who need his help."

Dana nodded softly before looking down at the chambers. Lori nudged her.

"Hey, Dana. Thank you."

Dana smiled as Lori held her hands. She followed Lori, Bobby, and Benny into the chambers after Dr. White slowly opened the steel door. The roamers growled and looked around, letting the survivors pass them as they tried to figure out where the strange scent came from.

Lori walked towards the breach in the chambers, finding herself in the blistering cold with roamers mere inches away from her. She kept her grip on Bobby as Dana followed Dr. White in the herd.

Dana created a tired expression in her face, helping her blend in with the herd. Dr. White mimicked her and followed her out of the prison.

Lori looked inside the helicopter and found a burnt skeleton whose ribs were filled with snow and ice. She closed her eyes and then looked ahead at the barely visible building in the distance. She looked back at Bobby and Benny, nodding as she began walking to the armory.

 **III - Birth of a Warrior**

Mr. Spokes panted as he leaped over the last fence. George and the others waited for him.

"Remember. Tight formation!" said George.

The group moved ahead into the church, avoiding the swarms near the intersection by the church. George ran to the door and pushed against it, but the doors were locked.

"What the–?" muttered George. "Oh hell! They locked the damn doors!"

"The roamers found us!" exclaimed Vonda. "What do we do, George?"

George jerked the door handles and shook the wooden doors, but they refused to open. The roamers approached the group just as another swarm came from the opposite side of the street.

"George!" exclaimed Mr. Spokes. "They're comin'!"

"Fuck it!" said George. "Shoot 'em. Now!"

Jeffrey stood by the doors, hesitating to open them. Some militia members and civilians stood behind the seats with a large lantern, looking at him. He raised his hands, shivering as he placed them on the door latches. He then heard gunshots, causing him to pace back away from the door. Preston approached him.

"Uncle Jeff? What's going on?"

"I have to go! Don't open the doors!"

Jeffrey ran to his office in the church before locking it. Preston scratched his head. He then heard loud knocks on the door.

"Help!" screamed Kathy. "We need to get inside! Please help!"

The group continued firing their weapons. Preston looked out the window, spotting shadows of roamers.

"I'm prepared," said Preston as he pulled out his pocket knife.

He ran to the doors and unlocked the door latches. He opened the door and found the group by the door with a group of roamers within arm's reach.

George, Vonda, Rusty, and the other survivors flooded into the church, with George pushing the doors closed. Preston locked the latch and flinched upon the explosion of knocking on the door. The door jerked in and out, causing the latch to jiggle.

"How'd you guys make it here?" asked Preston.

"Honestly, we have no idea," replied Vonda.

The roamers smashed against the church doors and scratched against the walls. The shadows passed by the stained glass windows.

Reggie whimpered and held on to his wooden chair. Rusty rubbed his head and walked up to him.

"So, how you feelin'?" he asked. "It's okay if you don't feel so good now."

"What with this herd on our ass? Or 'cause my dad was bitten? Or maybe 'cause he shot himself afterwards. 'Course I don't feel good!"

Vonda stepped next to Rusty.

"I lost my parents too," she said. "They were both unable to say goodbye. I wished I knew when my father was going to die so I could tell him that I loved him too."

Reggie scrunched up his eyes and looked away. Preston walked up to him and placed his hands on his shoulders.

"Don't mind 'em," he said. "If you want some time alone– whatever time that is– you could sit by the podium. If you don't want to fight the roamers with us, that's fine. I understand. I'm truly sorry for your loss. But don't forget… he's in a better place now…"

Preston shifted his eyes at the rocking doors.

"...I promise you."

The roamers wandered around, growling at the snow pelting them in their face. Lori, Bobby, and Benny's lips quivered as their hot breaths escaped their mouth. They moved along the herd just like Lori when the mall was packed. Or like Benny when the freshmen in his high school all filled the hallways. Or like Bobby when people crowded near the bodega.

The snow stopped. The visibility of the surrounding hills and sky were more apparent now. Now, the trio were able to see roamers flowing out of the military barracks– the former airport. And not only were the trio walking among the dead able to see, the trio in the prison tower were able to see as well.

"This storm is gnarly," said Luna.

"That's why we need to stay close," said Jace. "We cuddle up and warm each other up!"

"Nice try," said Sam. "But we could just go inside this tower office thing. I mean, what are we doing out here?"

"The door's jammed shut," said Luna. "I was in too much of a rush to get inside."

Jace opened his arms and raised his eyebrows. Luna smiled as Sam looked out the guard tower. She was ready to open her arms when Sam cried out.

"Look!"

Luna stood up and looked out the guard tower, leaving Jace hanging with his arms wide open.

"I don't remember the deadies moving that quick," said Luna. "Wait a minute…"

Benny rushed through the herd, moving his feet along the snow to catch up to the armory. Bobby grabbed his arms to allow Lori to whisper to him.

"Wait up! Not too fast!"

The roamers growled and looked around, hearing a smooth voice, one that had a hint of femininity and youth. Lori groaned softly as if she woke up too early for school. The roamers groaned at Lori and only looked at her as she passed by them.

Luna aimed at the trio with her scope.

"It's Lori, Bobby, and Benny!" said Luna. "Eww. They're covered in guts!"

"That's Dana's idea!" said Sam. "Where is she?"

"I can't find her," said Jace. "That's some good camouflage! How come you guys never told me about this?"

"We must have forgotten," said Sam. "I mean it's been over a year since there was a mention about this trick!"

"Whatever you're doing," said Luna, "you got it, Lori."

Lori took another deep breath and noticed water dripping down her face. She knew she felt nervous enough to sweat, but she wasn't able to because of the snow, but that was before. Now, the storm stopped, the gusts disappeared.

The snow in her coat began to defrost and melt. Lori looked at Benny and found water with a tint of red in it leaking down from his coat. Her face was swamped with hints of anxiety.

"We have to go, now," said Lori. "The roamers are confused. They'll know we're here."

Lori's hands formed sweat as she moved around the slushy arms of her lab coat. The roamers leaned close to the group and stared at the survivors. The trio kept quiet until one roamer growled and limped towards them. The surrounding roamers followed it.

"Oh shit," muttered Lori.

Bobby stabbed the roamer in the eye, leaving the knife there as the body dropped. Lori raised her hatchet and chopped a roamer out of her way. Benny raised his katana and thrusted it between a roamer's pair of eyes.

The slight fresh shift in the rotten odor that hung around the roamers became more intense now that the roamers were able to notice the sweat odor of the survivors, despite it being cold enough to keep birds out of the area. The roamers chased the survivors down, catching Luna's attention.

"Oh no, dude!" she cried. "We gotta help 'em out!"

Luna raised her sniper rifle and noticed another figure moving along the herd. However, this one was easier to spot due to the armor that the figure was wearing.

"It's one of the guards!" said Jace.

"The gear looks bigger!" said Sam. "What is this guy doing?"

Luna, once again, aimed with her scope and looked at the figure. She gasped.

"It's not a guy! It's a dudette!"

Jenny moved through the herd with her riot gear armor. She shoved the roamers out of the way with a baton and ran to the armory.

The roamers by the military barracks looked at the trio and found them running to the armory. They changed directions and growled at them. Bobby took off his gloves and pulled out a Luger. He shot the roamers close to the armory, though he didn't have enough ammo to take them all out.

Lori looked into the herd and found one of the roamers particularly familiar. The roamer had a pink streak on its messy hair. The roamer also wore a leather jacket and wore white boots.

Jenny caught up to the trio and ran as fast as she could to the swarm by the barracks. She extended her arms open and tackled a few roamers to the ground, including the familiar one.

"Go! Run inside!" yelled Jenny. "Run inside, now!"

Lori, Bobby, and Benny ran to the armory and opened the galvanized door. They closed it before the herd smashed themselves against the entrance of the armory.

The roamers pulled Jenny's armor from her arms, ripping the straps and plates that held them apart. She yelled as the roamers piled up on top of her back, breaking her spine and ribs. One particular roamer tried to pull her helmet off, though it only resulting in Jenny's screams being choked out as a strap tugged on her throat. Roamer Tabby sunk her teeth into her throat and ripped out the flesh. Blood poured onto Roamer Tabby's face, as she continued chomping at her flesh.

Benny watched Jenny die in agony before the roamers covered the square bulletproof window in the door.

"Hello?" called out Lori. "Lisa? Anyone here? That's strange. The lights are on."

"Oh no, are we trapped now?" asked Bobby.

Benny continued to look out the galvanized door.

"As trapped as a bee in the claws of a praying mantis."

Meanwhile, Dana and Dr. White walked through the herd near the fences that separated the military zone from the town. Some of the dead followed the roamers that were picking up their pace near Unit A, the prison which Jenny left with her riot gear on.

After reaching an area where very few roamers wandered around, Dana and Dr. White stopped.

"How are you holding up?" asked Dana.

"I'm great," he groaned. "As soon as we get to the infirmary, I'm dropping this coat."

"Hey, did is the rotten smell going away or is it just me?"

Dr. White leaned his arm close to his nose and sniffed. He groaned and nodded.

"It's not as putrid as before… if you don't smell it from up close. That's bad news, though."

Dana looked around. The roamers grunted at the air and turned their faces towards the two survivors. Just like with the others, the roamers hesitated to take action until one roamer growled at the top of his decayed lungs.

"Run!" yelled Dana.

Luna looked at the herd. Some split from the ones chasing Lori, Bobby, and Benny. Instead, they went after two more figures with bloody coats. She scoped into the herd and found out who the two figures were.

"They need our help!" yelled Luna.

"Who's they?" asked Jace.

"Dana and the doc!"

Sam nodded and grabbed her AR-15. Luna leaned her eyes into the scope of her M110 before Jace touched her shoulder.

"Are you sure?" asked Jace. "Don't gunshots attract the roamers?"

"That's the plan!" said Luna.

"But that means we won't be able to get outta this tower!"

"I would sacrifice my own life to save the lives of others," said Luna. "It's how I would rather go out than dying in vain."

Luna looked back at her scope. Jace gulped and rubbed his head, realizing she meant what she said.

Dana and Dr. White ran towards the infirmary that stood by the intersection. Some roamers blocked it, however, and only Dana carried a weapon.

"Stay behind!" said Dana. "If you see an opening, run for it!"

Dana held her machete up high, ready to take out the roamers. Suddenly, she was met with gunshots from behind her. A few roamers dropped to the ground after gunshots splattered through their skulls.

Dana looked back and found Luna and Sam firing their weapons at the herd ahead of them. Luna raised her right arm and pointed it to the right before going back to shooting the roamers.

"What was that?" asked Dr. White.

"She's creating an opening on the right!" replied Dana.

The roamers on the right side of the street were shot down. Dana swung her machete and took out the roamers that lunged after her as she ran to the right side of the street with Dr. White.

"There's our opening!" said Dana.

They both ran along the sidewalk to the infirmary. The roamers followed them until they were outside of the building. Dana quickly opened the door and closed it after Dr. White entered. She kept her back on the door, as the roamers continued pushing against it. Leni and Lily jumped from their seats and watched as Dana struggled to keep the roamers out.

"Let me help you!" exclaimed Dr. White.

"No! Just go help out Haley!"

Dr. White dropped his coat and took off his gloves before running off to the bathroom to sanitize himself. Lincoln, Lana, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde popped out of the room and found Dana yelling. Lincoln and Ronnie Anne ran to the door and shoved themselves against it, keeping it closed. Dana noticed the wet splatters on the door.

"Oh. That's why they noticed me," said Dana. "The snow drenched my coat!"

"This door is not going to hold any longer!" said Lincoln.

"Lincoln, you have a knife?" said Dana. "Great! Ronnie Anne, grab my machete! Lana, just stay back!"

"No way!" said Lana. "I'm not staying back! I want to help out too!"

Dr. White came out from the bathroom. He pulled out Dana's Glock from his belt and handed it to Lana.

"I was told about your work on the fences. You're a pretty good shot, aren't ya?"

Lana nodded. Dana pulled out her trench knife and backed away from the door with Ronnie Anne and Lincoln.

"Leni, Lily!" called out Lincoln. "Run inside the room!"

The roamers bursted into the hallways. Leni carried Lily inside the room. Dana stabbed the closest roamer before backing away even more. Lincoln stabbed a crawler in the floor and Ronnie Anne chopped the head off of a roamer. The head fell to the ground and was chopped again by her. Lana stepped up once again and began shooting the roamers in their heads.

George went inside the church office and found Jeffrey at a fetal position. He grabbed his suit and picked him up.

"You couldn't let us in?" he growled.

"I am truly sorry," whimpered Jeffrey. "You have to understand. Those things– the gunfire–"

"Me and Vonda coulda' died out there! What were you thinking?"

"Please…"

"Hey, can you chill?" exclaimed Preston. "Look, I know the herd is putting us all under stress, but we have to relax and come up with a solution to stop these monsters. We have to–"

The latched popped out and fell to the floor. The roamers smashed the doors open and flooded into the church.

"They're here!" yelled Vonda. "The roamers are here!"

She yelled as she released an arrow from her bow. A roamer dropped dead and spilled blood onto the carpet. Jeffrey gasped as George pulled out his shotgun and blasted it at the entrance, hitting many of the roamers trying to get in.

The militia grabbed their guns and began firing at the roamers, shattering the windows, walls, and seats in the church. The roamers dropped to the ground, and the militia were killing more roamers than those that could enter the church.

Jeffrey sat down, closing his ears and watching in horror as blood flew around the church. He closed them as tears flowed down his face.

Meanwhile, Lori, Bobby, and Benny looked around the dimly lit armory, their coats lying by the entrance. All the storage rooms were empty, much like the ammunition.

"There's no way out!" exclaimed Bobby.

"This can't be the end!" cried Benny.

Lori looked around. She walked towards a box and found few grenades inside.

"I have an idea," said Lori. "Why don't I use these? I could open the door and use a couple of these to kill all the roamers near the armory. You guys will stay back!"

"That's so risky!" said Benny. "Plus, you risk bringing the entire herd here!"

"I have to do something!" said Lori, her voice breaking. "These people… they look up to me! I'm suppose to be their leader! But the truth is… I've been too caught up in looking for David and Black! I should've spent more time with everyone! I could've prevented this!"

"Stop that!" said Bobby. "Stop beating yourself up, Lori!"

Lori looked at Bobby, unable to utter a word.

"You aren't at fault for David's disappearance!" continued Bobby. "You aren't at fault for what happened to your parents! You aren't at fault for what the rogues did! You didn't ask for any of this! But you still took the leadership mantle! Why? Because you are the only one brave enough, strong enough, caring enough to look after all of us! This place needs you!"

Lori grabbed Bobby and kissed him.

"I love you so much," said Lori. "Thank you."

Lori grabbed a grenade from the box. She lent one to Bobby and Benny. They walked towards the galvanized door, with Lori holding Bobby's hands. She decided that if they weren't going to make it out, they would at least not make it out together.

Lori tugged on the door handle, taking a deep sigh.

Suddenly, a large explosion showed its fiery blast through the glass window.

"Holy shit," said Lori. "Is that…?"

Another explosion went off, killing all the roamers huddled up in front of the amory. From the distance, an M60 Patton tank aimed its gun at the herd by the military barracks.

Kotaro cackled as he fired another missile into the herd. Sergei loaded another missile and climbed up to the turret seat where he told Ted to fire unto the herd by the east fences. Lisa, sitting in the driver's seat, turned the tank around and moved towards the fences. Ted fired the turret and destroyed the swarming herd outside, each of the roamers' heads exploding like watermelons.

Lori, Bobby, and Benny walked outside with their weapons out, finding a hot crater of corpses lying in front of the armory. They found the rest of the herd from the prisons following the tank along the runway.

The roamers stepped on a piece of wire and set off all the nearby incendiary barrels. The trio in front of the armory quickly ran inside and shielded themselves from the raining drops of fire.

"Did you see that?" exclaimed Jace.

"Oh my god," gasped Luna. "That is definitely Lisa and Sergei's handiwork!"

"Look, the tank is coming over here!" said Sam.

The tank turned around and rolled towards the prisons. The burning flesh of the roamers were stuck on the pavement, preventing the monsters from moving. A few of them turned into crawlers, though their attempts to bite any of the survivors were futile. They raised their arms and growled at the tank, only to be ran over by the crushing weight of the tank.

"Fire the guns!" ordered Sergei.

Ted laughed as he fired the turret at the roamers near Unit A. Luna, Sam, and Jace covered their heads as the bullets tore through the undead corpses and splattered them against the walls of the prison.

"Da! Da! DA!" cackled Sergei as Lisa turned the tank towards the infirmary.

Lori, Bobby, and Benny escaped the armory and ran behind the tank, following it until they reached the prison. Bobby, using a G3 rifle that he found in the armory, fired onto the shot-but-alive roamers, shooting their brains and killing them. Luna, Sam, and Jace waved at the trio below before climbing down the guard tower.

Buck and Pike escaped the prison where they were holed up in, meeting Luna, Sam, and Jace as they ran towards Lori, Bobby, and Benny. Luna hugged Lori. As the tank fired another missile, Luna held Lori tighter. Benny looked at the corpses as they were launched into the air, burning even after they splattered into the ground.

"As Luan would say… tank you," chuckled Benny.

Lori chuckled.

"C'mon," she said. "Let's get to the infirmary!"

Kotaro and Ted were unable to fire more ammunition.

"We're out!" said Kotaro.

"No problem," said Sergei. "Time for me to play."

Sergei opened the hatch for the tank and pulled out an RPG. Kotaro and Ted scrambled inside to grab the rockets near the rear door of the tank. Sergei aimed at a swarm near the intersection and fired the RPG. The rocket exploded and blew the roamers into many pieces.

"Whoo!" shouted Sergei. "We're invincible in this tank! Hand me another rocket!"

In the church, George and the militia fought their way out of the building. Then, they heard the explosions.

"What was that?" asked Rusty.

"Sounds like an RPG," said George.

Vonda, Rusty, and Preston all looked at each other.

"The Piranhas used it before," he said. "Courtesy of their Somalian friends."

"What kinda gang did you guys go up against?" gasped Preston.

George fired his shotgun at a roamer in the ground.

"A gang who couldn't handle these things," he replied.

George, Vonda, Rusty, Mr. Spokes, Preston, Kathy, and the rest of the survivors in the church with the exception of Reggie and Jeffrey fought against the roamers in the streets. Many of them were led away by the explosions near the infirmary, though the explosions were getting louder and louder.

After a few minutes, George saw the tank coming from the corner of the street.

"Everyone!" yelled Sergei. "Go inside the church! I'll take care of this for you!"

George and the others listened. They ran inside the church and hid behind the seats, with some of the survivors looking out the hole in which there used to be a door.

Sergei fired another rocket and destroyed what was left of the swarm outside of the church. George came out from the church, looking at the burnt street. Sergei coughed as he looked at him.

"We going to the front gates! We're taking out all the roamers from here to Medway!"

George placed a thumbs-up and led the militia into the streets. They ran off in different directions, paired up in smaller groups, but powerful groups to take out the roamers infecting the town.

Lori and the others fought their way to the infirmary. One of the last remaining herds stood close to the infirmary, which Sergei refused to shoot as it would be risky for the patients inside the building. Now, it was up to Lori and her small group to fight off the roamers.

Lori shot the roamers with her reloaded revolver. Bobby landed more headshots with his G3 rifle. Luna hip-fired her sniper rifle and let out a few bullets. Sam tore through a couple roamers with her AR-15. Buck and Pike stabbed the roamers in their sides. Benny walked behind them, covering their backs as he did for the past year and a half.

Buck and Pike ran off to clean up the town, leaving just Lori, Bobby, Benny, Luna, Sam, and Jace to enter the infirmary. The infirmary hall was left with corpses on the ground, with no one in sight.

"Oh no…" Lori gasped. "No, no, no!"

Lori ran across the hall and opened the door, raising her hatchet up to fight off the roamers that have no doubt infected the people she loved. But she was met with something else entirely.

"Don't worry!" said Lincoln. "Just look at this!"

Lynn looked at Lori and smiled. Dr. White wiped off the sweat from his face and sighed happily, something Lori has never seen to this degree. Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde wiped their hands on their clothes, stained with roamer blood. Lana held her hat and couldn't take out the gleeful smile off her face. Leni held Lily on her back, both of them giggling in merriness. Dana wiped her eyes with her arms and giggled, moving out of the way for Lori. Haley took off her gloves and handed Lori a damp towel.

"Careful with your hands," mouthed Haley, smiling afterwards.

Lori placed her hatchet on her belt and placed the towel on her eyes. She teared up… but no tears of grief fell down her face.

Carol lied on the bed, sighing as she held her baby daughter. The baby was asleep on her arms, and wrapped up nicely in a pink blanket.

"Say hi to Zoey!" she said, her voice so low that it sounded like the explosions hundreds of meters away. "Isn't she beautiful, Lori?"

"She has her mother's eyes," smiled Lori, lying her head on Bobby's shoulder.

Bobby and Carol squinted at Lori, getting a laugh out of everyone in the room.

"One day," said Lori. "One day."

 **IV - Out of the Shadow**

-One Day Later-

"Help!" exclaimed Becky.

The morning sun revealed all the roamers at the bottom of the radio tower. Hana kicked off one of the roamers from the metal bar that she used like a ladder. She made her way up the tower after failing to get down to an opening, and hung on to the metal bar that Becky used to keep herself from falling into the herd.

"Shut up!" exclaimed Hana. "You will catch attention of shindu! Also, no one here but us!"

"There's gotta be something we can do," said Becky.

"I will kill shindu with katana! You stay up here and stay quiet!"

Hana set her foot on the bar below her and took out her katana with one of her hands. Becky looked into the road and found a purple SVU approaching the radio tower.

"Hana, wait! You see that?"

Two men came out from the SVU with assault rifles in their arms and shotguns in their back. They looked around the empty street before standing behind their car doors. Then, they aimed their rifles at the roamers, who were now stumbling towards the armed men. They shot their rifles, landing many headshots before the roamers were able to step onto the pavement.

One of the men placed his rifle on his back and replaced it with his shotgun, continuing the slaughter on the roamers. After a few more gunshots, the roamers were all on the ground.

Hana jumped down with her katana pointed at the men. Becky held onto the cold bar with her arm and used her free hand to aim her unloaded gun at the men.

"We're not a danger to you," said one of the men, "unless you're a danger to us."

"Who are you?" asked Becky.

"Why don't we both drop our guns?" said the man. "Then, we'll tell you who we are."

Becky lowered her gun and placed it on her backpack. She then climbed down the radio tower and hopped next to Hana. The two men lowered their weapons and looked around again.

"I'm gonna ask again–" said Becky.

"I'm Najjad."

"And I'm Joshua," said the other man.

Becky realized that both men had unkempt beards, though Najjad's hair was kept short and Joshua's hair was long and wavy.

"I'm Becky. This is my friend, Hana Konda. We have one more extra member– TWO more extra members back at our base."

"You come here… all the way here… to save us?" asked Hana.

"We didn't aim to," said Najjad. "We thought there was some interference in the radio tower. Turns out there was interference… caused by two girls."

"What are you two doing out here?" asked Joshua.

"We're trying to help out a friend," said Becky. "Do you have medicine?"

"To treat what?" asked Najjad.

The door opened in a certain pawn shop. The black and white tiles were revealed and the desks with antiques and relics stood frozen in place where they were.

Kimi looked up at her companion and wagged her tail. She stayed near a pale-faced, wheezing Luan. She lied on her mattress covered with many layers of blankets, and a friendly box of tissues and a crowbar beside it.

Luan opened her eyes from where the cold air flowed into the shop. She heard four different voices and raised her weakened awareness.

"Not feeling better, aren't you?" asked Becky. "No worries. These men and their group will help you."

Luan nodded softly and reached for Hana's arms. She was placed on her feet and followed the group out of the shop and into the RV.

The RV followed the SVU in the roads of Augusta. Bodies of roamers were stacked on the sidewalks away from the entrances to the buildings. Trash littered the streets and crows hung around the rooftops in search of more corpses.

The SVU stopped in front of a building with a sign next to it, showing a metro map of the Maine capital. Najjad and Joshua exited their vehicles, telling the girls that it was time to follow them on foot again. Becky and Hana held on to Luan's shoulders with one arm each, and with her other free arm, Hana held Kimi.

They walked to a door with a combination lock on it. Najjad unlocked the door and allowed the survivors to hide from the blistering cold. The windows were barricaded with mahogany wood and the door was locked again. Hanging chains and steel beams in the ceiling gave the building a more industrial look.

Becky looked around and found the same metro maps in the walls. Arrows and signs indicated that the building was the center of some kind of subway station. The main stairs led downwards into the lower part of the subway station where they were met with a full height turnstile. A man in the other side lowered his cigarette and looked at the three new survivors- four if including, Kimi.

"You were supposed to check the radio tower, not bring in new people," said the man.

"They need our help, Jax," said Joshua.

"Did you ask 'em the questions?" asked Jax.

"No," replied Najjad. "You know Joshua and I couldn't spot a liar even if they were inches from our faces."

"Questions?" gasped Becky.

"You'll answer three simple questions. The amount of help you're getting is based on how you answer our questions."

Jax held down a lever that allowed Najjad and Joshua to pass through the turnstile. But before Najjad entered, Becky grasped his arms.

"A lotta roamers. Two people. Because I had to protect my group."

Jax released a puff of smoke and kept his mouth open while Joshua was left speechless.

"Come in," said Najjad. "There is someone you're gonna wanna see. Meanwhile, I'll bring you medicine for her."

Becky, Hana, and Luan walked passed through the turnstile and made it inside the rest of the subway station. Survivors wearing ragged clothing, carrying light bags of whatever belonged to them, all filled up the place that they called shelter. The place had a certain smoky and damp smell to it, intensified by the litter in the ground. There were mattresses in the corner of each area, barely a room and some by the subway tracks.

Becky, Hana, and Luan followed Joshua along the walkway of the station parallel to the tracks. They walked into an end of a subway center where a large area surrounded by three walls and a bench took up space. There, the trio saw a familiar face.

"David?" gasped Becky.

His grimy face has not changed, except the lower part of it. A full scruffy beard covered his jaw while his disheveled hair covered his ears. His beanie was unable to cover all of his messy hair.

"Becky…" he said. "Luan. I forgot this one."

"That's Hana Konda," said Becky. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," said David.

"We were looting in the city of Bangor. There was a herd- a big one. Hana drove us all the way here, but it looked like some remnants of the herds split off and found us here. These people saved us!"

Luan coughed.

"Your turn…" she whispered. "Tell us how you got here."

"I needed to find myself," said David. "After what happened in Medway, I just had to leave. I just drove and drove… without direction. It was hard dealing with the death of my wife and my best friend… it still is."

"So these people found you?" asked Becky.

"Indeed we did," said a voice behind the group.

Becky, Hana, and Luan turned around and found a tall man with a dark, wavy mop hair matching the color of his stubble and moustache. His dark brown eyes reflected his skin, and his muscles stretched the sleeves of his gray sweater. His hair and his forehead was wrapped with a yellow bandana, its brightness contrasting against his black pants and muddy boots.

"My name is Waylon Prasad. I'm the leader of this place. And I just wanted to ask you a question. How do you all know each other?"

"Luan and I joined him on a mission to rescue our family."

"Did it work out?" asked Najjad.

"No," answered David. "Their parents aren't alive anymore. This world got to them."

"I can relate to that too well," said Waylon. "What about this one?"

"Found her in the road with her dog. I would've asked the three questions, though it seems that Luan here trusted her very well. Plus, she spoke less English eight months ago."

"I assume the medicine is for this one?" asked Waylon, walking towards Luan with a bag on his hands.

"Yeah," replied Becky. "Might be pneumonia, but I'm not too sure."

"Most likely," said Waylon. "We got a doctor who could help her."

"Forget the medicine then," said Becky. "Take us to this doctor."

Becky turned around.

"Why don't you come with us, David?"

David nodded. He stood up and followed Waylon, Najjad, and Joshua.

"Where are you girls from?" asked Waylon.

"Michigan," said Becky. "Luan and I are from Michigan."

"Tokyo," said Hana as she continued to feed Luan water.

"You girls are a long way from home," continued Waylon. "My parents were from India, but I was born and raised in Portland. A lotta shit happened there and… my wife and I joined this group. I made all of the important decisions, so they made me the leader. Then, we found this place… all built and shit. Looks like someone else was using it 'cause there were a lotta dead bodies."

As the group walked further straight ahead, Becky found the tip of the subway train. He looked around and found people in the abandoned restaurants waiting areas, conversing with each other.

"Are you guys ever going to use the trains?" asked Becky.

"If civilization manages to rebuild itself… we still wouldn't be able to use the trains," said Waylon. "We have to evolve to invent something so great that could power these trains. I think it's safe to say that these trains only serve as a decor."

Waylon stopped in front of an office. He knocked on the door and entered, finding a woman wearing a green dress in the room. She had long, black hair tied up in braids. She wore green pants under her dress as the cold room called for extra layers of warmth. She wore pink eyeshadow and hoop earrings.

"This is my wife, Kavya. She's the doctor that'll be treating you, Luan."

Luan walked inside the office and lied on the giant bed that sat next to a metro map. Najjad passed Kavya the bag of antibiotics and allowed her to treat her patient.

"Have you girls been outside in the cold?" asked Kavya.

"Yeah," replied Becky. "We holed up in a small pawn shop but without a heater and not much medicine… Luan got worse."

"I'll say. Her pneumonia is very bad. She wouldn't have lasted a few more days in this condition."

"Do you people have a base?" asked Waylon. "Is it the town that David mentioned?"

"Houlton? Yeah," said Becky. "It's not just a base. It's home. But I was thinking something."

Waylon and Najjad looked at Becky carefully.

"Can we stay here?" asked Becky. "At least for the rest of the winter and maybe some more? I don't wanna get hit with another snowstorm."

"Sure thing," said Waylon. "David, how well do you think these three can contribute?"

"Very well. We've all been out there in the road. They can pull their own weight."

"Umm… can David and I have a moment together?" asked Becky.

Waylon nodded and stayed in the office with Hana, Luan, and his own men. Becky led David to a bench where they both sat.

"Looks like you're handling this not-being-a-leader thing kinda well," she said.

"You don't know how free I feel without the sack of shit we call responsibility."

"So you won't mind Lori bossing you around? She's our leader by the way."

"Oh, she is? I knew she was gonna have the lady balls to lead the entire community. But if I remember correctly, she seemed a little emotionally unstable the last time I saw her. I mean, she just lost her parents."

"Oh, you missed a lot. She's a little distant, but other than that, she's got it all under control."

Becky looked at David, realizing how concerned he appeared to be.

"You know she's still looking for you, right?" said Becky. "Once you come back, we'll be able to take on the ro–"

"I'm not coming back," said David. "I'm sorry but I don't think that would be the best for me at my current state."

"You're– why? We need you!"

"I told you I needed to find myself. I'm not well. I'm not at peace yet."

Becky searched into David's broken eyes. She then closed her eyes and sighed.

"Fine. But what do I tell Lori?"

"You're not telling her anything about me. You'll tell her that you were holed up in this shelter, but I was never here."

Becky nodded. David stood up.

"Better get comfortable. From what I can tell outside, you're staying here for quite a while. Hell of a winter, amirite?"

Becky nodded again. She walked into the office, leaving David alone by the bench. He looked into his watch and found the hour hand and minute hand both pointing at 12. He walked for quite a bit before returning to his own bed.

-Two Months Later-

Luan looked at her forget-me-not flower necklace and gripped it. Her eyes, filled with determination and hope, searched around the room for David. She carried a backpack along with Becky and Hana.

"You could stay here for a couple more days," said David. "It was nice having familiar faces to talk to."

"It was nice talking to you too," said Becky. "But I'm missing my friends like crazy. I'm excited to see Carol and her baby too!"

"Becky!" exclaimed Luan. "You weren't supposed to bring her up!"

"It's fine," said David. "Young people are bound to make mistakes."

Luan rubbed her shoulder while Becky held out her hand for a handshake. David shook it.

"Are you sure you don't want to return to Houlton?" asked Becky. "Well with the military problem, I'm not even sure if I want to."

"When the time is right," said David. "Losing someone close to you takes a serious toll on your noggin'."

Becky nodded and waved goodbye at David. He waved back as the group followed Najjad out of the subway station.

"Was he talking about me?" asked Luan.

"I-I don't know," replied Becky. "Just let it go."

The group thanked Najjad and his group for their hospitality. They entered the RV and headed out of Augusta in the chilly weather that melted the snow off the face of Maine.

Luan looked out the window and observed the moonset, anxious for the hours to come. She missed her family, and for the third time in her life, she would reunite with them again.

As the hours passed, the trio noticed the burned woods. Many pieces of charcoal lied in the ground by the road. They also found a strange road that led deep into the forest, though they didn't have the time and energy to explore it.

Back in Houlton, the streets were empty, except in the paths that the morning joggers take. Lynn, for example, was jogging around the block near the entrance with a healed leg, admiring the sunrise from the view. She also noticed Lori coming out of Lincoln's home with him, both carrying backpacks. She waved before making a turn at the intersection.

Dana and Pike stood on the platform by the front entrance, which was now held up by logs. Dana held her knife out and shook her head as she talked with Pike.

"I bet I can do it," said Pike. "If I can't, I'll get you drinks. What do you like, red wine?"

"I'm not 21 yet, dude," said Dana, handing Pike her trench knife. "But I would like to see you stab yourself in the finger."

Pike laughed and grabbed the knife. He set his hand on a small plank of wood and prepared to stab the space between his fingers.

Dana looked out into the town and noticed Lori and Lincoln walking to the entrance gates.

"Going somewhere?" asked Dana. "Can I come with?"

"Uh, we're just going to collect some firewood," said Lori. "But if you wanna come–"

"No, I'm good. I'll let you two spend some time together! You know, one day, they'll come! And I'll be the first one to see them!"

Lori placed a thumbs-up. She and Lincoln walked out of the gates and closed it, before heading out the road.

"No drinks for you," said Pike.

"No, wait, I didn't see!" smiled Dana.

"Alright, it's a good thing I'm wearing my gloves."

Luna stared at the sunrise and noticed something from the corner of her eye. She aimed at the hill with her sniper rifle and noticed a vehicle driving on the top of the hill.

She zoomed in and realized that the vehicle was Hana's RV. She quickly grabbed her walkie-talkie and turned it on.

"The modern RV! Hana's RV! It's coming down the hill!" exclaimed Luna.

Luna climbed down the guard tower, filled with feelings of anxiety. She wanted to see Luan again and actually hug her.

Lori held her walkie-talkie and looked above at the hill. Indeed, there was an RV driving down the road though she couldn't make out the passengers until they got closer.

"Looks like I'm drinking red wine tonight, huh?" snickered Dana before looking out into the hill.

She grew worried as the RV came closer. She held her MSR-10 and glanced at the sunrise, now lighting up the town. Her heart was beating quicker, not knowing who would come out of the RV.

Lori and Lincoln awaited the doors to be opened. Hana came out of the RV, with a blank expression and a dog in her arms, worrying them. Suddenly, Becky and Luan came out of the RV, with wide smiles on their faces.

Lynn looked out the front gates and saw Luna running to where she was. Lynn motioned her to come faster as they dashed towards the front gates. Their sister was home.

"Hey, Dana!" exclaimed Becky.

Dana's mouth was able to form a smile and her heart pounced at a happy pace. She admired the sunrise over the mountains in the distance. She turned her face towards the road and looked down at Becky, Luan, and Hana.

"Surprise!" cheered Becky.

Dana couldn't believe it. Her friend was home. She took a step forward.

Suddenly, the large crack of a gunshot thundered through the road and struck the girl's head with a sonic noise soaring behind the trail that the bullet took. A splatter of red painted the air as Dana's body fell down from the platform and into the cold paved road.

The smiles of everyone watching– Lori, Lincoln, Luan, Luna, Lynn, Becky– all snapped into wide open jaws with expressions of shock as they watched Dana lie on the ground, lifeless.

General Black looked out his scope with his right eye from behind an oak tree. He saw Lori turn around and raise her revolver. He raised his arms and waved it forward.

"Go! Take down their defenses and surround them!" he yelled.

More gunshots followed with the guard towers in the military-zone being shot at. One of the Houlton civilians who was trained under Luna was riddled with bullets. A couple rogues popped out from the woods with their rifles and continued firing into the town.

Lori and the others ducked down. A few bullets smacked the road and forced the small group to hide behind the front bumper of the RV.

The rogues pushed on down the hill, with some firing onto the fences. Pike jumped down the platform and landed on his feet before running away from the fences.

The civilians inside the town were awoken to the sound of gunfire and stayed in their homes. Some of the militia members ran out their homes with guns in their hands, like Sergei and Kotaro. They fired onto the rogues outside the fences.

Captain Moss aimed his grenade launcher at one of the guard towers and shot it. Another one of Luna's trainee tried to leap down from the tower, but it was too late. The grenade blew everything on top of the tower.

Some of the defenders behind the fences were shot and killed as the rogues pushed forward. The rogues rammed their vehicles through the fixed fences and conquered a certain position.

Lori looked towards the hill and shot her revolver multiple times before being grazed in the arm by another loud bullet. She hissed in pain and lied her back against the RV.

Becky grabbed her pistol. She pulled the trigger, only to find it empty.

Lincoln grabbed Lori's revolver from the ground and aimed out into the hill. However, Lieutenant Lead popped out in front of him and smacked the revolver out of his hands. He thrusted the butt of his rifle onto his chest, shoving him to the ground.

Lead aimed his rifle at the group while Brick, Hoover, and Sturgess surrounded them from the other side. A Humvee took Black down the hill.

He exited the vehicles with an M107 in his back and a Desert Eagle in his hands. He walked towards the RV and aimed the handgun at Lori.

"Get up," he said. "Or all these people are gonna die."

Lori pressed on her grazed left arm and stood up. She gasped and stared into the abyss again. She groaned as the nightmares that flashed on and off in her head appeared again.

"Whe need to talk," said Black. "I know we haven't seen each other in months so…"

Black leaned close to Lori and whispered to her ears.

"...surprise."

.

.

.

* * *

 ** _When is there never trouble for the group? And what is Black and his military up to? Have any theories? Leave a review! Anyways, hopefully you enjoyed... sorry for the cliffhanger (not). Till the next time!_**

 ** _(OC Credit to Mademoiselle-Star2018! Thank you for Waylon!)_**


	18. Compromised

_**Happy, 1-year-anniversary to this story! (for us East-coasters). Since, one year ago, I uploaded this around midnight, it was October 14th in this part of the world, while the rest of the country– and other countries that run in timezones behind ET– were able to enjoy this on Friday the 13th. I can't believe it! One year, 18 chapters, 300k+ words, 8.8k+ views! Thanks to everyone who followed/favorited this story, created a review, and anyone who read this story! Enjoy everyone!**_

* * *

Bobby panted as he finished burying the group's loved one. The fresh pile of dirt made sure that no roamer or human could tarnish the body that once held a beloved girl's soul. Behind the grave hung a bouquet of white lilacs.

Bobby stood up and grabbed the white lilacs from the tree. He looked at the graves and broke down into tears.

"Please…" Bobby whispered to himself, "...try to pull yourself together."

Bobby dropped the white lilacs on the fresh grave and took the shovel off the ground. He kneeled on the grave and stared down with his eyes closed.

"I'm sorry what this world did to you…"

Bobby sniffled and felt his heart sink lower and lower as he thought about the brutalities that mankind would continue to commit. Lori loved her, the group loved her, and in the blink of an eye, her life was taken by the hands of one man. They were all destroyed emotionally.

All it took was one shot.

 **Chapter 18: Compromised**

 **I - Face to Face**

-Present Day-

The gunshots roared across the town. Both civilian and military. Birds flew away at the sound of armed conflict. Roamers were attracted to the sound and stumbled towards it.

Then, the gunshots stopped.

The rogues surrounded the town.

The civilians gulped as they were pitted against an entire rogue army inside their town. The rogue army had their weapons pointed at the fighters. The ceasefire didn't mean that the civilians were safe yet as one sudden move could mean one more casualty.

The rogues ordered the militiamen and civilians to hold their arms in the air. Sergei and his friends lifted their arms, weapons still in their hands. George and a couple other fighters raised their arms. The rest of the community surrendered.

"Look at me. Fucking look at me!" demanded Black.

"Make me!" hissed Lori.

Black looked at Luan with his one good eye. He pointed at her and motioned Lead to come closer.

"That girl, Luan. Yeah, her. Use her to teach Lori a lesson.

Lori's breath grew heavier as Lead aimed his gun at Luan. Suddenly, she faced Black with contempt.

"What the fuck do you want from me!" yelled Lori. "You already killed my parents! You want to murder my younger sister too? Do it and I'll slit your throat. I don't care if all these rogues kill me right after. You're going to die!"

Black chuckled and shook his hands at Lead.

"I know," he said. "I believe you. That's why I just want to talk for the sake of our lives. Now, walk."

The rogues moved forward at the open gates. Black led Lori inside the town with the gun pointed at the back of her head. Lincoln, Becky, and Hana were also held at gunpoint as they faltered towards the town. Hana continued carrying Kimi in her arms.

Luna staggered back when the rogues moved closer to her. She kept her fingers on the trigger of her rifle until the rogues stopped a few feet away from her. They aimed their guns at her, distracting her from the rogues marching behind her.

Captain Moss grabbed Luna's hand and pulled it away from the trigger before taking her M110 and tossing it to the ground.

Lynn looked around and found the rogues passing by her. She glared at Black and saw him force Lori to her house.

"Hey, what are you doing?" exclaimed Lynn. "Why are you guys walking around like you own the damn place?"

"Lori and I are going to have to have a talk," answered Black. "And well… because we do. Ain't nothing you could do about it."

Lynn felt heated and Lori was well aware of her emotions.

"We're just going to talk," said Lori. "Please don't do anything."

Lana and Lily looked out the windows, finding Lori held at gunpoint by the man who killed their mother and father. Lana felt her blood boil.

"Stay back," said Lisa. "You don't want the general or his officers to catch you staring at them."

Lori placed her hand on the doorknob and twisted it, opening it. She sighed before entering. Black lowered his gun, admiring the decor in the house.

"This is nice," said Black. "That's a picture of your family on the wall, right?"

A trail of footsteps came down the steps.

"Hey, did you hear that outside?" asked Bobby. "Sounded like– oh god!"

"It's you!" quivered Clyde.

Black stared at the leader's boyfriend, his sister, and Clyde. He smiled and pointed his palm at the door.

"Can you three give us a moment alone?" said Black. "We need to talk."

"Get your gun," hissed Ronnie Anne.

Black raised his sidearm again and pointed it at Lori's back.

"Not so fast. I said, we need to talk! So leave!"

Bobby gulped and nodded. He headed out the house holding Ronnie Anne's hand who held Clyde's hands. He looked back at Lori whose eyes were filled with smoldering fury.

As the door closed, Black stepped close to the family photo. He placed his fingers against two Loud sisters.

"I haven't seen these two ever since you entered Detroit," said Black. "Deceased, I assume?"

"What the fuck do you want to talk about?" asked Lori.

"Excellent, straight to the point," said Black. "Take a seat."

Both Lori and Black sat at the dinner table, staring at each other with intense looks. Black stroked his gray stubble and cleared his throat.

"The civilians in this town… you lead 'em. And you think you are in charge of this place. Yet that couldn't be more wrong. I own this place. You are simply refusing to leave my place."

"We fought for this town," said Lori. "The people that you held in here? They didn't deserve to be treated the way your army treated them. It's demeaning, agonizing, inhumane. My group and I fought to free the families from this unforgivable treatment. And we also made a new home for ourselves after you destroyed our old homes. Royal Woods, Ann Arbor… Detroit."

"It's all a necessary part for the plan to improve our species."

Lori rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Wonder why you're still alive?" said Black. "Because you stood above all. You are the most capable for survival. You can repopulate the world along with many strong men and women like you. You're not weak, Lori."

"I don't want to hear this bullshit again," she hissed.

"You proved that you are capable of taking on this world. But I need this place. You have to understand that many of the civilians in here cannot survive in this world on their own. But they're not completely useless. I need them as a step to improve this world."

"I won't surrender."

"I am giving you the chance to let you and your group leave. We won't have to cross paths again. And the world would benefit from that."

Lori shook her head again.

"I'm not leaving."

"Not without giving me something in return of course. You did kill a lot of my men… of course not today but with your little militia… that's a threat. No doubt David played a part in this."

Lori stared at Black.

"I'm gonna need you to give up David… and Vonda Crowley," he said. "Once you do that… everyone you traveled with can leave this town unscathed. The ones who are still alive, of course."

Lori tapped on the table and looked out the window before glancing towards Black's missing eye. She raised her revolver and her hands before placing it down on the table. She leaned close to Black and stared at him before whispering.

"Go fuck yourself."

Lori sat back down, crossing her arms. Black lowered his eyebrows and slammed his fist on the table.

"Alright, get up!" he growled, pointing his gun at her.

Lori slid herself back and reached for her revolver.

"That's staying there," he said. "Move!"

The door opened from the house opened with Lori and Black walking out, the former once again held at gunpoint. Bobby gasped as Lori walked to the street trying to shake her fear away. Luna, Luan, Lynn, and Lincoln all wished that Black won't do anything worse.

"Lieutenant! Captain! Take a group of men and look for the doctor and the spec ops guards!"

"Yes, sir!" said both officers in unison before the headed to the laboratory.

Lori looked around Main Street. The rogues marched across the streets, moving from house to house, marking the amounts of residents they spotted. Some of the civilians were dragged out of their homes so the rogues were able to confirm their estimated kills.

"This is not fair!" said Ronnie Anne. "You can't just come here and take our home away from us!"

"We can and we will," said Sturgess. "The General will always get what he wants."

"It's not about what I want," said Black. "It's what I need. And what I need is this town."

Some trucks transported corpses from the guard towers to the church. Luna glared at the rogues with intense hatred as she saw them dragging the bodies of people she trained to become snipers like her.

The rogues dragged a familiar body inside the town that put Becky to tears once again. Bobby looked at the corpse and found it wearing lavender-dominated clothing. He walked closer and found out his friend was bleeding from a large wound in her head.

"No, that's Dana…" whimpered Bobby.

Black motioned the rogues to force the group to walk to the church. With reluctance, Lori led the group to the church and continued staring at Dana's corpse.

"You think that this world was made for the survival of the fittest?" hissed Lori. "She was strong! I fought alongside with her against the herd that you guys brought in here! And you just take her life with a single bullet? How's that fair?"

"For the past two months, all she did was guard the town, staying behind the fences," said Black. "That is not survival. That is weakness. Dependence."

Black stopped in front of the church. Preston came out from the house across the street with Reggie, watching all the rogues gather around the church.

"Hey, why are you dragging the bodies here?" asked Preston.

"We made it easier for all of you to bury the bodies," answered Black.

Becky looked away, trying to hold her anger in. Bobby wanted to scream after that comment.

Meanwhile, Lead and Moss busted inside the laboratory with their squads and aimed their rifles around. Dr. White gasped and toppled over beakers in the ground.

"Get the fuck up," said Moss, grabbing Dr. White's arms.

"No, wait! I'm sorry! Don't you remember when I saved you a bottle of chocolate pudding?"

Captain Moss continued dragging Dr. White across the ground as he stepped into the battered runway. He walked to a nearby Humvee and threw the doctor into the backseat with a few rogues climbing next to him. Lead sat in the passenger seat while Moss drove them back to Black.

They looked around, finding the ground in front of the armory cracked and filled with potholes. Craters filled other parts of the runway to which Moss had to maneuver around. Then they saw the prisons which held black particles on their walls shaped like craters. Some of the walls were cracked, to the point where one prison cell can be seen in Unit A. The guard towers also suffered intensive damage, instead, caused by the rogues and their grenade launchers.

The Humvee arrived by the church. Black smiled and watched the rogues escort Dr. White out of the vehicle. Moss grabbed the back of his neck and tossed him to the ground in front of Black's boots.

"Long time no see, right, doc?" smirked Black.

"I'm sorry, I know I screwed up!" trembled Dr. White. "Please, don't do- don't kill-"

"Relax, doc! I"m not going to kill anyone. That's if Lori listens to me and considers the ultimatum I gave her. So, I'm choosing to spare you. I know I won't regret it because in the long run, your discoveries precede over my vengeance!"

"Thank you… sir," he stammered.

"Now, let's have a walk, shall we?" said Black.

George tugged his brown blouson jacket and stroked his shotgun over his hair that stroked down in a wavy formation to his ears– resembling his hair in his younger years. He ditched the buzz cut ever since the community started rebuilding their town after the herd invasion.

"Go on!" exclaimed Sgt. Hoover. "Go home! Don't try anything stupid!"

"Are we going to listen?" Mr. Coleman whispered.

"Yeah," replied George. "There's nothing we can do right now."

The rogues marched past through the militiamen with deliberate bumps and shoves. George clenched his fists and walked home where Vonda and waited for him.

"What the hell's happening out there?" exclaimed Vonda. "Why are they here? Why!"

"I don't know," said George, closing the door. "We had a little scuffle and now they're here. No doubt… he's here."

"We gotta find him and put an arrow through his heart," suggested Vonda.

"No. You stay here and do something else! Black doesn't even know you're here!"

Vonda stormed off into her room and shut the door, leaving George alone with his nerves running high.

Black walked to the prison with Dr. White and Lori ahead of him. Following them against their will were Bobby, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, Hana, Luan, Luna, Lynn, and Becky.

Becky continued feeling the rage inside of her as Dana's face flashed in her head.

Clyde was consumed by fear with every glance he gave to Black. He felt sorry that he couldn't avenge his fathers.

Bobby felt anxious around Black. He knew at any moment, he could strike against anyone. His hatred for him flickered, though, and the anger that came from seeing his dead family in the highway outside of Detroit only grew.

Ronnie Anne wanted to lash out against Black for giving the orders that would lead to the deaths of her family. She was unable to act, though.

Lynn searched around, scanning the eyes of the rogues, counting their numbers, trying to find the perfect time to strike against Black. But there weren't any opportunities.

Luna wished that she was on that treehouse. If she had the chance, she wouldn't miss her shot– Black's brains would've blown out instead of his eyes.

Like Lynn, Hana also tried to find the perfect opportunity. However, she didn't want to risk the life of her beloved Kimi, so she chose to do nothing at all.

Luan remembered the freezing nights and hot days when she would go days without eating. She also remembered the gunshots going off and her parents dropping dead on top of her. The memories returned to her.

Lori felt the urge to murder Black with each step that he took, something that was only restrained for the safety of her family rather than her own moral well-being.

"Well, would you look at that?" scoffed Black. "This damn place is still up!"

Black admired the infirmary building and walked in with the group. The rogues marched across the hallway, entering the room where the patients were treated, and found people inside.

"Sir, you're not going to believe this," said Lead.

"I'm coming," said Black. "Donovan, check the rest of the building."

Black walked inside the room and found Carol holding a little baby by her chest. She breastfed her daughter as Haley placed a couple cans of formula down.

"Oh shit…" murmured Haley.

Becky and Luan gasped at the sight of the baby. Luan tried her best to smile, but being surrounded by the rogues forced her to nod at Carol.

Becky only released more conflicted tears, though she was grateful that Carol made a safe delivery. More than grateful. She felt her heart warm up.

Black stared at the baby. Then he shifted his eye to the mother. Then to Haley. The rogues moved around the room, inspecting the items.

Carol placed her breast back inside her shirt and trembled as Black stared at the survivors. Haley held on to the desk where her medical supplies stood, fearing she might faint and drop to the ground.

"You delivered her?" asked Black.

Haley gulped and was barely able to make a nod.

"Congratulations. I can see why Dr. Steven White sees great potential in you. What's this little munchkin's name?"

Lead walked to Black with a piece of paper in his hands.

"A birth certificate?" gasped Black. "You guys really thought you were going to rebuild civilization in this place? Haha!"

Black read the certificate while Lori heard voices coming from upstairs.

"Zoey Laura Pingrey," he read. "What's the Laura for? Your parents didn't have a Laura in their names."

"It's a variation of Lori's name…" explained Carol. "I respect her a lot… I'd do anything for her. I trust my best friend."

Black looked at Lori. He raised his hands and clapped.

"She trusts you," he said. "Gotta think about that decision, right?"

Lori stared at Black with defiance in her eyes. Then, the medic came to the room with Leni, who held a white cup.

"The place is clean," said Donovan, now looking at Zoey. "Sir, that's an–"

"An infant," said Black. "Beautiful thing isn't she? Thank you, Carol Pingrey, for making our dream work one step at a time."

Leni shied away from the rogues until she was stopped by Moss who stood behind her. She almost stumbled and dropped the cup.

"I didn't know you were up so early," said Lori.

"I got up early to make you a cup of coffee," explained Leni. "Then, I heard a lotta scary sounds. Now, I see THE scary man!"

"I see I don't have to reintroduce myself," said Black.

"You totes don't, Quentin Black!" exclaimed Leni. "You know, you have a lotta nerve coming here with your big, mean army! After what you did to me, Luan, and Lori, I never wanted to see your face again!"

Leni sighed and turned to Lori.

"Here's your coffee."

Lori and Black were stunned.

"You're lucky you have good genes," said Black. "I'm sparing you too, Haley. I thought I was gonna have to kill you until I saw Zoey."

"You still didn't explain why you're here!" yelled Leni.

"Don't worry. I'll be out shortly. I just needed to have a little chat with your big sister and see this place again."

Leni looked away.

"I know. Must be hard looking at the guy who took your mother and father away, right?"

Leni walked away before being stopped by Moss again. Black motioned him to let her go upstairs, so she could be left alone with her wretched emotions.

Leni made it upstairs, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating. She paced around the room, thinking about how she could help the group. She moved around the clothes that she almost completed sewing, wondering what the medic's focus in that particular area was. Then, a folded piece of paper fell. She grabbed the note and placed it inside her pockets as she heard voices in the ground floor.

Lori looked at the espresso in her cup. The tiny spot of whipped cream disappeared into the darkness that sat on the bottom of the coffee. The coffee trembled, yet it would not spill.

"I think we've seen enough," said Black. "This place seems to be in good shape– our place. We'll be coming back some time this month. You can try to fight back… and see how that ends for you. No, I won't slaughter these people."

Black stared at Lori.

"I will murder your friends and family one by one," said Black. "We have this whole place surrounded. If you wish to talk, leave a message in the front gates. Maybe a big sign. Consider the choice I'm giving you. And if I were you, I'd start burying the people we eliminated. Until the next time, Loud."

Black walked out of the infirmary with his soldiers. The walkie-talkies chattered about and ordered the rogues to regroup at their rally point. On foot and by vehicle, the rogues left their post in Houlton and relieved the civilians from the fear of execution. After a few minutes, the rogues left the town with Black's Humvee leaving last.

Carol nudged Lori.

"What he said. Is it true? Did people really die?"

Lori looked down at her coffee and wiped a teardrop from her face. Becky sniffled and decided to answer her question.

"Yes. Dana– she was one of many."

Carol held her daughter and hid her face on her. Tears flowed out through her face. This friend has always been nice to her and now she was gone. Becky wrapped her arms around Carol and her baby, comforting both of them.

Benny and Sam left the home that they shared together. They saw trails of blood and very few bullet casings in the ground. Their first instinct was to run to Lori's home, but on the way there, they spotted the trail of bodies dumped in front of the church. Benny saw Jeffrey holding his chest in pain while Preston and Reggie stood behind him, paralyzed by fear. He took a closer look at the bodies and saw a familiar set of clothes that resembled those of his friend and fellow survivor.

"Wait, no, no, no! That can't be-" stuttered Benny.

He saw Lori's group approaching the church.

"Luan!" he cried out in relief. "You're here! You're still… alive!"

Luan wrapped her arms around him and tried to fight back her tears. Benny closed his eyes and hugged her back, stroking her hair while tearing up. Luan then looked at the line of corpses in front of the church.

"I just saw… General Black… kill Dana," sniffled Luan. "When does it end? When does the killing end?"

Luan couldn't hold her tears back anymore. She sobbed quietly into Benny's chest while Lori looked at her coffee once again. Lori dropped the cup and shivered as she felt lost. Her leadership was challenged in a once again tough situation.

The sunset that arrived that day shone on the grieving town. A few roamers gathered around the fences that guarded the town in which the civilians used to feel safe in. In the spots where the Humvees ran through– and the fences were unable to be repaired– a few vehicles and tanks blocked the roamers from coming inside.

People who lost their loved ones that morning gathered in the graveyard. The clouds were dark, warning the town of the approaching storm.

Becky and Luan spotted Tabby and Wavehead's graves, adding to the burning pain in their hearts. Jace stood behind the church, watching Luna and Sam walk around the tombstones. He moved his eyes towards Leni, finding her next to Preston. He blended in with the people leaving the graveyard before disappearing from anyone's sights.

"Hey, Lori…" sniffled Leni, handing her a note. "I found it in the clothes I was sewing. Someone must have left it behind."

Lori took the note.

"Did you read it?" she asked.

Leni shook her head.

"I'm too sad to read."

Leni went back to mourning, standing next to Preston and Bobby. Lori walked out of the graveyard and stood in front of the church, opening the folded note. George approached her, asking her if she could read the note.

"Sure thing," she said. "'Woodstock, New Brunswick. Will be here for a week starting six days from now.' There's blueprints in here. I think it's for a military base."

George looked at the blueprints.

"Who gave you this?"

"Leni did. But she found it in her sewing office in the infirmary. And… I think I might have an idea who dropped this note. He just gave us an edge. But why?"

Dr. White walked out of the graveyard and approached George and Lori. He pointed at the note.

"What's that for?" he asked.

"We're going to fight back," said Lori, handing Dr. White the note. "We'll start by taking this base down. We'll lower their numbers… then we'll be able to take on Black's army head on."

"He threatened us," said Dr. White. "Are you really going to risk the lives of your family?"

"My family's lives are already on the line. It's General Black we're talking about. He's not reasonable. That's why I'm going to put a bullet through his skull after we wipe out his army."

 **II - A Way Out**

-Six Days Later-

"You all know what you're fighting for…" stated Lori.

She drove in Vanzilla with Becky, Benny, Luna, Lynn, Sam, and a few other militia fighters. George, Sergei, and the other drivers followed Lori along the road to a Canadian town.

"...you want to defend your home…"

The Canadian town was transformed into a military base according to the note that Lori carried.

"...we all want to live in peace, but that cannot be done without doing this first…"

Vanzilla stopped in the middle of the road, creating confusion among the others. Lori looked ahead into the road and grabbed her Python.

"...we're continuing the war against General Black and his rogue forces…"

Lori stepped out of her van with the other drivers following her lead. She walked ahead and raised her revolver.

"...and we're going to end them. Then, we spend the rest of our lives as peaceful as this world can get."

George looked ahead at the swarm of roamers in the road. The militia raised their firearms and were ready to attack the roamers preventing them from going to their destination. Lori looked back at the crates of ammunition she had stored in the van, before turning back to the moving swarm.

"We got the bullets," she said. "Kill the roamers."

After Lori shot a bullet from her revolver, a rain of bullets smacked against the pavement in the road. The bushes, shrubs, and branches in the woods surrounding the woods moved and flashed with muzzle fire.

The militia scattered around, firing their weapons at the woods. Lori ducked behind the driver's seat and watched the swarm of roamers stagger closer to the group.

As Lori raised her revolver to shoot at the woods ahead of her, bullets struck the side mirrors of the van, causing her to stumble to the ground.

"Get inside your vehicles!" exclaimed Lori. "We're surrounded!"

The group went inside their vehicles, all making U-turns. The roamers continued following the vehicles, though they after a minute, they were gone from sight.

Sergeant Hoover watched from behind a tree and reloaded his gun. He nodded and placed a stick of gum in his mouth.

"Good shit, boys," he said, now chewing the gum.

The vehicles returned to Houlton and entered through the makeshift gates that the group created in the east side of the military-zone. Bobby stood up from his lawn chair and jogged to Vanzilla.

"That was very fast," said Bobby. "How'd it go?"

"Terrible," replied Lori. "The rogues have the roads locked tight. Their siege. They already started."

"So it was a trap," said Bobby. "Who did we lose this time?"

"No one got hurt," said Lori. "They… weren't shooting at us. They were shooting near us. They… drove us away, literally."

"This isn't a good idea," said George. "The note. It's leading us to a trap."

"No, they're doing some kind of blockade," said Lori. "It's everywhere in every road."

"It's a trap!" exclaimed George. "They're expecting us at Woodstock!"

"No, they're expecting us at the roads! They won't go through the trouble of reporting this to the bases!"

Becky approached Lori and George.

"Can I see Leni really quickly?"

"Yeah, sure. George and I are trying to come up with a plan."

Becky nodded and ran off to the town. George crossed his arms and shook his head as he looked at the road that led to Canada. It was a death trap in his mind.

In the cemetery behind the church, Leni stood above Dana's grave. Preston wrapped his arms around her shoulders and allowed her head to rest near his chest.

"You think we'll ever see her again?" asked Leni.

"In a different world, we will," reassured Preston. "In a world without suffering."

The snap of a twig caused Preston to turn around. His eyes caught Jace.

"My bad. Didn't mean to interrupt," he said, clearing his throat. "I just come here a lot. Well, you already know that…"

"Come in," said Leni.

Jace rubbed his arms and walked near them.

"Ya know, she was a real nice gal. Must've been… Luna and Sam cared a lot about her. Lori and Bobby too. Anyways, sorry for your loss. I'm just gonna… go…."

"She was our friend," said Leni. "Come here. I want to share some memories that I shared with her. Like that time when we went to homecoming together. She looked so pretty with her purple dress and white heels– matching heels by the way. Or, like, that time when Lori threw a party at our house and Dana was bored at first, then ended up having the time of her life!"

Leni stroked her hair and closed her eyes.

"You know, when I first entered high school, I felt so lost. There were times when Lori was just not around to help me out– but her friend was. She was so nice and friendly. She introduced me to Becky, Chaz, Tad, and more awesome people. And you know…"

Leni let out more tears.

"...she was the only one who told me I shouldn't kill the spiders."

Nearby footsteps made Jace and Preston turn their heads around. Becky approached Leni and hugged her.

"Thanks for being here for me, guys," said Leni. "Becky and I wanna be alone for a few minutes."

"Sure thing," said Preston. "Come on, Jace. Let's go."

Jace and Preston walked out of the cemetery. They both stepped in front of the church, leaving Becky and Leni gone from sight. Jace kept his hands in his pockets and kicked a pebble softly.

"It's a nice thing that you do," said Jace. "You're always there for–"

"You don't think I see what you're trying to do?" remarked Preston. "You need to stay away from Leni."

"What are you talking about?" gasped Jace.

"C'mon, don't try to act dumb! You're tryna take advantage of Leni! She's vulnerable and emotional!"

"Hey. You need to back off," said Jace.

Preston noticed how close he was to Jace. He went a few steps back and loosened his hands.

"Don't act all clingy," Jace added. "You're the one taking advantage. I'm only trying to comfort a sister of my friend!"

"Keep telling yourself that, greaser."

"You're not gonna do anything, Boy Scout. I don't wanna hear you spew more bullshit about me and I certainly don't want you bothering her."

"You don't have a chance with her," said Preston.

Jace shook his head and walked away before sticking the finger at him. Preston rubbed his hands and sat down in front of the church. Then, he saw Becky walk out of the cemetery, nodding at him, letting him know that Leni was available to receive more comfort.

The north gates opened and the militia traveled in the road by foot. After a few minutes, Lori turned to her right and walked into the woods while holding a compass. The rest of the group followed her into the woods, walking through the bushes and shrubs.

Lynn carried an M1 Garand that she found in Black's office in the military barracks. She still carried her arrows in her back quiver and tied her red bow to the side of her quiver. She continued treading through the woods until she spotted movement ahead of her.

Lori raised her fists in the air and clenched it, signaling the group to stop. Hana kept on walking, though with her katana out this time. Becky tried to walk ahead but Lori stopped her.

"It's her risk," said Lori.

A rogue used her gun to move a bush out of the way and spotted the group. However, Hana stabbed her through the chest and released her sword, leaving her to drop on the ground with a painful moan. As the group walked ahead, Hana stabbed the rogue in the head before moved inside the bushes.

More movement was seen, prompting the group to stay where they were. Hana, however, went ahead and disappeared into the thick shrubs and wide trees. Lori heard a slice then a couple gunshots before hearing a body drop.

"Dammit, Hana…" muttered Lori.

She heard another slice, causing her to move inside to the thick bushes. What she saw surprised her. What she saw was Hana standing above two rogue soldiers, one covered in bullet holes and the other with an open throat. Then, she stabbed them in the head, preventing them from reanimating into roamers.

The group walked through the woods until they spotted a road that led south to Woodstock. They made another turn and walked to the lightly guarded base. Luna and Sam got into position in a small cliff that gave a glimpse of the interior look of Woodstock.

"Good luck, Lori," said Luna.

Lori stayed hidden in the woods and walked alongside it until she found a large tanker truck that her militia were able to hide behind. Lori sighed and took a sip of water from her canteen before looking at the cliff and waving her arms.

"That's the signal," said Sam. "Top tower first. Then move to lower windows."

Luna scoped into her rifle. The base ran along through three roads and consisted of buildings that acted as the quarters of the soldiers. Their vehicles were parked wherever in the road, with rogues walking around the town, performing their duties. Some of them were outside the fences they placed down, shooting the roamers in the town.

A large bullet passed through the sky and smacked against the window of a clock tower. The first rogue was killed with Luna zooming into the top window of another building. She pulled the trigger and killed another rogue.

"What the shit was that?" exclaimed a rogue soldier.

The rogues raised their weapons at the small cliff. It was now time for Lori and the militia to jump out from the truck and shoot the exposed rogues. Lori pulled back a grenade and tossed it into the left side of the base, ripping apart a small area of the fence. She then tossed another grenade into the base, creating a large explosion by setting off he napalm barrels.

Many of the rogues outside were burned alive, screaming in agonizing pain as the militia invaded the base. Some of the militia members shot at the burning rogues, until Lori shook her head.

"Don't waste the bullets on them!" exclaimed Lori. "Let 'em burn."

Half of the militia ran off to the right side of the base, led by George, and shot at the soldiers in the surrounding areas. Lori led the rest to the left side of the base, running to the shattered fences.

Some of the rogues peeked through the windows and shot at the group behind cover. Some of the fighters were shot, though their armor protected them.

Lynn aimed her rifle at one of the rogues in the windows and shot it. The powerful M1 Garand took out the rogue in one shot, before taking out another and another. Luna and Sam maintained the pressure by shooting at the rogues hiding behind cover. The passing militia fighters finished them off by shooting them in their non-armored areas.

"I counted twenty," said Sam.

"I also counted twenty," said Luna. "Where are the other nine?"

George ran to the southern part of the base. He found some rogue soldiers running to the base with their weapons. Some of them were leaping from cover to cover. He grabbed his walkie-talkie and pressed the talk button.

"I see six of 'em outside the gates!" said George.

George, Vonda, and Lynn shot at the rogues. Since they were hiding behind cover, they were unable to get hit. The rogues were in no better position, though, as they needed to cross an empty road to get to the base. Suddenly, a rogue tossed a canister into the air, which turned out to be a flashbang.

The large flash of light and deafening boom stunned some of the members, allowing the rogues to leap out from their cover and run to the sides of the base. However, George happened to cover his eyes on time, and aimed his pistol at the rogues.

Vonda rubbed her eyes as she found George shooting the rogues. She lifted her small pistol and tried to aim it precisely at the rogues before being shot in the back, multiple times.

"Vee!" yelled George. "Who the fuck did–!"

He turned around and saw a rogue aim a rifle at George. Then, Becky jumped out from behind her cover and shot the rogue in the leg. The rogue landed his fist on the ground and turned around before being shot multiple times in the chest.

Lynn shot the last rogue outside of the base before turning around. She quickly turned Vonda over and found her pale with her eyes closed.

"Don't you fucking die on me!" she exclaimed as she checked her pulse. "Don't, please!"

Becky ran to the barely breathing rogue as he tried to drag himself away. He coughed before being flipped over by Becky's boots.

"Please, I have a family…" groaned the rogue.

Becky knelt down and grabbed the barrel of her Glock. She grabbed the rogue's vest and began beating the rogue's face with the grip of her gun. She slammed it against his nose, his eyes, his lips, his jaws, his cheeks, his forehead, over and over. Eventually, a few cracks were heard, and Becky decided to stand up with spots of blood in her face. She looked up at Vonda, tearing up for the girl.

"She's still alive," said Lynn. "She's got a wound in her back. The vest caught the other bullets though. But we need to save her now!"

George pointed to the building that they haven't infiltrated yet and motioned the group to head inside.

"We have to find the medic!" he exclaimed.

"Careful, dudes," said Luna. "There's gotta be two more tossers in this base, probably wanking it off in some corner of a room."

Lori and George's militia joined forces as they entered the large building that acted as the main barracks. Some of the fighters remained outside, alert and ready to defend themselves against the other two rogues.

Lynn carried Vonda as George kicked down the doors in the building. He aimed his shotgun inside each room before entering another floor. With each passing minute, blood gushed out of Vonda's wound.

"You ready?" whispered one of the rogues.

"Sure am," said the other rogue. "Just stay back, Bree."

The medic held his chest while the rogues aimed their weapons at the door. One of the rogues set up a claymore mine and moved away from it, carrying the trigger. Both rogues watched the door as they heard the doors downstairs being kicked open.

"Is the mine necessary?" asked Donovan.

"It's gonna keep you fucking alive," replied one of the rogues, their eyes locked on the door.

Donovan nodded as he pulled out his M9. He quickly aimed it at the rogue to his right and pulled the trigger twice. He then turned to the roamer in the left and pulled the trigger twice then twice again until he dropped to the ground. He moved closer to the rogues and noticed the one on the right was still alive. He aimed his gun at the rogue again and shot him until he no longer moved.

The group quickly moved upstairs, eventually finding themselves in front of the door where the medic hid. Lori aimed her revolver at the door as she placed her hands on the wooden surface.

The medic ducked and carefully pulled the mine off the floor and opened with the window to the building with his elbow. He then wrapped it with the wire and detonator and tossed it as far as he could, the mine landing at the top of a tree.

The door creaked and opened slightly, catching Donovan's attention.

"You can come in!" he reassured. "I ain't gonna hurt y'all."

The door slammed open with George, Sergei, Kotaro, and Ted storming the room. Their weapons were aimed around the room with Lori coming inside, her revolver pointed at the direction of the sound. Donovan then saw Lynn carrying Vonda inside the room.

"That looks bad," said Donovan. "Place her on the bed over there."

Lynn saw the bed and took a step towards it before Lori stretched her palms out.

"Wait," she said. "You're the one who dropped this note?"

Lori handed Donovan the note with the map of the military base.

"You're keeping me alive," he said. "I think you already know. But if you need confirmation, then yes, I was the one who placed that in the wardrobe thing. I'm Donovan Bree."

"You're a medic, right?" said Lori. "Patch her up."

"Sure thing. Did you take out everyone?"

Lori looked around the room as Donovan walked to the bed, standing over Vonda. Hana stepped over the dead rogues and grabbed their dog tags, stuffing them inside her pockets.

"Yeah, all but those two," replied Lori. "We need answers. Now. Like, why'd you plant the note?"

"Because Black can't get what he wants. His goals are gonna get everyone killed, me included. Plus, I've seen what he's done to these people. I've seen what he's done to you. And I know what he's gonna do. He's not gonna stop."

"He doesn't stop for anything," said Lori. "When he wants something, he's going to try his hardest to get it, even if it means– no– ESPECIALLY, using violence to get it."

"And you know what he wants?" asked Donovan.

"He wants David. And he wants Vonda."

"He wants the entire town," said Donovan. "He made you an offer. If you fulfill that offer, he's gonna get what he wants. And what he wants is subjects so he could finish his experiments. Agonizing experiments worse than anything I've ever seen."

"That's why we'll fight him off," said George.

"That's not enough," quivered Donovan. "He's got you surrounded. Two weeks from now, he's gonna use all of his soldiers to capture the town. It doesn't matter if you fulfill that offer by then. Cause he's gonna get what he wants."

"What do you think we should do?" asked Lori.

"You're gonna attack as many military bases as you can. Then, you'll leave Houlton and you never come back."

"That's not gonna happen. Houlton is our new home. Nobody's taking home away from us."

"Listen, Lori Loud!" said Donovan as he dug a thin plier into Vonda's wound. "General Black is serving under the K.H.A.N. If he doesn't have any results for them, he'll have no authority. And if he has no authority, he won't be able to go after you guys anymore."

Donovan held up the pliers, tossing the bullet scraps into a tray before patching the wound with a towel. He then wrapped up the wound with a bandage.

"You'll be able to live peacefully somewhere else. Take this."

Donovan handed Lori a couple maps before washing his hands with a bucket of water and a bar of soap.

"The rogues aren't going to stay at their bases. For a few days, they'll heavily arm their bases. But then, at exactly a week, the rogues are going to push to the closer bases. They'll be most vulnerable at these areas."

Donovan looked at the bloodbath outside of the window.

"I have to report this if I wanna save my own ass. Now, go! The outpost rogues will be here any minute!"

Lori nodded. George carried Vonda and walked with the other militia fighters out of the building. After a few minutes, the group regrouped with Luna and Sam, leaving the area. They stayed hidden in the woods as the rogues drove to the town. Donovan took off his hat and wiped the sweat off his head.

Back in Houlton, Haley, Buck, and Pike were moving around an underground sewer system, tackling through the intense stench that lingered in the dark tunnels. Haley beamed her flashlight around while carrying a string, finding solid sewage plastered on the walls. She also spotted a rat crawling around the flat surface by the water.

"So… this is where you two hid?" groaned Haley. "In a tunnel where my shit happens to go? That's not at all degrading."

"We've done worse in boot camp," said Buck. "It's a maze down here. Took me a day to find my way back outside."

Haley shrieked as she shined her light at the still sewage ahead of her. A roamer wearing a janitor jumpsuit raised its arm and tried to stand up in the water. Buck chuckled.

"Relax, it can't get ya."

"Wait, do you hear that?" whimpered Haley.

"Other than this monster? Nah, you're hearing things."

"No, wait," said Pike. "As a matter of fact, I do hear something. Behind us!"

Buck and Pike raised their guns behind them. They saw a beam of light travel through the tunnel before finding the identity of the one who carried the flashlight.

"What are you guys doing here?" asked Lori.

"Need to see something for myself," groaned Haley.

Lori saw the roamer in the sewage. She took out her knife and waded to the roamer before stabbing it. Lori then turned to the guards.

"I need to ask you guys something," she said. "Who does Black serve?"

"The K.H.A.N.," replied Buck.

"But who? There's gotta be someone up there."

"There's a guy, Ivanovich, who was in charge of us. Though, I'm not sure if he's in a higher position than Black."

"What about Krissen?" asked Lori.

"We're afraid we don't know who that is," said Pike. "We told you already. We worked under duress. They weren't going to tell us much."

"Hmm. I suppose. One more thing. How many more of you are there?"

Pike moved his hands slowly to his gun holster. Then, Buck answered her question.

"Many more. And they all don't deserve to die. In fact, most of the rogues got families somewhere. I got a family somewhere, though I don't know where they are."

Lori nodded before following the string that led back to the manhole. Pike dusted off his pants and closed his eyes, letting out a deep sigh.

 **III - Ultimatum**

-One Week Later-

"Push on," said Sergeant Hoover, chewing gum once again. "Don't forget where the Mills is at."

"I'm heading to Monticello," said Captain Moss, through a radio. "Pretty sure we got a squad at Green Road and Ludlow."

"Plan's working out then," said Hoover. "Charlie Squad might meet me at the rally point."

"Copy that," said Moss. "Foxtrot, you copy?"

"Copy that, sir," said Lead. "Destination ain't too far. Wait, hold up. What the hell?"

A stop sign in the middle of the road prevented Lead and his squad from moving forward. Below the stop sign was a post-it note, saying: IF YOU CAN READ THIS, ITS TOO LATE FOR YOU.

Lead walked up to the sign and gasped. He quickly threw himself to the ground and dodged the incoming bullets. Two soldiers were shot in the head and dropped to the road. Lead dragged himself to a nearby car and hid behind it, looking around the once quiet town.

One side of the road, where three low buildings stood in a rising road, George led a small group of militia fighters. They were all inside the buildings, using the windows to attack the rogues.

"Foxtrot, what's going on?" asked Hoover. "Foxtrot, you–?"

Hoover's truck was gunned down by another group, led by Lori. They remained hidden in the crops, their backs facing a farmhouse. As the vehicles came to a stop, the group moved within the crops, heading to an empty field and eventually, the farmhouse.

"Damn, this ain't good," said Moss. "Alpha Squad, you guys better watch out. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Copy that," said Brick. "What's that ahead?"

A mine exploded in the middle of the road by a diner. The main truck in which the rogues in Alpha Squad traveled in blew into a giant fireball. The two surrounding Humvees came to a brake and Brick was forced to lead his rogues.

Sergei and his group then rose from the inside of the diner and shot at the visible rogues.

"Alright, that's it," said Moss. "Everyone, out! We're going into the woods."

Captain Moss led his rogues into the woods, abandoning their vehicles and their supplies. They looked around, paranoia causing them to turn at every second. The woods seemed too empty, but Moss took this as a sign that he made the correct choice.

Next thing they knew, a C4 explosive blew up a rogue and flung body parts and dirt into the air. Becky shot at the rogues from the top of a tree before dropping down, landing on all four. Three more fighters shot the rogues from the trees, all leaping down and running away from the area. In the confusion, the rogues shot at multiple branches above them, making it safe for the fighters to reveal themselves from behind the trees. They shot their rifles at the rogues, killing three of them as the others leaped for cover.

George and his group remained in the building, shooting at the wheels of the Humvees. One of the rogues climbed onto the turret and aimed it at the building. He fired onto the windows and caused the group to crouch from where they were standing. The dust flew off the bricks in the building as the bullets tore at the walls.

"Keep at it!" yelled Lead as he dashed out from his cover. "This way, boys!"

Lead and his squad made it behind the buildings in the other side of George's group, and they used it to escape the attacking group. The machine gunner kept firing the turret at the window area before a fighter opened one of the entrance doors to his building. The gunner pointed downwards and unleashed the turret at him, killing him. Then, George aimed at the gunner carefully from a small crack in the building. He pulled the trigger from his pistol and hit him in the neck. The rogue leaned back, hit with another stray bullet, ending his life.

The rogues by the field ran to the farmhouse. Lori and the others hid behind the house, giving a couple shots at the rogues. Lynn popped out from behind the chimney and shot her rifle at one of the rogues in the plain open. She shot her rifle again and hit another rogue. Then, she aimed at the rogues by the gunned truck.

A bullet struck the corporal by Hoover's side, dropping the rogue to the ground.

"Move!" yelled Hoover. "In the Humvee! Go!"

Benny fired his carbine at the rogues in the empty field, though he was unable to hit any of them. Lori and Lynn then stepped ahead and shot their guns at the last three rogues in the field.

"They're leaving!" yelled Benny.

Lori ran to the road, finishing off each rogue in the ground as she passed by them. She snapped the cylinder from her revolver and placed new bullets in as she watched the Humvees drive away.

Luna sniped the escaping rogues from the top of the diner. Sam stood next to her, shooting the rogues that were running to the diner.

Brick grabbed the shrapnel in his arm and pulled it off, yelling as blood gushed out of his sleeves. He dropped to the ground and dragged himself to the burning truck. Hearing the gunshots around him, he decided to place his arm on the fire, using the firefight to mask his screams. Then, he– groaning in a soft voice– crawled under the truck and sighed.

After a few minutes the firefight was silent, and the rogues lied dead on the road. Sergei reloaded his weapon and looked around the messy diner.

Meanwhile, in the woods, many of the rogues lied on the ground with bullets in them. One of the rogues, a young private, tried to run away from the group. He dropped his weapons and his helmet, only focusing on getting away. He panted and panted, knowing whoever was chasing him was catching up.

Suddenly, his pants were sliced and he dropped to the ground.

"No, no, wait!" begged the young private.

Hana thrusted her sword into his chest, then his head. He took the dog tags off his neck and looked around.

Becky chased Moss until she encountered a swarm ahead. Moss ran into the swarm, fighting them off with a pistol.

Becky aimed her sidearm carefully at Moss and shot him in the leg. He groaned as he fell down. Before the rogues piled up on him, he was able to lift himself up and limp away.

Some of the roamers followed Becky's gunshot and found her in the woods. She walked away, knowing Moss wouldn't get far with a wounded leg.

She regrouped with her fellow fighters and they all headed into the road. Sergei and the others grabbed the unused Humvees, proud that they killed all their rogues. George and his group took the truck, disappointed that they let Lead get away. Lori and the others sighed, knowing Hoover and his squad were still out there. They had to walk back to Houlton to tell the town about their results.

Lori and her group returned to Houlton, finding the others already inside the fences. She slowly marched with her group inside the town before Sergei stopped her.

"How did it go for you?" he asked. "Becky say she did very well. George- not so much. But I- my group eliminated everyone."

"Some of them escaped," said Lori. "It doesn't matter. What matters is that there are less of them and more of us."

Haley walked to up to Lori and tapped her on the shoulders. She looked visibly distressed as she scratched her hair.

"What's up?" said Lori.

"Some of the General's men came here. They, uhh, took Dr. White. I don't know why but they said they needed him!"

"Do you know where they took him?" asked Lori.

Haley shook her head. Lori walked away to look for Lisa.

Near a lake about a dozen miles south of Houlton stood Black's backup military base. Being a large field of riverbank granite and mesh fences with vehicles scattered around, it sat hidden from any passerby in the road. In the middle of the field was a Chinook, with the rogues passing by it.

Donovan whistled as he patched up the now-promoted Sergeant Brick. He replaced Brick's bandages with fresh ones, unmoved by the wounds he saw. He picked Brick up from the bed and patted his back. Brick then stood up and saluted.

"Donovan, I need to talk to you," said Black.

The medic nodded softly and followed him to his office.

"What is this about, sir?"

Black looked at him, pacing back and forth. He cleared his throat.

"You're gonna have a lotta work to do in a week. Some of our boys don't know it yet, but we're gonna stop laying siege and enact the final step to our plan. And I can trust you with this information, so I don't want you scaring the privates."

Donovan nodded with his hands behind his back.

"We're gonna conquer the place. Now, it's not going to be easy. I expect the subjects to rebel against us- hell they already did. And I know they're going to hurt some of our men. So I need you to come with us and try to save as many lives as you can."

"Where am i going to be positioned?" asked Donovan.

"Near the front gates with Captain Moss if he returns. If he doesn't- well Lead will be there too. Most of our men will be concentrated near the entrance, but we're going to have them come in through the north gates as well. I'll tell you more about it in the following days. Got it?"

"When is it going to occur?"

"A week from now. Prepare some supplies. I know you'll do good work. You're dismissed."

Black walked out of his office and headed towards the tent behind his office. He opened up the tent and walked inside, finding Dr. White quivering next to Lt. Lead.

"Hello, doctor," greeted Black with a glum smile.

"W-What am I doing here? Did I do something wrong?"

"Depends. Are you still working on the cure?"

"Believe me, sir, I'm trying my hardest."

"No, don't rush! I don't mind that. I realize how hard biochemistry and medicine and all this science jargon is. But what shouldn't be hard is remaining loyal."

Black removed Desert Eagle from his holster. Donovan gulped as he peeked inside the tent through a small opening.

"Please don't kill me…" said Dr. White. "You gotta understand, it's not me out there, it's Lori."

"I know, I know," said Black, waving his gun. "This is not for you. This is for the infant."

"Zoey?"

"Yeah. I know how valuable she is to our studies, but, Steven, you are invaluable! That's why the next thing something like this happens again, I'll shoot the baby's heart out… and you'll watch. Understand?"

Dr. White nodded. Black chuckled and nodded with him before grabbing his shoulders. As he headed out the tent, Donovan quickly rushed back to his office, opening a bag. After a few seconds, Black and Dr. White walked into the tent.

"Work with him until I bring him back home tomorrow," said Black, patting Dr. White's shoulders.

The doctor and the medic were now alone in the office with each other. When the coast was clear, Donovan cleared his throat and spoke up.

"I got terrible news for you," he said. "Black is going to conquer Houlton in a week. He'll bring our entire army… and there's nothing you could do to stop it."

"What do you mean by conquer?" asked Dr. White.

"Can't talk here… let's get you into a car first."

The sun fell and darkness took over the base. Donovan drove a Humvee with Dr. White hidden in the back seats. They left the base, after the guards approved Donovan's request to leave. He might've not been a "real" soldier, but the rogues respected him.

In the road, Donovan talked to Dr. White, revealing a lot of details in the conquer plan.

"We'll inhabit the place again… and if your friends aren't out when we arrive, then expect a hell of a battle."

"You know Lori isn't going down without a fight. She's a fearless individual."

"And that'll cost her. What I need you to do is pack up everything you need to create the cure and leave Houlton. The siege will be put back to place tomorrow noon. After that, you won't be able to leave or return."

"And go where?"

"The only place where the good-hearted soldiers defend. I'm talking about D.C. If there is any place where the government is still intact, it should be the capital."

"I don't know… it'll be difficult to convince Lori to get her group to come. They love it so much in Houlton and I can't be out here in the road by myself."

"You guys better come up with something good then. You'll have to fight Black's entire army and then maybe even risk going against Ivanovich's forces. Hell, Krissen herself might show up."

Dr. White stared at Donovan, knowing what and who he was talking about. Indeed, the forces of the K.H.A.N. weren't forces to reckon with.

"Consider your choices," said Donovan. "There ain't any wrong ones. Just some more difficult than the others."

Dr. White nodded his head somberly.

"Thank you. I can drive myself the rest of the way."

"Alright. We were just at Spednic Lake. Take a left at Fosterville, the next town, and then a right at Orient, the town right after. Go straight, then you'll be home."

Donovan left the Humvee and walked back to the military base. Dr. White drove the vehicle and pondered on the options he was given. Donovan awaited the week that would yield results. He knew he wasn't going to like it.

Suddenly, he saw someone ahead.

"Captain?" he gasped.

"Donovan Bree," groaned Moss. "Bring me to Black. These fuckers aren't getting away with this."

The brisk feeling of air joined the spring aroma that filled the night of uncertainty. Lori knew that this would be the calm before the storm.

Pike held Dana's trench knife and placed his hands against the wooden platform. He stabbed between his fingers, slipping up and cutting the side of his thumbs. He shook his hands before spotting headlights from the distance. He turned on his walkie-talkie.

"Lori? We got a situation."

Dr. White stopped the vehicle before the front gates and stepped outside. Lori sighed in relief.

"We thought something terrible happened to you," she said.

"No, something terrible is gonna happen to US," he replied.

The candles were lit in Lori's dinner table. Almost everyone who traveled with David to the town they resided in now stood in the kitchen and living room. Lori and Dr. White sat across each other. Vonda lied on George's arm while wearing a neck brace. Benny and Luan stood next to Becky and Leni.

"They'll bring their whole army with them. They're ready for a fight– they're expecting one. But at the same time, he wants to keep as many townspeople as he can alive. Know what that means?"

George spoke up.

"He's gonna go after your family. A classic this-or-that situation."

"And if he wants to stay true to his corrupted philosophy…" murmured Lori, "...he's gonna go after the ones he think won't live in this world."

Lana rubbed her arm and looked at Lily. She saw her eyes move towards Leni.

"Not only that," warned Dr. White, "Black is going to kill Carol's child if you guys fight against him."

Lori clenched her fists. Becky and Luan looked at each other.

"We should tell her…" whispered Becky. "Carol's baby did nothing wrong! David sort of got himself in this situation!"

"No, we're not doing that!" Luan whispered back.

"We could seek his help, though!"

"Donovan Bree, the medic, had a great idea," said Dr. White. "He suggested that we leave to D.C. The Army might be there– the non-rogue type. And if there is one place I could make a cure that would be spread worldwide… it would be D.C. But we only have a small window of time before the General enacts the siege again."

"Do you have any idea how much we went through to get here?" stated Lori. "We can't take the entire town with us to D.C. We can't abandon them here. We have to stay and take on the army."

"And what if you do? The K.H.A.N. will come after you!"

"The medic said they wouldn't."

"Well, the medic is wrong!" yelled Dr. White.

An awkward silence remained in the room. Becky tapped on Luan's shoulder. They both nodded.

"Lori…" called Luan.

"We know where David is," revealed Becky. "He's in Augusta, where we holed up– the subway station."

"He told us not to tell you where he was," said Luan. "But… we need him."

"We're not asking you to sell him out," said Becky. "We're just giving you more choices."

"You are giving me more choices," said Lori, "but giving him up to Black isn't one of them. Not even a possibility."

"So what do we do?" asked Bobby. "We could use David in our fight against Black's army."

"We could do it without him," said Lori. "And then if we lose… Black won't have his sadistic pleasure of executing him. We're not going to Augusta. We can do this."

"How?" asked Dr. White.

"I think we have an idea," said Lincoln, standing next to Sergei. "We have a week to prepare? Good. We're gonna do some pretty risky stuff, so we might give you warnings about the things we might do."

"We going to use all the firepower we have against Black," said Sergei. "And then some more."

Lori faced Dr. White.

"I trust my brother and Sergei. It's getting late. Please get some rest."

The brisk wind blew the leaves against the window of the room where one of the survivors and her child slept. The baby slept peacefully as the mother walked out of the room carefully. Now, out of the room, she was able to answer the door.

"Lori?" yawned Carol. "Hey, what's up?"

Lori took out a black .22 Magnum revolver that belonged to Teri. She held it out for Carol, along with a small box of cartridges.

"What's this?" gasped Carol.

"Just in case trouble finds some way to get into your life… or Zoey's life. Use it to make sure she lives longer."

Carol grabbed the revolver before receiving a hug from Lori. In the middle of the warm embrace, she noticed that Lori was trembling the entire time. She sighed and sought her best to relax her worries of the looming threat that the town faced in a week.

 **IV - Heat of the Moment**

The calm morning arrived with a promise of light drizzle at noon. Lori and Hana were outside the fences with their weapons, a pair of handcuffs, duct tape, and a mission to complete.

A lone roamer with summer clothing and ragged hair- a fading blonde color and curly ends- grabbed onto the fence near the prisons and turned around after hearing a couple voices. It released its fingers from the fence and raised it towards the two women.

Hana raised her sword and swung it down, slicing the roamer's arms off. As blood squirted out of the ends of the roamer's cut limbs, Hana drove her katana into the roamer's stomach, causing the tip of the blade to stick out from the other side.

Lori moved behind the roamer and ripped a piece of tape out while wearing a pair of thick gloves. The wriggling of the roamer's cut limb projected an uneasy feeling into her stomach. She tried covering the roamer's mouth with the tape but it moved its head around. She then used one of her hands to shut the roamer's jaw shut and stifle its head movement. The tape was placed onto its mouth, and now the roamer was unable to bite anyone.

Lisa looked into the microscope and found organisms and particles floating around the roamer saliva.

"Should we name it?" asked Lisa. "I want to name it Dahmer."

"No," said Hana. "I found it. I name it. Reiji Okazaki."

"The molecular biologist? That's a remarkable name!"

"That name impedes our progress," said Dr. White as he placed a cotton swab on the roamer's slobbering teeth.. "Just pronouncing it… ugh!"

"Just say Reiji then," commented Lori, taping the roamer's mouth again. "It's not that hard."

Lisa zoomed in with the microscope and found a particular bacteria molecule squirming around. Many small particles that behaved like parasitic viruses swarmed around the bacteria. The particles then became bloated while the bacteria was gone.

"I wonder why I couldn't have observed this sooner!" gasped Lisa. "It's starting to make sense! If this enters into the bloodstream and travels its way to the cerebrum, it could consume the brain tissues just enough to activate the infection that we all already have, which in turn pumps more of these viruses! Hmm, a plausible theory, if I say so myself."

"You know what to do when we have a theory," said Dr. White.

"Test it!" said both Dr. White and Lisa.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone with your experiments. C'mon, Hana. Let's go."

Hana stared at the roamer in its golden eyes. She sighed and reached out for its limbs before snapping back to reality.

"Hana? What are you doing?" asked Lori.

"Observing," she muttered. "Let go."

"Hold on," said Dr. White. "I need to talk to you, Lori."

Lori and Dr. White walked out of the laboratory leaving Lisa alone with the saliva sample and Hana with Reiji the roamer.

"We only have until noon to be able to use the roads and highway," said Dr. White. "Are you sure you don't want Lisa and I to go to D.C.?"

"You two won't be able to make it on your own out there," said Lori. "And I can't send some of our best fighters with you. I'm gonna need all the manpower I can get to defend this town. Look, I trust my brother. He can make excellent plans. We all need to trust him, got it?"

Dr. White nodded.

Hana stroked her hands against the roamer's hair and down its face. She felt her eyes dilate as she found a bite wound on the side of its neck, which had a dragon tattoo. She gasped and placed her arms against her eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "So sorry for cutting arms. You forgive me, Reiji?"

Hana moved her hands down the roamer's torso to its groin. She bit her lips and moved her hands away as soon as she heard the door open.

"We going now?" asked Hana.

"Yeah, we'll let 'em work on the cure," said Lori.

Lori and Hana walked outside the lab and into the runway. Hana found Luan walking by herself in the runway.

"I talk to Luan," said Hana. "You go on."

Lori nodded. Hana walked towards Luan, who walked with her eyes set down on the ground.

"Luan," said Hana, startling the girl. "Something bother you?"

"No- well- yeah, but… geez, you scared me like Lucy."

"Your younger sister?"

"Yeah. I've been thinking about her lately. I'm scared, Hana. I don't want General Black to kill me. That's why I came all the way here. I want to tell Lori about the subway people we were with. We need their numbers or… we need their home."

"We can take them on," said Hana. "We will kill every rogue."

"Well, if I'm being honest, I don't want to fight against them. I'm terrified of them. And I- I can't do it."

"Then we go after them now. We find rogue. We torture him. Look at katana. You press blade against here, here, and here… you cause maximum pain."

Hana then moved her finger away from her torso to her neck.

"Best place to kill them. Their screams not loud when throat is cut. Or if you want to unarm someone-"

"No," groaned Luan. "I don't wanna hear more. That's the problem, Hana. I can't kill anyone! I know Lori could do it. Luna, Lynn. But I can't. Not even in the heat of the moment. I'm not… strong enough."

Hana stood in the runway, speechless. She always found killing her enemies easy. She never thought about it. She never thought that there were others who couldn't find the strength to take a life. Or too many lives.

The brisk wind blew against the numerous dog tags hanging from her belt. It surrounded her like a skirt. She then looked at Luan's innocent yellow skirt.

The sky drizzled over the town. Luan gathered her family around the dinner table. She brought out a couple snacks for her siblings to enjoy, when the guests arrived. She opened the door and found Lori, Bobby, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde waiting by the doorstep. They came inside and looked at the candlelit table. The four guests took their seats.

"I gathered you all here because I have something to tell you," said Luan.

Every eyes on the table were set on Luan. She sighed and cleared her throat.

"There are other survivors in Augusta. When Becky, Hana, and I were holed up in that subway station, there was a whole community of survivors. Just like us. The leader, Waylon, had everything under control. Every single one contributed… and they were content with where they lived, even if there were rats crawling around oftentimes. They were well hidden, well protected, well armed. It was home to them. It could be… home to us."

"Luan,' said Lori. "I understand what you're saying, but we can't give up yet. Mom and Dad wanted us to live a normal life. If worst comes to worst… we could move there, but until then, we can't leave our home. This is home to many and once we stop Black and his army… this will literally feel like Royal Woods."

Luan rubbed her arms and nodded.

"Although, now that you mention it. It sounds like there's extra manpower in the subway station. Maybe… we should go to Augusta, talk to Waylon, and have them help us finish this war against Black."

Luan smiled.

"Yeah, that's what we'll do. All we have to do is push through the siege one more time."

-Four Days Later-

"Everyone gets the plan?" asked Lori.

The small group of militia fighters answered affirmatively. Carol found herself wrapped in armor, while carrying a bulletproof car seat for Zoey. She carried a bag that held her precious items and photos. Next to her was Leni, Lily, and Lana, feeling the tiny raindrops falling from the sky.

They were all ready to head to Augusta when they heard the sound of Humvees from the distance.

"Shit…" muttered Lori. "Girls! Get away from here! Go, go, go!"

Thunder from the sky in the distance grew as the Humvees were spotted from the top of the hill. Carol dropped the baby car seat and held her daughter in her arms. She ran towards the infirmary while Leni picked up Lily and ran back home with Lana. A bullet struck Carol in the side of her chest, causing her to groan. The vest protected her, but the punch of the bullet felt strong.

Lori aimed her AK-47 at the incoming vehicle and fired it. She was then met with more gunshots, causing seek cover behind her own Humvee. A machine gun turret tore through the fences in the entrance before the Humvee itself headed straight for the entrance gate.

"Move out of the way!" yelled Lori.

The group ran away from the entrance before the Humvee ran through it. The vehicles crashed against the town's Humvee near the entrance, causing Lori to jump to the ground. Some of the soldiers ran behind the vehicle and shot their guns at the fighters. They fell to the ground, though not dead yet as the vests caught their bullets.

Lori rose up and found herself surrounded once again.

"Goddamn, that was easy!" smiled Black. "Doesn't feel good seeing me again, right?"

The soldiers had the entire town surrounded once again. Lori aimed her gun at Black before being smacked in the head by Lt. Lead. She dropped to the ground with her gun. Black walked over to her, stepped on her rifle, and picked it up.

"We got enough equipment to destroy this entire fucking town, so you're gonna listen to me," he hissed.

Lori looked around at the rogues. She saw Moss with a grenade launcher in his hands. She saw Sgt. Brick with a torn shirt that exposed his sleeves– one wrapped with a black armband. She saw Donovan, with an apologetic expression in his face. She knew that he didn't know. Black tricked all of them.

"Men, disarm everyone!" ordered Black.

George, who stood next to Lori, had his pistols removed from him forcefully like the rest of the militia fighters. The rogues in the other areas of Houlton disarmed all the fighters they could find.

"I'm upset," said Black. "You killed my men back in Royal Woods. Then, you killed my men here less than a hundred days later. Then, you killed more of my men during the winter when you wanted to come after me. Then, you killed my men in Woodstock, by the woods, by a farm, by a diner, by Green Road. And you know who stood by your side? Dr. Steven White."

"You can punish me however you want. But you let my family go," hissed Lori. "They haven't done anything."

"No, I'm punishing everyone in this goddamn town! Even baby Zoey! In fact, I need you, Sturgess, to look for her!"

"Yes, sir!" he saluted.

"No, don't!" yelled Lori.

"Brick, look for Dr. Steven White! Lieutenant, look for her siblings! Remember, there are eight of them!"

"Don't you dare touch them!" screamed Lori.

"He could do whatever the hell he wants!" Black yelled back. "This is our place! This never belonged to you! Houlton was simply in a state of rebellion."

Lt. Lead and a few rogues knocked down the door to the Loud's. After a few seconds, Leni and Lily, Lana, Luna, Luan, and Lynn came out from the house with a gun pointed at them, and they all walked down the steps.

"We can't find the seventh and eighth," said Lead. "How'd they look like?"

Black looked at all the faces of the Louds from the oldest to youngest. Terrified, frustrated, nervous, furious, shocked, and puzzled.

"We're missing Lincoln Loud, the boy with the white hair, and Lisa Loud, the girl genius with glasses," he said.

Lead turned towards the kids.

"You know, my initials are also L.L."

"Want to tell us where they are?" Black asked Lori.

"I– I don't know where they are," said Lori.

"Bullshit. You know what's going to happen to you all?"

Lori stood up, wiping the blood on her left temple.

"You are all going to the prison. Lori, Leni, and Luan will know which prison I'm talking about. You'll rot in there until we figure out where to send you. And believe me, we'll send you to some unknown part of the world where you'll do fine. You'll probably never find us again. And you'll never spill the blood of my soldiers."

Lori looked at her family as the drizzle poured onto the town.

"You know," said Black, "if you brought David here, we would've saved you the trip to the prison. You only met us halfway… and that's because we found Vonda."

Moss dragged Vonda across the street as she struggled to escape his tough grip. She kicked and screamed until she saw Black.

"What do you want from– shit. It's you. You're–"

"General Quentin Black. Pleased to finally meet you in person."

"You– you killed my father!"

"Yeah. I also had your aunt killed. If it makes you feel any better, some other guy was ordered to kill your mother instead of me."

"No… the police killed my aunt," said Vonda. "They killed my aunt…"

"And who told the police to kill them? It was necessary, Vonda. I couldn't run the risk of information being spilled by your father or anyone he knew."

"So, you're gonna kill me now," she muttered.

"Nah, you're important. Probably more important than Lori here. Knowledge made you that powerful. But we're gonna have to beat that knowledge out of you. You're gonna wish you died on Ann Arbor that day."

George clenched his fists and thought of ways to kill Black. But there weren't any.

Sgt. Brick arrived by the prisons and found Dr. White talking with Jace. He pointed his gun at Dr. White before looking closely at Jace. Then, Jace looked closely at Brick.

"Hey, Jace Taylor. Didn't I tell you to go to Portland?"

"No National Guard. You told me there was nothing here."

"I like you, Jace. I want you to keep living. So, don't fight back."

"General, you'll never guess who we found!" shouted Sgt. Hoover.

Black turned around and smiled. Hoover kept his sidearm pointed at the back of Buck's head. He stood close to Black before Hoover kicked the back of his legs, forcing him to his knees.

"Buck," said Black. "I always forgot your last name. Care to tell me?"

"Telling me to restock the ammunition in the armory was the last order I ever took from you. I won't start taking 'em again."

"So you're not going to prove your loyalty to me?" asked Black, acting offended.

"My allegiance is with Lori," stated Buck. "Ain't there anyone else in the world who could lead this world better than she could. And she's not even old enough to drink. You, a 51-year-old, can't even break a 19-year-old's spirit. How pathetic. I rather die than serve you and the K.H.A.N. again. So yeah, I ain't gone prove my loyalty to YOU!"

Black smirked and nodded.

"Well… if you say so."

He took out his Desert Eagle and shot Buck in the head. His body stifled and dropped to the ground, falling near Lori.

Sgt. Brick arrived with Dr. White and Jace. The doctor watched the body fall and was masked with anxiety and fear. He face was drenched in sweat that the drizzle couldn't flush out.

"Enjoyed the show?" chuckled Black. "You'll enjoy the next one."

Carol pulled the trigger to her revolver and shot at a rogue inside the infirmary. As the rogue dropped to the floor, she covered one of Zoey's ears and shot the rogue in the face. Then, she ran outside where she found herself surrounded.

"That wasn't smart," said Sturgess. "Looks like you sealed your fate."

Sturgess led Carol to the front of Lori's house where she found the Louds surrounded by the rogues. Carol sniffled and held her baby close to her chest. She fell to her knees next to Lori as she heard Black checking the ammunition in his sidearm.

"Sturgess. Kill the mother."

"I'm so sorry for all the pain I caused you, Lori," sniffled Carol. "I love you, Zoey!"

Lori took out her knife and sliced one of Sturgess's wrists, causing him to lose balance of his gun. He then held the knife against his throat.

"Drop the gun, drop the gun," whispered Lori.

Sturgess dropped the gun as Lori shoved him out of the way. She went behind Black with her knife held back against his throat.

The group and the rogue soldiers were shocked at Lori's sudden surprise attack. The thunder was closer to the town.

"Don't shoot!" yelled Black. "What do you want, Lori?"

"I need your army to leave and never come back. Hell, you didn't even bring your entire army, right?"

"This is my entire army. You're gonna kill me, right?"

"Not if you surrender this place back to me," hissed Lori.

"Okay, that's what you want? I could do that. Moss? Don't touch Lily like that!"

Lori turned around and prepared to stab Moss but couldn't find a rogue near Lily. She was then stabbed in her leg by Black's bowie knife, screaming as blood poured out.

"And now, the baby is going to die!" yelled Black as he pointed his gun at Carol and Zoey. "You shouldn't have trusted your best friend."

He pulled the trigger to his gun and was met with his gun slide pushing back, revealing an empty chamber.

Then, a tremendous explosion filled the air from the distance. Then, another one. And another one. And one after the other.

The vehicles that were positioned in the intersection of the streets were blown up. Lincoln and Sergei watched the town from the barracks, each holding a detonator to the C4s that blew up the vehicles. Next to them was Sam with her scoped AR-15, and Kotaro with his Remington 700. They fired at the rogues near the vehicles who made it out unharmed.

Black looked around and raised his pistol before realizing again that it was empty. Lori glared at him and lunged towards him, but Sturgess quickly tackled her to the ground. Black and Lead sprinted away, heading for the Humvee.

Suddenly, the vehicles by the fences were blown up by more C4 hidden in the grass. The fire reflected in the pupil of Black's only eye. He ran into the Loud house and locked himself in there with Lead.

Sturgess crossed Lori's arms before she headbutted him in the face. He groaned and pressed his bloody nose as Lori grabbed her knife. She went on top of Sturgess and pushed the knife against his stomach. She then tore it open and left him in the ground to bleed out.

Hana and Benny ran to the prisons with swords in their hands. Behind them was Becky, who held her Glock to cover both of them.

Benny headed near the guard towers and found the rogues by the entrance. He quickly slid under them and sliced their knees before Hana stabbed them in their chests. A rogue revealed himself from the corner of the prison, ready to shoot at them before being shot by Becky.

Preston hugged his uncle as the gunshots roared outside his church and lightning streaked across the sky. His flashbacks returned and they were more intense than ever.

Lori picked up her AK-47 and helped Carol to her feet. The Louds ran to the infirmary with their heads low. Lynn stopped before a dead rogue in the ground and picked up his weapon.

Donovan stopped and found Sturgess bleeding out. He was ready to grab his first aid kit when he paused and looked at Sturgess in the face. He didn't deserve his mercy. The medic left him to bleed out.

Dr. White ran to the infirmary with many of the civilians behind him. They were being shot at by Brick, who slowly paced himself back to the fences.

Lisa drove the tank around the runway, causing some of the rogues to enter their vehicles. They drove it away, but not before Ted shot a missile at one of their vehicles.

"Got one!" yelled Ted.

"Load another missile. I'm heading near the entrance."

Captain Moss shot his assault rifle at one of the civilians, killing him, and his wife, killing her. Then, he took out his grenade launcher, along with the rest of his squad members. They aimed it at the town, but did not fire it yet.

"General!" exclaimed Donovan, knocking on the door. "Let's leave! Captain Moss is about to rain hell into this town! General!"

"Heard you loud and clear, Donovan!" said Black as he ran out the house with Lead. "Come here!"

Lori raised her gun and aimed it at Black, but was unable to press the trigger when she found Donovan running with them. She hasn't killed anyone who didn't deserve to be killed and she won't start now.

She aimed the rifle near the entrance and fired it, causing Black, Lead, and Donovan to stop in their steps. They ran to the backyard of the house, away from the firefight.

Lori and Lynn headed for the backyard before being shot at by the rogues near the entrance. They remained hidden behind the backyard of Lori's house.

"Bombs away!" yelled Moss. "The houses in these neighborhoods first!"

Moss and the rogues fired their grenade launchers at the neighborhood that the Loud house and Lori's house were a part of. The homes blew into a ball of fire and sent pieces of bricks and wood everywhere as shrapnel.

George helped Vonda up and ran to the infirmary with her. He grabbed a pistol and shot at the rogues that attempted to flee the town. Vonda picked up a pistol and tried her best to shoot the rogues. However, her aim was very off and the only places she could hit were the body parts protected by the armored vests.

More homes were set on fire as Moss and his rogues swaggered across the streets. George aimed his pistol at Moss before being shot by Brick and Hoover.

"No!" screamed Vonda. "Get up!"

Kathy, Mr. Coleman, and the other militia fighters shot at both rogues, causing them to run to a vehicle. Hoover quickly entered it and turned it around. Brick hopped into the back of the vehicle and shot his SMG at the militia as the Humvee made it out the town.

"Oh no!" yelled Rusty. "Dad, c'mon, hurry! You too, Clyde!"

Bobby and Ronnie Anne ran with Rusty, his father, and Clyde to the infirmary. Ahead of them, a grenade landed on a house and blew the roof off. The fire spread to the neighboring homes, burning clothes and prized possessions.

"The infirmary is just up ahead!" exclaimed Bobby. "Look, there's people there!"

Moss and his rogues headed towards the street where the infirmary was. Moss was prepared to shoot his grenade launcher at the infirmary before finding a tank protecting it.

"Wait, stop!" yelled Moss. "We have to go now! The tank is coming for us! We need to leave now!"

He and his rogues marched away from the infirmary and out of the town, finding a vehicle that hasn't been damaged by the C4s.

Lincoln, Sergei, Sam, and Kotaro looked at the damage done to the town and found the entire town burning. Thunder boomed across the dark skies. The drizzle turned into rain. Almost all the rogues were outside of Houlton except General Black and Lieutenant Lead.

Both rogues tried to sneak away from the burned house before a bullet smacked the ground ahead of them. They looked at the barracks before finding themselves held at gunpoint by Lori and Lynn.

Lori and Lynn looked at each other, unable to stop a grin from forming in their faces. Black seethed as Lori ordered him to follow her.

"Not in this house," said Lori. "In my house."

Black and Lead walked inside the burned house. The smoke lingered in the room. All of them looked at the picture on the wall. It was burnt, nothing but a pile of ash.

"Sit down," said Lori.

Both Lori and Black sat down on the table. Lynn held Lead and Black at gunpoint. Lori tapped on the dark table.

"I'll give you one more chance," said Black. "If you still want to leave with your group alive, then all you gotta do is give up David and–"

"No," said Lori. "I'm giving you one last chance. Either you leave and never come back with your army…"

"Or…" gulped Black.

"My group and I will finish off the rest of your army. Then, I'll kill you."

"You might have the numbers now, but we have the firepower and the training," said Black. "I want you all alive and I took it in great consideration to make sure my soldiers don't kill your people. Let's see how far you take that for granted."

Black stood up.

"You know about the K.H.A.N." he said. "That's why you still haven't killed me. Same reason I haven't killed you yet."

Black and Lead both walked out of the house. Lori and Lynn watched both rogues leave the town as the rain returned to a light drizzle. Lori grabbed her Python and lifted her head up to let the drizzle fall to her face.

She arrived at the infirmary. Everyone waited for her to make a statement. And she did.

"We're making a last stand," she said.

She walked over to Becky, Luan, and Hana.

"In Augusta, do you remember where the subways are?"

Becky nodded.

"Take me there. I need to have a talk."

* * *

The smoke lingered around. A roamer walked over the white lilacs. And near the lilacs was a pink flower that sprouted from the grave. The roamer avoided the flower unwillingly and decided to stay near Dana's grave instead. Instead, a white bunny ran towards the flower and nibbled on it before hopping away upon hearing the croaking of a toad. Silence followed. But it was a peaceful silence after a tragic moment. The tragic moment that everyone yet no one saw coming.


	19. One Man

_**Happy Halloween, everyone! Hopefully, you got some candy with you as you begin to read this chapter! Enjoy!**_

* * *

The rain splashed against the wet pavement in the road, creating a tranquil and lingering aroma of the pleasant petrichor. The dark neon sign by the Medway Motel was further shadowed by the gloomy rain clouds. The RV passed by the trail of skeletons in the parking lot.

Lightning clapped the sky, revealing the rotten skeleton stuck on the gates in an alleyway by a certain hotel building in Bangor. The roamers wandered around the city, finding it more comfortable indoors, though the thunder caused them to scatter once again. The wheels of the RV splashed on the puddles in the highway as it passed by the city.

The raindrops slipped down the metro maps on the walls of the building. A low thundering from the distance and the winds blowing against the leaves filled the troubling air. The RV remained parked outside the building. The survivors stepped outside with the leader glancing inside the barricaded windows.

"So, this is the place?" asked Lori, turning around.

Becky nodded. Kimi whimpered before Hana rubbed her back. Luan stared at the combination lock in the entrance.

"Let's knock then," she added. "It's been a while since I've seen David."

Lori knocked on the locked door. A light inside the building turned on. She smiled.

 **Chapter 19: One Man**

 **I - The Subway People**

Water splashed against the edge of the containers that were in the wooden wagon that Leni rolled to the infirmary. Jace ran to the door and held it open for Leni as she continued rolling the wagon.

"Thank you, Jace!" she said as she rolled the wagon inside the building.

"No probs. Just know I'm always there whenever you want me."

"Aww, you're too nice," said Leni as she gave Jace a hug. "Do you think this is enough water or will I need less?"

"Need less? Don't you mean more?" Jace chuckled nervously.

"Oh, you're right… this is too much! I'm going to need more!"

"No, no, it's enough! It's enough water. You know, they'll take any amount of water they could get. It's so nice of you to do that for them."

"Yeah, it felt hard watching people clear their throats and cough out ash from their mouths! I would love to talk more, but I have to help out the thirsty people! BRB!"

"Thirsty people…" smirked Jace, "–just like Preston."

"What was that?" said Preston, standing behind Jace.

"Jesus! How– what are doing here?"

"Don't use Christ's name in vain. I'm here to help out Leni. What are you doin' here?"

Jace crossed his arms.

"I was helping her out too. And she wants MY help, not yours!"

"Didn't I tell you to stay away from her?" hissed Preston. "You're a terrible influence. All you care about are bikes, lesbians, and your weird brother!"

"Alex is my sister, you asshat! Leni deserves someone better than a judgmental brainwashed dick!"

"All you want from her is to fulfill your lust, Jace, I've seen it. Always coverin' your crotch when you're next to her, unable to stop your indecent flirting, starin' at her when she's not looking. That's why I judge you. 'Cause you're full of sin. Just like your _sister_!"

Jace lashed out and swung his fist at his rival's face. Preston lost his balance and stumbled to the ground before wiping the blood off his lips. Jace prepared to block an incoming attack, but all Preston did was stand up and stare at him intensely.

Some of the bystanders watched as the two older teens glared at each other. Jace then looked at the spectators.

"What? Mind your business, guys!"

Jace then turned to Preston.

"You're not going to hit me back?" he said.

"Violence doesn't solve anythin'," said Preston. "And Leni knows that."

"Well Leni wouldn't ever judge people based on their 'sins' or anything of that bullshit."

"Only one way to find out. We'll ask her who she really cares about the most. Then, you'll see she would never go for a nuisance like you."

Leni poured water on a paper cup, then handed it to one of the wounded fighters in bed. She walked around the infirmary room, giving out more cups of water, being thanked by everyone she helped.

She then walked upstairs to her room and walked to a small white cradle. She smiled as Zoey remained asleep.

Coming back down to the infirmary rooms, she was stopped by Carol.

"Hey, is Zoey still asleep?" Carol asked.

"Yeah, she totes looks like an angel!"

"Thank goodness. I've never had to treat this many people before! You're my savior!"

Leni smiled as Carol went back to the rooms, treating the wounded. She grabbed the handle for her wagon and was ready to enter another room to serve more water when she heard the door slammed open. Jace and Preston raced inside.

"Leni, I have to ask you something!" said Jace.

"No, I was goin' to ask her first!" growled Preston.

"Oh hey, guys!" greeted Leni. "Watcha' wanna ask me?"

"I know we've been hanging out–" said Jace.

"–get to the point!" interrupted Preston.

"–you got to spend a lot of time with us…"

"–we know you like one of us–"

"–but not Preston the douchebag, right?"

"–at least I don't go picking fights with people!"

"You disrespected my sister!"

"You disrespect Leni by tryin' to–"

"Oh, fuck off with that bullshit–!"

"I'll keep her away from you!"

"She won't ever fall for you, you piece of shit!"

"Guys, guys, GUYS!" shouted Leni. "Preston Salas and Jace Taylor! What is wrong with you two!"

Leni dropped the handle to the ground. Haley and Carol peeked out from the room that they were in, catching the boys' dumbfounded expressions.

"There are people who are hurt– like actually hurt, maybe even dying– and you two are fighting over who I like more? How… pathetic!"

Leni picked up the handle for the wagon.

"Gosh, wanting to know who I like more? I don't even want you two here! Go before you wake up the baby!"

Jace nodded. Preston raised his arm as Leni walked away, and lowered it. They both shook their heads and left the infirmary.

"Damn," muttered Jace. "I didn't think she could get angry like that."

"We acted so stupid," said Preston. "She's right. What is wrong with us?"

"We're supposed to be helping out, not fighting. I– Leni's right… like always."

Preston nodded as he looked at roamers piling up by the fences. Jace felt the raindrops falling harder on his head. The destroyed town was once again showered by the rain.

The banging of the turnstiles signified the return of familiar survivors to the subway people. The footsteps left behind a trail of tainted water. However, the concrete flooring soaked up the water quickly, adding to the damp atmosphere in the subways.

Lori twisted her wet hair and tied it back to a ponytail. Hana placed Kimi down to the floor where she shook her fur, drying herself. Luan removed her raincoat and handed it to Jax, who placed it in a hanger by the turnstiles.

Lori looked around the subway station and found lamps hanging from the low ceiling. She saw survivors carrying wet carcasses to their cafeteria– one had to go through the subway trains to access it– which consisted of benches and metal tables.

Najjad made a turn and led Lori through the narrow pathway to another part of the long subway station.

"Waylon's taking care of some affairs at the moment," said Najjad. "So, you're able to see your friend first."

"He sure got a lotta friends, right?" commented Joshua. "You close with him?"

Lori touched the wall and felt the dust and moss stick to the tip of her fingers. She pulled it away and wiped it against her jeans.

"You could say that," she replied. "This is more than just a visit."

"Oh, we know that," said Najjad. "Leader of another community? We met people in charge of groups, but a whole town? That's a first."

"Though, I gotta say," remarked Joshua. "You are really young for a leader. If you don't mind me asking, Ms. Loud, how old are you?"

"Nineteen. I was just finishing up high school when the dead started to rise. Too bad I couldn't finish the last few weeks."

"Graduation would've been fun," said Joshua. "Mine was. What about everyone else? I've never asked you girls before."

"We're all high school dropouts," said Luan.

"Even Hana?" asked Becky, to which Hana responded with a nod. "How'd your parents take the news? Did they threaten to disown you or anything?"

"Family was not that kind of traditional," said Hana. "What is this, 1945?"

Najjad continued walking and stopped before an open room that was in the other part of the subway station. Lori looked at the sign above and found it smeared. Over the paint was the letter B.

She walked to the new section and looked at the end of the room. She placed her hands over her chest and smiled.

"David, what a beard you have!" exclaimed Lori, barely able to contain her excitement. "Oh my god… you're– you're really here…."

"Hey, Lori. Long time no see," said David as he stood up.

Lori walked over to David and hugged him, caring the least about his dirty clothing and unkempt beard.

"Yeah, no kidding," she grinned. "It's been almost a year!"

David and Lori released each other from their embrace of reunion. David looked at Becky, Luan, and Hana, and nodded at them.

"I'll come back with Waylon," said Joshua.

Lori turned around and nodded, wiping a tear from her eye. She let out a soft chuckle, which caused Luan and Becky to smile with her.

"How's it going, Lori?" asked David. "You seem… much better than the last time I saw you."

"I do feel better. For a long time, I was distant. But now– well, you could say I'm more caring. More compassionate for my family and the people of Houlton."

"Oh yeah, these girls here told me about your work in leading that town. I gotta say, good shit on making the town feel safe for everyone. Last thing I heard about what was going on was that there was a chopper heading for the town, maybe bringing a herd with it?"

"That was taken care of a few days after. We used tanks and rockets and fire to fight against the herd… we eventually took back the town. Remember that gut trick Dana showed us a while back? I wouldn't have been here if she hadn't reminded me of that."

"Wow, that gut trick? Almost slipped my mind, but yes, I do remember her telling us about it. How's she doing?"

Lori's smile slowly faded as she looked at Becky, Luan, and Hana.

"A lot happened these past three months. We've suffered some painful losses both to the herd… and the rogue army."

"I see now," said David. "I was going to ask you what you were doing in Augusta, considering that I told these girls to not tell anyone I was here, but clearly a lot happened. Who did you lose?"

"Wavehead, Tabby, Dana, a few other civilians and fighters in the town. And we need your help to prevent further losses. David… General Black returned and he wants to take back the town."

David sighed and glanced at the approaching leader. Lori turned around and found Joshua with two other people in front of him.

"Lori, this is the man in charge, Waylon Prasad and his wife, Kavya."

"Hey, Waylon, pleased to meet you. Pleased to meet you too, Kavya. My name's Lori Loud."

"It's an honor to meet you, Lori Loud. These girls have told me a lot about you. But I want to know more."

Waylon and Kavya walked to the benches that sat upon the three walls of the open room. David remained in the floor, his back against a couple pillows that he propped up against the hard concrete. Lori sat next to David, her ankles crossed and her hands on the bench.

"First, I'll tell you how I run this place," said Waylon. "Our main goal is to make sure that my people survive by getting everyone to work to make this community work. We don't take dead weight very kindly unless it's something you can't control– when Luan was sick, for example."

Lori was given a chance to comment.

"My main goal is to bring back the normal life that my family used to have. We want it back to how it was, and we'll do that by rebuilding our town and creating a new future."

"Unfortunately for us, we can't afford a normal life," Waylon responded. "We haven't lost a single survivor in over a year, and this is all because we worked to keep each survivor alive. You see, when you got enemies in every corner, you can't afford to run around with your guard down. It's like trading your life for a few seconds of a comfortable lifestyle."

Lori looked down. Kavya noticed her expression.

"Sounds relatable?" she asked.

"Yeah," replied Lori reluctantly. "I– umm– my community, Houlton, has a problem with enemies. Have any of you heard of General Quentin Black?"

"Only time I heard about him were in the form of that question," said Waylon. "David asked me the same question. I said, no. He explained it to me who he was."

"So you know what kind of man he is," said Lori. "He has a goal, which is to enslave the people of Houlton so he could subject them to experimentation. I've experienced it firsthand. He's a very sick person."

"Remember when I was held captive?" said Luan. "That was him. That was Black."

"I see," said Waylon. "Continue."

"He besieged the town twice while putting it under pressure using blockades and threats. And he'll stop at nothing until he gets what he wants. And that's why I'm here. I need your help."

Waylon smiled and nodded.

"I have something to show you."

The group crossed the train and made it to the other side. They passed the cafeteria and made their way to the abandoned ticket offices. Waylon took out his keys and unlocked the door to one of the offices, revealing a cache of firearms.

"We have ammo and melee weapons in the other offices, but these are the spare weapons that we could lend to you guys," explained Waylon. "We'll even keep lending them to you as long as you bring them back."

"This is all great, but firepower is nothing without manpower," said Lori. "You think you can help us in finishing our fight with General Black?"

"You want… my people to help you out? What do we even get out of this? How can you even repay us back?"

"I… I don't know," muttered Lori. "I know I'm asking for a lot, but I want to make it work. I need my town to be safe once again."

"You can stay here and pull your own weight in this community. And if you want what you want… then you got a lot of weight to pull," said Waylon.

"This entire community is like family," said Kavya. "We know every single name by heart. And we don't value one life over another."

"That's right," said Waylon. "It's gonna take a lot to motivate them to fight for a bunch of people they don't even know. In fact…"

Waylon pulled himself closer to Lori.

"...let me tell you something. It's part of human nature to come together. It's also human nature to fight. But there's gotta be a reason for both to happen alongside each other. Some people fight to keep their loved ones safe. Others fight for themselves. There are also the ones who fight just to make life easier… and they don't give a damn about the consequences as long as it doesn't affect them in a shitty way. To fight these kinds of people without doing it out of love… makes you just like them."

Waylon pulled himself away from Lori.

"And then there the ones who fight out of vengeance. Someone who has nothing to lose are the most dangerous kinds of people. Just remember why you're fighting the General. And keep in mind why he's fighting you."

Lori placed her hands together. She followed David to his room with Luan, Becky, Hana, and Kimi. Waylon, Kavya, Najjad, and Joshua walked away to tend to their own business.

Later that evening, a bowl of dog food sat in the middle of the room for Kimi to satisfy her hunger with. Hana sat on the floor next to Luan with a bag of peanuts, ignoring the conversation that Lori and David were deep in. She grabbed a peanut and offered it to Luan.

"No, thanks," she said.

Hana offered it again, this time moving the peanut closer to her face. Luan sighed and took the peanut, tossing it into her mouth, followed by a crunching noise.

"...we took down the entire base all thanks to Donovan," said Lori. "A week later, the rogues made their way to the closer bases like he said they would. We were situated at four different locations…"

Becky lied her head on the wall. She opened up a cup of gelatin and stuffed pieces of it in her mouth. Her expression grew more defeated as she heard the rumbling of the thunder grow deeper.

"...some of the rogues made it back to their main base, which is where the other rogues took Dr. White to…"

David placed his spoon inside the can of peaches and grabbed his food. He stuffed it in his mouth, lying back against the concrete wall.

"...then one of the rogues– Captain Moss, I believe– walked around the town with his squad, all holding grenade launchers. They blew up every single house in the town except for a few by the infirmary…"

Lori placed her can of soup down.

"...Black and I had one last talk. He gave me one more chance… but I didn't take it– I can't. Even if it is almost completely destroyed, Houlton is our home. So I told him that he would have to leave or else we would kill his entire army. Of course it was all words… but I want to follow through with my word. I want to make sure his army dies."

"What was the ultimatum?" asked David.

Lori rubbed her arms and sighed.

"Everyone who traveled with us to free our family in Houlton would be able to leave the town… if we gave you and Vonda up."

"Oh, I see…" said David, placing his can down. "The answer is no."

"No? What do you mean no?" gasped Lori.

"I'm not bringing my ass back to Houlton."

"David… we're not going to give you up!" exclaimed Lori.

"I know, I know. It's just– you're gonna get the people together to fight against Black? Suppose I'm there fighting alongside you guys. What happens when we lose?"

"He'll execute you like he did with Buck," said Becky.

"Hell no!" said David. "He'll do worse. I'm going to rot somewhere… tortured for the rest of my life. However long that'll be before I find a way to off myself."

"You think we'll lose," said Lori. "That's why you don't wanna come? 'Cause I can't defend Houlton?"

"I don't want to go because I'm scared," said David. "I have been scared this whole time… I just didn't show it."

Lori took a deep breath and faced the other girls.

"You should all go. I'm going to stay here until I can find a way to convince Waylon to lend some men and women to fight for us. I'll also see if I could get David to come back home with us."

"Lori, you don't–"

"I'm staying!" said Lori. "I'm staying and I'm not going until I know I could give someone a ride to Houlton!"

The thunder rumbled. David flipped over his mattress and covered himself in his blanket. Lori set her sleeping bag down and lied on it.

"We're going now?" wondered Becky. "We just got here in the morning."

"You three have been away from home for so long," said Lori. "Plus, I need you three to give the community the news. And also, I want Dr. White to lead the town while George becomes his enforcer."

"We'll tell them," said Luan. "Please stay safe here."

Lori stood up and wrapped her arms around Luan.

"You know, I can't believe how much you've grown," whispered Lori. "I know I've been spending a lot of time away… but thank you for understanding. You're so brave. I love you, Luan."

"I love you too, Lori."

The three girls and Kimi walked away from the room and made their way to the narrow pathway to look for Najjad. Before Lori and David were out of sight, Luan turned around once more, saddened by the fact that she didn't know when she would see her sister again.

 **II - The Road of the Beast**

The thunder boomed across the sky. The rain poured into the streets, but the stacks of sandbags near the subway stations prevented the water from flooding the area.

Becky took a seat on the driver's seat and looked back at an exhausted Luan and a cold Hana. Kimi trembled with each thunderclap, though her companion would calm her down.

"I'm driving," said Becky. "With this storm, I don't think I'm falling asleep."

The rays of the morning sun made its way through the dry windshields into the RV. Luan yawned as she rubbed Kimi's back. Becky snored while lying on the bed in the back of the RV. Hana seemed dismayed as she held one arm on the steering wheel and the other on her face.

Becky yawned as she rose from the mattress. Kimi ran over to her, licking her face.

"You sleep many hours before," said Hana. "Almost asleep while driving."

"Really?" said Becky softly. "Sorry. I didn't know I was that tired."

She rubbed her eyes and looked out the back window. Empty ammo crates were littered in the ground and ropes were wrapped around the trees.

"Hey, how far are we from home?" she asked.

"Not far," said Hana. "An hour from home."

"Can you take a right? I see something."

Hana reached a three-way intersection. She turned right, the direction away from Houlton, heading into an area that hasn't been explored too well.

For a few minutes, the trio were unable to find anything other than the crates and ropes. Then, Hana spotted a dirt trail in the woods. She parked the RV near the trail.

"Where do you think that leads to?" asked Becky.

"Rogue base," suggested Luan. "We shouldn't be here. This isn't safe."

"We're just going to look around. If we see any rogues, we'll just see what they're doing– you know– what they're planning."

Luan prepared to take a deep breath and protest, but Becky handed her a suppressed Glock, ensuring her safety.

"It protected Dana. It can protect you too."

The girls left the RV, leaving Kimi safe and cool inside the large vehicle. They stayed low to the ground, hiding behind and between the trees. For what felt like hours to Luan, the path finally led to a small area of tents. They looked around and found only one rogue, holding ropes.

"That's the medic," whispered Luan. "Looks like he's alone."

Hana unsheathed her sword and ran towards the tent. Luan and Becky chased after her as Donovan turned around.

"No, don't kill–!" exclaimed Becky.

Hana kicked Donovan to the ground and pointed her sword down at him.

"You," grumbled Hana. "Two days back. Black and his army attack us. You did not warn!"

"I didn't fucking know!" stammered Donovan. "I was told in a week. I didn't know he would change his plans! Damn, y'all gotta believe me!"

"Yeah, come on, Hana," said Luan. "If it weren't for him, we wouldn't even have a home to go back to."

"I'm still helping," he continued. "If you point that shit away from me, I'll tell you more about Black's plan. And quick, the others might come back any minute now."

Hana moved the sword away and watched Donovan pick himself up. He dusted his uniform and made his way inside a large tent, the others behind him. He grabbed a large piece of paper.

"This is a map of our base. It's about fifteen miles from here, and it's located in Spednic Lake."

Donovan handed the map to Becky.

"Can you hand this to Lori?" he asked.

"Sure. But she's not gonna see this until she comes back to Houlton."

"Where is she now?"

"Nice try. She might trust you a hundred percent, but I'm don't even trust you halfway through that."

"Well, wherever she is, I hope she makes it back before tomorrow. General Black is setting up the siege again. This time, our forces aren't budging, so you're gonna have a hella hard time getting anywhere in the roads."

A couple cans clacked from the distance. They all froze where they were, until Donovan thawed his movements and checked outside the tent. He sighed.

"Oh, it's just a roamer."

Suddenly, the roamer was stabbed in the back of the head by a rogue soldier approaching the tents. Donovan held his breath as the group of rogues murmured among themselves.

"Damn it, Sage! Why couldn't you fucking kill the rabbit?" yelled one of the rogues.

Donovan looked back at the girls. He motioned them to go, but they couldn't find a way they could escape without being noticed.

"Fuck off. What about Jade? She couldn't fucking hit that deer if her life depended on it!"

Luan held her breath as the rogues' voices grew louder and more distinct. Donovan walked out of the tent.

"Back already? I don't see any game."

"Because this pussy grew feelings for a rabbit," said one of the rogues.

"Hey, Coal, we're all tired and–"

"Man, you talk a lotta shit, don't you, Coal?" argued Sage. "Look where your tracking skills got us, you dick! One rabbit wasn't going to make a difference!"

"You know it's going to die out there, right?" replied Coal, throwing his gloves to the ground. "Something's gonna fucking eat it! Like a snake!"

"You accusing me of something?"

"Grow some balls, bitch."

Sage yelled and tackled Coal to the ground. Coal flipped him around and pounded his face with his fists. The other rogues yelled at both of them before pulling them apart. Donovan held Coal back.

"Fuck is wrong with you two?" said Jade. "Like Bree said. We're all tired and–"

"I don't wanna hear that bullshit," said Coal, entering the large tent. "I rather be…"

Donovan reached out for his arms but realized it was too late.

"Holy shit!" Coal yelled.

Donovan prepared to take out his sidearm.

"Someone forgot to tape this shit! Sage, this was your fucking job! Why are you even here, you useless piece of shit!"

Donovan looked inside the tent and found a large cut in the back. Sage pushed him out of the way and lunged towards Coal. The rogues began yelling again as they tried to break up the fight.

Hana, Becky, and Luan stayed low behind the tent as they walked into the woods. When they made it behind the trees, they looked at the rogues and their internal conflicts before leaving unharmed. Luan released her breath.

The trio returned inside the RV and turned it around, heading back towards Houlton.

After an hour, the RV arrived at the scorched town. The homes were turned into rubble or were covered in burnt wood and ash. The entrance gates and fences were moved closer to the infirmary, though its dented shape meant it offered less protection. Some of the streets were filled with potholes and scraps of metal. A few roamers wandered around, some close to the church.

Four members of the militia guarded the church and waited for the roamers to approach them so that they could take them out. The cemetery also remained safe thanks to them.

Hana continued driving the RV and slowed down as she approached the infirmary. Sergei opened the gates and allowed the girls inside, before closing the gates afterwards.

Lily held a basket of candy, trotting inside the large room where the wounded were held. She approached a wounded fighter and grabbed a lollipop from the basket.

"Here's a lollipop! It's yummy!" she exclaimed.

"God bless you," said the wounded fighter. "It's sweet like you!"

Lily giggled in glee and moved on to the next patient. She smiled as she took out a candy cane.

"Here you go, mister George Candy Cane!"

"That's so thoughtful of you. You're a really good girl, you know that right?"

Lily nodded.

"Lori tells me."

Lily pranced away as Vonda approached George.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" she asked.

"Fine. I've been shot before."

George looked at Lily, offering more people candy. He smiled as he motioned Vonda to sit on the chair next to his bed.

"You know, she kinda reminds me of my daughter. Her name was Emma, and she was always full of energy. It was good energy too– positive energy. But she was also fierce– I mean you shoulda' seen her in the playgrounds with the bullies. She looked up to her daddy, so I suppose that's why she acted tough. I never discouraged it 'cause they were bullies you know? If someone hadn't taught them a lesson, they coulda' been the criminals of the next decades. Looking back at it… that thought has aged so horribly. What difference does it make now, if this world turned good men into savages?"

"Emma would've done what she could to survive. If it– if it weren't for my mother… she could've been kicking some major ass growing up."

"Lily isn't the only one who reminds me of her," said George. "I know she would've been tough. And I know her heart would've been in the right place. Just like you."

Vonda smiled and hugged George as he remained still in the bed. He hugged her back.

Luan walked inside the infirmary and headed upstairs. She found Leni, Luna, and Lynn upstairs, each of them wearing new clothing.

Leni turned around with a pin in her mouth as she fixed her hair into a messy bun. The sleeves of her denim jacket were rolled up to her elbows. The layer of clothing under it was a adjustment of her turquoise dress, with a longer skirt to adapt to her height. She switched her old floral clogs with turquoise flats. She also wore blue leggings that stopped near her ankles.

She removed the pin from her mouth and waved.

"Hey, Luan! Where's Lori? I need her here!"

"She won't be back until another day… she has to convince David to come back. So, only Hana, Becky, and I returned…"

Luan looked at Luna and Lynn's new outfits.

Luna wore a violet sleeveless hoodie along with her purple flannel shirt. Her boring jeans were replaced with a more vibrant, dark-violet leather pants. She also held a coat under her arms. She placed it on– the overcoat that had the appearance of the lower end similar to a skirt.

"Also, watch this!" said Luna.

She placed on a ski mask with a visor hole, but the mouth area was wrapped with a scarf, the color matching the rest of the outfit.

"You are killing the whole winter look!" said Leni. "Your turn, Lynn!"

Luan looked at Lynn.

Lynn replaced her Canadian sweater with a light black hoodie covered by a half-zipped, red fleece sweater. Her shorts were also replaced by green cargo pants, going along with black running shoes. She wrapped a bright-red headband around her head, behind the hair on her forehead, then covered it with the hoodie.

"Yay! You totes pull it off!" exclaimed Leni. "Here, Luan. Your clothes are right here!"

Leni walked to the clothing racks and grabbed Luan's newly sewn clothing. First, she introduced a leather jacket with an iced-coffee tint to it. She held it up in the air enticing Luan to feel its smooth texture. She lifted her finger and rubbed against the surface of the jacket before grabbing it softly.

Next, Leni held up a white T-shirt with an image sewn on it. It was a logo of a colon with a right parenthesis sign which got a giggle out of Luan.

Then, Leni passed her a yellow skirt along with black leggings for the winter. With the skirt was a pink belt, which was wide enough to hold a knife and gun holster. Though, Luan didn't have enough training with a gun of any sorts. She would waste a whole magazine of bullets before she could manage to hit the front skull of a roamer.

"This all looks great…" said Luan.

"Try the leather jacket!" said Leni. "I made it a little large, but you should grow into it. At least that's what Lisa said when she guessed what sizes you three would be."

"Mine fits, though," said Luna.

"Lisa said you weren't going to grow much taller. And she said Lynn still had a couple inches left in her. Same with Luan. So how's the sweater?"

"Feels comfortable! You're a fashion genius, Leni!"

Leni giggled as Luan chattered with her sisters. Lynn and Luna talked over each other, complimenting the warmth and coolness that their clothes brought.

Meanwhile, Becky told Dr. White and George what Lori told her. Dr. White was to assume the leadership while Lori was gone, and George was to be his right-hand man when he would recover from his injuries.

Dr. White walked to the barracks with a tray of canned beef and a couple spoonful of rice. Groups of civilians walked in and out of the barracks– which served as an apartment building for all of them. Many of them sacrificed their privacy for a normal environment of bunk beds and shared rooms. Some other civilians sacrificed an environment of conformity for privacy and safety in the prison cells. Even though the prisons did remind the civilians of their time when they were subjected to Black's experiment, they decided to change up its interior look, one step at a time.

First it was the dim lights replaced by the bright lamps and candles. Then, it was the concrete floor washed by someone who was a janitor in the days before the GIE. By the time the trio of girls arrived back home, the cells were decorated with family pictures and plants.

Dr. White entered the laboratory, shutting the door tightly as he continued to hold the tray of food in his hands. He walked towards a table and set it down, not saying a word to Lisa.

"Do you think we're making the right decision?" asked Lisa, her glasses reflecting a man in a chair.

"It's kind of necessary if we want to think long term," replied Dr. White, his glasses reflecting the man struggling to move. "But if you were asking about this being morally right, then no, this is most definitely right."

"One life for many," stated Lisa. "We should look into the insight of other people. What are the statistics of someone succumbing to the undead every day?"

"Too many," said Dr. White. "There's gotta be less than a million people alive in the world by now."

"And we can save them all if we have a cure. This is a necessary step. But like you said. It's not right. But it will be right. In the future, it will be right."

The man groaned as he spit the tape that he licked out of his mouth. His wrists were red as they were wrapped in duct tape. His uniform was torn open, exposing a wrapped wound in his chest. In his neck were dog tags that hung over his sweaty tank top. His slick, long brown hair hung over his pale face. He groaned and leaned to his shoulder, before realizing the collar for his green jacket was torn off.

"What do you need me for? For– for that thing over there?" panted the rogue.

The roamer in the corner of the lab, tied to a couple pipes in the wall by a chain, had its growls muffled by the tape in its mouth. The rogue man frantically searched for something in his clothing, but he was unable to find it.

"Looking for a way to incapacitate yourself permanently?" asked Lisa. "You cannot. We stripped the cyanide pills off your collar."

"What? You better explain what the fuck I'm doing here, little girl!"

"I'm testing a buffer that will act upon the infection that the K.H.A.N. has created. You know, the necrosis influenza of the rabies lyssavirus kind?"

The rogue gasped as he struggled to speak.

"The infection of the dead," explained Lisa. "It's more specific than roamer virus."

"Why don't you just call them zombies?" asked the rogue. "Or the infected?"

"Zombies are the kind you see in films, TV shows, video games, comic books, other forms of media, et cetera, et cetera! And the infected is a– its not completely accurate. Once a person turns, they aren't just infected. They're dead."

"You never payed attention to Black or I when we discussed this?" asked Dr. White.

"No, privates weren't allowed to hear this kinda shit. You forgot me already? Private Oliver Jett? Private Pretty Boy?"

"Nothing so pretty about your actions," commented Dr. White.

"You think I plow shit like the others? No, I'm not like them! I might do some dirty jobs, but that's what it is. A job. I don't stoop so low to enjoy the kind of shit I do. And you've seen it, doc! I know you have! I don't like getting my hair all bloody, remember?"

"Concerned more about your self-image more than the emotions of the people you inflicted pain upon?" questioned Lisa.

"You don't even know who the fuck we are!" yelled Jett. "We got families and shit, you know that, right? You, Dr. White, know that more than anything! Whole reason you in this bullshit! You see, little girl, I got two sons somewhere safe from this shithole! A son about your age, and a son about Zoey's age. Don't take this away from them. Don't let them grow in this world without their father."

The door to the lab opened. Lisa, Dr. White, and Jett turned towards the door and found someone walking inside. It was Hana.

Hana made a tiny wave at Lisa and the doctor before walking towards her beloved roamer in the corner of the wall.

" _Ogenkidesuka_ , _Reiji_?"

"Oh shit, it's this one," said Jett. "This is the same Japanese girl that slaughtered one of the female soldiers. She was going to be a mother. I used to not believe in the devil until I saw her. Happened more than a year ago…"

Hana continued talking to the roamer. Lisa and Dr. White observed her bizarre behavior as Jett continued telling his story.

"She just jumped down from the top of a tree and slaughtered three men. They were young too. Then, she just grabbed Amber– that was her name– and pointed the katana at my face. She already dropped her gun and she was basically unarmed. I had no choice but to unarm myself too. She continued holding her by her arms until she was closer to the woods, then… this bitch just stabs her through her stomach. Right where the baby was starting to grow. She ran away after that. And Amber… I tried to stop the bleeding… but I'm not a fucking doctor! I didn't know what to do, so she just bled out in my arms."

"I think I've heard enough," said Lisa as she handed a piece of cloth to Dr. White.

Dr. White wrapped the cloth around his mouth as he yelled. Then, Dr. White covered his eyes with a blindfold. Finally, he placed earbuds on the rogue's ears and played "Me Against the World" on the CD player that it was connected to.

"Is that true?" asked Lisa. "Did you perform all those actions?"

"They try to kill me and Kimi. Yes, I did. And no shame from it."

Hana left the laboratory, leaving Lisa astonished with what she just heard.

 **III - I Know Who Betrayed Us**

-Three Weeks Later-

Over the past three weeks, Lori has done a number of tasks for who she called the subway people. Waylon didn't take offense to this and even went along with it, knowing that Lori was carrying her own weight and more after that.

She has looted stores and buildings with people she didn't know. But she trusted them. She cleared out streets using weapons, both melee and ranged. She was even able to save the life of a survivor who had disappeared for a few days.

Through the rain, wind, and heat, she conquered it all. She wasn't just someone in control of a town full of survivors. She was a survivor herself– more than. Lori was a warrior who made it clear that she was able to adapt to a world of the undead.

However, it wasn't the undead that Lori was worried about. It was the same fear that Waylon had. Other survivors whose intentions weren't to rebuild civilization, but to take it down, piece by piece. And despite all the tests proving Lori's skill sets to be higher than others, Waylon hesitated in giving up some of his men and women to fight with her.

Lori and David ate dinner in the large open area that David called his room, despite not having four walls. The deer meat tasted worse than Lori expected. It was too chewy and the flavor strayed away from that of chicken and pork.

"You think I'm doing something wrong?" pondered Lori.

"What are you talking about?" wondered David.

"Waylon. Is there anything I'm doing that's irritating him? Or perhaps… does he feel threatened by me? Is that why he won't lend some of his people?"

"I thought it's because he's having trouble convincing them to follow you."

"Nah, that's literally bullshit. He's been testing my skills. He wants to see what I'm made of. I've been doing everything he asked… and more. I don't want to believe that he's just using me, so I'm asking– am I doing anything wrong?"

"Nothing at all," said David. "Maybe he wants his people to gain trust in you. Remember, they don't have any motive as of right now to defend Houlton. But they'll see. They'll see that they can build a relationship between their own community and yours."

"Yeah maybe."

Lori tore off another piece of deer meat and stuffed it in her mouth. She rubbed her hands against the floor and set her plate on the floor.

"I've noticed a while back, but I didn't want to say anything," said David. "What's with Missy's vest?"

"She was the strongest woman I ever knew besides my mother. I wear this to honor her and respect her last words. It's… my way of telling myself that I can lead these people and that I still have my humanity."

David looked below her vest and swallowed hard.

"What's with the Python?" he asked.

"It gives me strength," said Lori. "I took it from Carol right before I almost shot her in the head. I don't know how to explain it but there's something… symbolic about that revolver."

"Wait, hold up. You almost shot Carol in the head?"

"She was working with you-know-who. I was angry. My parents had just died and she was one of my closest friends who just abandoned me. She begged and begged… but at that moment, I wanted to shoot her so bad. But I didn't. And thank god I didn't. The guilt would've followed me for the rest of my life."

"I would know," said David. "I still have nightmares about that night. Sometimes I wish I could've just had a clear head… and let him live. But then I wake up, and I realize that I'm never going to wake up next to my wife again. And I could never have a beer with my best friend."

"Is that why you still carry that rifle around?"

Lori pointed at the rifle under the bench near his mattress. It was Bill's Ruger, which Richard had took as his own, and now David has claimed ownership.

"You have your gun. I have my gun," said David. "Ain't nothing much to it. They're just things we use to protect ourselves. Nothing more."

"I'm feeling exhausted," said Lori.

"I'll get the candles."

David stood up and blew the candles out. Lori lied on her sleeping bag and closed her eyes, knowing that despite how conflicted David was, she felt safe.

-One Week Later-

The militia members guarding the church allowed Dr. White to enter the cemetery. He walked to the tombstones and found Pike where he thought he would be at. He was kneeling by a wooden cross. The doctor walked up to him and tapped him in the back.

"Pike. I know how you're feeling right now. It's not so easy losing a close friend, especially by someone you used to look up to."

"I never looked up to General Black," said Pike. "I do not look up to anyone! Not even Lori!"

"Look, Pike. People are more worried than ever. Sure, most of the town received gun training from George, but they would feel better knowing that someone specialized in weaponry is guarding the area."

"Well fuck them. I am not anyone's slave. I need some time alone outside of this goddamn town."

"Are you taking the truck?"

"Don't worry, I'll bring back something worthwhile. Will timber satisfy you… doctor?"

"Just be back by evening so we can discuss Donovan's plan."

Pike nodded and left the cemetery. Kathy, who was one of the militia members guarding the church walked to Dr. White.

"Should we stop him?"

Dr. White shook his head.

"Leave it. It takes more than a month to handle the loss of a close friend."

Pike opened a door and went inside a military truck. It held crates– some empty and some partially filled with firewood and timber. He closed the door and started the truck, eventually heading out of the town. He waved at the doctor and passed by the burnt houses slowly.

As the truck began to pick up speed, Lynn popped out from the back of her former home and chased after the truck. She tossed the bow through the green back fabric and into the back trunk. Then, she ran as fast as she could and leaped inside like a rabbit.

"What the hell?" gasped Dr. White.

"We'll get her," said Becky.

Becky, Hana, and Luan entered their RV. Lynn lifted the fabric open and waved her walkie-talkie around. Becky turned on her walkie-talkie. She was about to speak when Luan jumped in.

"Lynn! What the hell are you doing?"

"This is a part of the plan," she replied.

"What plan?"

"I didn't tell you guys the plan?" asked Lynn.

"All you told us was to stand outside the church and guard it! Wha– what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Stay back for a little. Let Pike drive over the hill and do not let him see you. Just hang back until the truck is out of sight. We don't want him to think that he is following you."

Hana stopped before she left Houlton. The truck went over and down the hill, disappearing from sight.

"Why are we following Pike?" asked Becky.

"To find out what he's up to. He's been acting like a total weirdo lately. He leaves very often and doesn't come back after a long time. Don't you think that's strange… with our siege enacted?"

Hana started the RV. She drove up the hill slowly, eventually making it to the top, and when she did, the truck was gone.

For an hour, Pike remained unaware of the RV following it. He made turns and stops, which Lynn told the trio in the RV about. Then, he made one final stop.

The truck halted near an eerie looking part of the woods. Roadkill lied by a dirt path for pedestrians. Lynn whispered into the walkie-talkie before turning it off.

Pike exited his vehicle, clearing his throat before he hummed the national anthem of a country that lied in ruins. He walked to the trunk of the truck and hopped inside, moving around boxes in the darkness. Lynn hid in an empty crate. Pike got closer and closer until he laid his hands on her crate. He picked it up but groaned and dropped it down.

"Too heavy," he said to himself.

Lynn kept herself quiet as she rubbed her back, hearing Pike move around more crates. He then grabbed one and picked it up, sighing in relief as he turned around and leaped out of the truck.

He followed the dirt path while carrying the crate of firewood. From a hundred feet away, Becky, Hana, and Luan followed Pike. They carried the same weapons they did when they visited Donovan and they remained low like they did when they walked to his tent.

After a couple minutes, Pike arrived at a camp with his firewood. He passed by a couple tents and continued on before stopping next to a rogue soldier.

"Some extra firewood. Consider it a gift," said Pike.

"Greatly appreciated," said Coal. "You know what you're meeting us for."

The girls hid behind a line of wide trees and thick shrubs. Pike handed the note that Donovan hid in Leni's wardrobe a month back. Coal opened it up and read it.

"My suspicions were correct," said Pike. "It's just one man. It's Donovan. That's your confirmation."

"The General's going to love this. Remember. We have a chopper waiting for you at the base."

Pike nodded as he headed back to the trail. He walked past the trees, unaware of who were hiding behind them. After Pike disappeared, Hana stood up from where she hid.

"What are you doing?" whispered Luan.

"Finish what they start."

Hana snuck into the camp and waited for one of the three rogues to come out. One of them came out from her tent, and she was met with a mouthful of katana. One of the rogues came out from his tent with his gun and aimed it at Hana. Becky aimed her suppressed pistol at the rogue and shot him in the chest, then his face. Hana ran towards Coal and swung down the katana to his shoulder. A second after, he was shot in the chest with Becky's pistol and was dropped down to the ground. Hana raised her katana to stab his head, but decided to leave him be.

"Let one man eat his friends," she said.

Luan stayed back and felt her heart beat faster. She watched Hana pick up the dog tags and Becky running back to where the RV was. Luan followed her, shaking off the image from her head.

Meanwhile, in Augusta, Lori and David were inside a hardware store. Lori knocked a roamer out of her way with a flashlight before stabbing it with her knife. David crouched down and stabbed a roamer who was stuck under a pile of shelves that fell.

"Swarm!" warned Lori.

David took out his pistol and faced the group of approaching roamers from one side as Lori faced the other group in the opposite side. He aimed his pistol at the incoming roamers and pulled the trigger in a repeating pattern. Lori aimed her revolver at the roamers and shot it at a rapid succession before taking out her AK. She gunned down the rest of the roamers before David made his last shot.

"Not bad," said David. "You probably wanna work on that trigger finger though."

"Literally, right?" chuckled Lori. "Well, here it is. Mold and mildew remover. From the looks of the station, they're gonna need a chock full of it."

"Can't argue against that," said David.

David and Lori made their way to Waylon's office when they were stopped by the leader himself.

"We got your mold and mildew–" said David.

"Yeah, yeah, can you put it in that closet over there?" interrupted Waylon.

David nodded and walked over to the closet. Waylon turned towards Lori, making it clear with his facial expressions that he wanted to talk to her alone.

"Look, after weeks of persuasion and questioning, I didn't get any good answers. That manpower you may seek– they don't feel that they want to be a part of it. That goes for everyone I asked."

"So that means…" gasped Lori.

"No one wants to go fight for you Lori. You weren't able to convince anyone. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," said Lori, tossing Waylon his flashlight back. "I'm here for only one man anyways."

Lori joined David as they walked back to his room. Waylon kept his chin high as he swallowed hard. He rubbed his head and headed back into the office, before whispering to himself.

"It wasn't going to be worth it. It wasn't."

Lori and David sat in their benches in the cafeteria. Lori ate a cup of pudding that she was able to find in the hardware store. The pudding added to her indignant mood as it tasted bitter.

"So what are you going to do now?" asked David.

"Dr. White suggested an alternative. D.C. It would make sense. We could send him and Lisa over there. But I'm going to stay and fight. Black may seem intimidating but we outnumber him now. We just have to hope for the best."

"What do you want me to do?" asked David. "'Cause I'm not going back."

"I know. I want you to go to D.C. with Dr. White and Lisa. They are literally holding our future in their… glass tubes."

David seemed distraught. He lowered his head and nervously jiggled his fingers around."

"You're thinking of going somewhere else, aren't ya?" asked Lori.

"I'm going to admit it. I want to go to Miami."

"Miami?"

"My son… he went to college there. I doubt he might be there, though. He could be in Key West or– hell, he could be across the country. Think he's in New York?"

"Whatever is left of it? No, I don't think so. That's a very long trip."

"We took a very long trip in the span of three months," said David. "It's been almost two years. I worry every day for him. Believing that he's still out there… that's what keeps me going, Lori."

Lori tossed her pudding to a trashcan and nodded at David.

"Family is everything, right?"

Hana drove the RV, following the truck as it continued heading more southward. Lynn remained in the truck, updating the group about Pike's position. Luan remained seated on the passenger seat, staring ahead in the empty road.

"I can't believe Pike would do that," she said, holding the walkie-talkie. "Pike's been working for Black behind our back! Even Buck died for us!"

"That's why they found Buck instead of Pike in the sewers," said Lynn. "They didn't want to look for Pike. They only wanted Buck."

The truck picked up speed.

"That's why I looked into Pike," continued Lynn. "I knew something was up. I've been following him–"

The walkie-talkie crackled. Luan leaned closer to the walkie-talkie.

"Lynn? Lynn? Damn it. I think we're out of range."

"We're really behind then," said Becky. "Hana, can you pick up the speed?"

The truck came to a stop. Lynn looked around and turned on her walkie-talkie when she suddenly heard Pike humming again. And it wasn't an anthem. Lynn turned off her walkie-talkie as the humming grew louder.

"Try speaking again," said Becky.

"Lynn, can you hear me? Lynn!"

Luan sighed, knowing that no matter how loud she spoke, Lynn wasn't going to hear her. But she didn't know why.

"We should be getting closer! Spednic Lake is kinda close now!" said Luan. "We've been driving this fast and we still haven't– oh shit."

As the RV drove along a curve, they spotted the truck waiting for them, dozens of yards away. Hana slowed down the vehicle and saw Pike's face of surprise.

"I fucking knew it," said Pike.

Pike ran inside his truck as Hana began to accelerate her vehicle. Pike started his vehicle before finding the RV right on his tail.

"Hey, move!" shrieked Luan. "Lynn is still in there!"

Hana turned the RV, narrowly missing the rear part of the truck. She turned the RV to bump the side of the truck, but Pike kept it steady. Instead, he increased his speed.

Lynn held on to the metal bars on the interior sides of the trunk. The crates rocked around the trunk, smashing against each other. She swayed left and right as the car chase became more intense. She looked out of the green fabric and realized that the truck was going way above the speed limit, not that Lynn thought Pike or anyone would follow it, but now she feared for her safety.

"Slow the fuck down, bitch!" groaned Lynn.

Suddenly, Pike pressed the brakes on the truck as hard as he could, causing the truck to slide across the road. The crates were tossed deeper into the trunk, some of them smacking against Lynn, causing her to lose her grip on the bars. She also lost her balance and was tossed along with crates.

Hana struggled to brake along with the truck, sliding even further out, since the wheels on her vehicle did not have as much friction as the ones on the truck. By the time the RV came to a complete stop, Pike had already dashed out his truck and into the woods, carrying a rifle, a pistol, and a knife.

Hana, Becky, and Luan grabbed their weapons and ran out the RV, chasing after Pike in the woods. Pike grabbed his rifle and shot back at the girls, making them jump for cover. He repeated this strategy, taking him further and further away from the girls. Then, Becky knelt to the ground and aimed her pistol at him. She pulled the trigger a couple times, hitting Pike in the back once. However, his vest caught the bullet, and he was able to run further.

Hana ran ahead of the girls, placing her katana back into her sheath and just relying on her feet. Pike panted as his armor began to take a toll on his stamina. Becky continued to fire onto Pike, until he leaped behind a tree for cover.

He aimed his rifle at Hana and shot a couple times before running out of ammo. She leaped out of the bullet's path in time and hid behind her own tree. Becky moved closer with her pistol and saw Pike. She shot him once, running out of ammo herself.

"Shit! Luan, shoot him, he's open!"

Luan aimed her pistol at Pike, but hesitated to pull the trigger. She had the sights around his head as he was distracted with Hana. but she couldn't do it.

"Here," said Luan, handing her pistol to Becky. "Sorry. I can't do it."

Becky grabbed the pistol and prepared to aim at Pike when suddenly, he pulled out his own pistol and fired onto the group. The girls remained low, and when they rose up again, they found him fleeing again.

Pike wheezed as he struggled to take his armor off. He knew that if he wanted to make it back to the military base at Spednic Lake, he needed to run with the least amount of weight on him.

Becky continued firing as she ran, but the bullets ran out faster than she could run. Pike noticed this and removed the armor in his legs. However, the girls continued to catch up to him.

He grabbed the knife in his vest and spun around, tossing the knife at Becky. She covered her face with her arms, but the knife didn't strike her. It hit the tree next to her.

Becky grabbed the knife from the tree and ran after Pike. But he was getting away.

Pike ran along a ditch and found another road ahead. He smiled as he knew he was getting much closer to the base. He prepared to cross the road when he heard a vehicle coming from the road. He ran towards the vehicle, hoping that his rogue friends would help him out. However, there was something familiar about the vehicle.

It was his own truck.

Pike turned around and found Hana coming after him with her katana. He ran along the ditch away from the truck as Hana leaped out of its way. The truck drifted off from the road and drove into the ditch.

"No, no, no!" screamed Pike.

The truck slammed into Pike as it went down the ditch. The truck kept on going and smashed into a tree, tossing Pike into another tree, his body finally hitting the ground a second later.

Hana panted as Becky and Luan gasped in shock. Lynn came out from the driver's seat, blood leaking from her forehead.

"I got him," panted Lynn.

The girls walked up to Pike's mangled body. The vest remained intact, but his limbs were all turning the wrong sides, with a bone popping out from one of his legs. Luan held her chest and puked into the ground, wheezing right after.

Lynn rubbed her forehead, wincing at the pain in her head and the sight of a katana being driven down Pike's head. Hana grabbed the bloody dog tags from his neck and wiped it against her pants before hanging it around her belt.

"We put his head on stick," said Hana. "Scare rogues away."

"Putting Pike's head on a pike?" groaned Luan. "We're not savages, Hana."

Becky looked at the knife she held. She found the finger holes in the handle and recognized it as Wavehead's knife. But she was told by Carol, countless of times that it was Dana's. Pike had just been carrying it the whole time after her death.

"They would do the same to us," said Becky. "We should go. The rogues are going to look for us. I'm not trying to have my own head in a pike."

The girls crossed the road and made their way closer to Spednic Lake. Even though none of them said anything, they all knew they had to see it.

 **IV - Where The Dead Are Born**

Meanwhile, back in Houlton, George was training many civilians in shooting. The militia was disbanded now that more than half the town's population were equipped with guns. Clyde remained a bad shot, since he was very new to guns. Rusty tried shooting with him, but Mr. Spokes wouldn't allow it, emphasizing spending more time together as father and son.

Luna looked unto the civilians in the runway, thinking about the people she was training. Bobby then walked up to her.

"Hey, Luna? Can you help me with something?"

"Sure thing," smiled Luna.

A lantern lit up the cabin in the Irish Settlement, a mile from Houlton. Bobby walked around, looking for the bedroom.

"Here it is," he said. "When I gave Lori that promise ring, it fit. Think these rings will fit too?"

Luna's face radiated with glee as she stared at the shiny engagement rings and wedding rings. She nodded her head and punched Bobby in the shoulder lightly.

"After a long month away from you, she'll be dying to see you, dude. Man, if you propose to her, you'll make her so damn happy– I'm already excited thinking about it!"

"I wish it was under different circumstances," said Bobby. "She might think this is silly."

"Nah, dude. She loves you. I know it seems a little weird considering the world we live in, but trust me… she would love to be with you forever."

"I might have to skip out on the wedding though, right?"

"She's gonna want a wedding too, brah."

Bobby let out a laugh. Luna held out her fist. Bobby smiled and bumped it.

Back in the lab, Lisa continued to observe the white mouse that she injected a solution into. A tiny mark on its back showed a sign that it was infected by a roamer's saliva. It was oozing strange liquids, but the mouse seemed to be fine. At least it was until a couple minutes later.

The mouse had slow movements and refused to eat. It scratched itself and laid low in its cage. Then, the mouse stopped moving. It died.

"AHH!" yelled Jett. "Turn it off! Turn the music off!"

Lisa sighed as Dr. White walked over to the rogue. The doctor removed his earbuds and his blindfold. He grabbed a cup of water and fed it to the rogue.

"How could you not enjoy west coast rap?" sighed Lisa.

"Look, I respect Tupac and all, but he's in my fucking brain! Just let me go. I don't want to be like… those rats."

"These are mice," said Lisa. "And you really believe I'll let you go? I may be a kid, but I am not stupid."

"How was the experiment, Lisa?" asked Dr. White.

"Better than I hypothesized!" answered Lisa. "When I infected the mice, they all succumbed to the necrosis flu in a matter of minutes. Then, I added an inhibitor to Jerry, the mouse that just died. His enzymes were disabled, thus preventing the infection from consuming his skin properly. But his body fought and fought… and he died two hours later from what appears to be asphyxiation."

"By blocking the enzymes, you were able to stop the infection…"

"...but I also paralyzed him in the process."

"This is not going to stop the brain from shifting into roamer mode," said Dr. White. "The infection is still present in our body."

"I realize that. I just have to figure out a way to get the lymphocytes to act upon the infection in time before the subject becomes permanently paralyzed. Once I can figure that out, the next step would be to remove the inhibitors and inject new enzymes back into the body."

"You're– you're gonna do all that to me?" asked Jett. "Can't you find someone else to test? Please, I don't wanna be your lab rat."

"I made the choice already," said Dr. White. "It's what you get for watching mankind commit some of the worsts crimes unimaginable… and being on their side."

"You were once on our side," said Jett. "Don't forget that!"

Dr. White placed the earbuds and the blindfold back on the rogue.

"Do you know anything about his sons?" asked Lisa. "He mentioned–"

"He's lying," said Dr. White. "Don't need lie-detecting glasses to figure that out."

Footsteps moved around the woods, amplified by the snapping of twigs and the rustling of leaves. The girls hid behind the trees, trying their hardest to not make a sound. They were so close to Spednic Lake too. So close.

"It's that bitch with the katana and her friends!" exclaimed one of the rogues. "Sick fucks, just leaving his body all fucked up like that!"

"Watch your head," said one of the older rogues. "They were clearly armed. You don't want to be caught off-guard."

Becky looked at the magazine in her gun. It was out. She looked at Luan, who covered her mouth as she panted hard. Lynn grabbed her bow and looked at Hana. Hana looked at a couple roamers at the distance and nodded.

Hana nudged the girls and pointed at the roamers in the distance. She then made a signal with her fingers. They all knew what she wanted. Use the roamers to separate the rogues then pick them off one by one.

Hana snuck towards the roamers and walked around, gathering a swarm of them. Becky and Luan snuck away from the roamers and far away from the rogues. Lynn walked closer to the rogues, but away from the roamers.

Hana led the roamers closer and closer to the rogues and quickly ran away from them, creating loud footsteps and catching the rogues' attentions.

"Over there!" exclaimed one of the rogues. "I heard someone!"

One of the privates moved forward and was met with a roamer who grabbed him by the shoulders. The rogue yelled as the roamer sunk its teeth down his neck. The other rogues quickly shot the roamer and aimed their guns at the other roamers that approached them.

Suddenly, an arrow flew across the air and went through the helmet of a corporal that stood next to the older rogue.

"Shit!" exclaimed the older rogue. "Move, move, move!"

The rogues ran away from the roamers who knelt down to devour the rogue with the arrow in his head. Lynn hid behind a tree and found a rogue by himself. She ran after him and tackled him to the ground. Before he took out his sidearm, she grabbed her arrow from her quiver and lifted his head up. Then, she swung the arrow down his neck and ripped it out. The rogue gasped as he choked on his blood, and Lynn stood up, held the red arrow in her hands, and left him to be consumed by a roamer.

Another rogue ran to where Becky and Luan hid. Becky grabbed his legs and stabbed it with her knife, knocking him to the ground. She quickly crawled to him and stabbed him through his eye, preventing him from becoming a roamer right away. She grabbed pistol mags from his vest and reloaded her sidearm.

She found another rogue coming her way, and before he could lift his gun, Becky fired a couple shots onto him. She picked up the armor of the rogue she stabbed and placed it on before running away with Luan.

The older rogue looked around, running without his guns. He was then stopped by Hana, who pointed the edge of her blade onto his face. He sighed and went down on his knee.

"Please let me go. I promise I won't tell anyone about this. I just want to go back home and enjoy some tennis with my–"

Hana swung her sword and decapitated the older rogue. She knelt down and looked around his neck for a dog tag. But he didn't have one. Lynn, Becky, and Luan met up with Hana.

"What's wrong?" asked Luan. "What are you looking for?"

"Tags," answered Hana.

She reached into his pockets and took out his dog tags. But something fell out. It was a picture of the older rogue and a teenage girl, both in running outfits. She held a piece of paper that stated, "Winners of the 2015 Father-and-Daughter 5K Run."

The girls all held their breaths as Hana gulped. She stood up and dropped the paper, before heading forward to Spednic Lake. Hana lowered her head while Luan formed a small tear in her eye. She rubbed her eye and continued onwards to Spednic Lake.

The sun began to set down when the girls found a giant tower with a couple rogues guarding it. They snuck across a small bridge and found a mesh fence with barbed wire on top. They hid in the cover of the trees and bushes– nature hides them the best.

They saw rogues marching across the base and other rogues training and exercising. Captain Moss was testing his squad's coordination. Sergeant Brick and Hoover were bringing food to a couple wounded rogues. Lieutenant Lead walked around with General Black to his tent. Then, suddenly, he came out from his tent with a wounded Coal by his side.

Hana felt her heart drop. She thought she killed him. He should've bled out. How did he not?

Then a truck approached his tent. Sage and Jade came out of the truck, dragging a familiar face. The girls watched in horror as they saw Donovan flailing around.

"Oh no…" gasped Becky. "We failed. They got him…."

Black swaggered his way to the Humvee and stopped before Donovan. The surrounding rogues watched as Black began to speak.

"Donovan, Donovan, Donovan. I can't express how angry I am with you. So angry, that screaming until you die won't do."

"Then, don't scream," said Donovan. "Whatever you think I did, I didn't do it!"

Black tossed the note at the medic.

"Then, what the fuck is that?"

Donovan looked at the note and quickly looked back at the general.

"Sir, that was a mistake. This is all a misunderstanding. Please! Can't you give me a chance to explain?"

"I knew there was a traitor among us," said Black. "I just didn't think it was you. And now you want to lie to me? I hate liars."

"I'm sorry," whimpered Donovan.

Black raised his Desert Eagle and shot the plate of the medic's skull off. The rogues were all a little bit surprised, even Lead. They were close, and Black didn't even hesitate to execute him.

"I'm not sorry. You weren't my brother. You were just one man."

Luan began tearing up. Her memories were attacking her again. The image of Lynn Sr. appeared on the dead medic's face again.

"Please calm down," said Lynn. "Come on, he was just another rogue."

Luan tried catching a breath of air as her heart began to pound against her chest.

"She remembering," said Hana. "That night. When your mother and father…"

"Oh, damn…" whispered Lynn. "I know it hurts, Luan. It's okay. It's alright, I'm here."

Lynn held Luan's head against her chest as she released her tears quietly. Becky looked towards the base somberly before realizing that Captain Moss spotted them.

"Oh fuck!" exclaimed Becky. "That guy, Moss! He found us! We have to go!"

Luan picked herself up and was tugged by Lynn. The girls ran away from the base as Captain Moss yelled after them.

"They're here!" yelled Moss.

"Capture them," said Black. "We just got ourselves insurance!"

Captain Moss and his rogues ran towards their vehicles and headed out the base. The girls ran across the bridge as the rogues fired onto the ground. They ran into the woods, rendering the rogue guards useless. It was up to Moss to hunt them down.

The sunset marked the end of the day for the subway people in Augusta. Lori looked into the metro maps in the wall of the room.

"What are you thinking about?" asked David.

"Home," said Lori. "All this talk about Houlton, D.C., and Miami… I didn't have much time to think about Royal Woods."

"Well, a park in there was burned to hell. Much of the town is infested with roamers. There aren't many supplies in the town. It's easy to see why you didn't think much of it."

"But it was my home. For seventeen years, I lived there. Even though it has its problems… I wonder how it would be if I return. Will it feel like home? Or is it just another place that was lost to the dead?"

Lori turned towards David.

"There is a place out there called the Wasteland. I told you about it. Did you know that for months, I've been trying to look for it?"

"I didn't know that."

"I've been thinking that maybe… just maybe… it could have a clue about the location of the K.H.A.N. Maybe that's why I don't wanna go home yet. Houlton is so close– it must be close to the K.H.A.N. Remember what Gerald Brooker said in the tape? Don't go to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Maine… because of the K.H.A.N. We've been to New Brunswick, and we are sure as hell in Maine. What about Prince Edward and Nova Scotia?"

David nodded.

"All this time…" said Lori. "I've been focusing on one man. I held repressed memories about an encounter with a woman. Everyday, the memories come to me. The woman– her name was Krissen. Doesn't that sound familiar?"

"That's the leader of the K.H.A.N."

"Yeah, exactly. Ever since that medic started working with us, I've been remembering more about her. I have a bigger mission, David. We have to make this cure happen. Then we have to find out more about the K.H.A.N. and stop them from subjecting our people to experimentation. And the first step to doing that is stopping Black."

David clapped softly.

"Wow. Just… wow."

"What?" Lori chuckled nervously.

"When I first met you, I thought you were just a fragile teenage girl with insecurities. I saw your big family and I thought… you had too much to lose. But looking back at it… you can handle it. In truth, I thought I had very little to lose… then I realized. I only had a little left to lose… and when I lost it… I lost it all. I lost everything and everyone."

"You didn't lose me," said Lori,

"And you didn't lose me either," said David. "Pack up your bags. We're going back to Houlton."

Lori gasped.

"Really? We're going right now."

David laughed softly and nodded. Lori grabbed her bag and began preparing to head back home.

After a few minutes, they passed by Waylon's office. Lori knocked on his door.

Waylon opened the door and nodded.

"It's you. What is it?" he asked.

"I convinced him. We're going back home."

"You convinced him to leave this town? Congratulations! I did not think you had it in you! Good luck on your fight. And remember, you are always welcomed here."

Lori nodded. He walked back with David.

"We're finally going home," sighed Lori.

The darkness set upon the woods near the hornet's nest. Hearts pounded, faces sweated, bodies shivered. Luan sniffled as the flashlights moved around the black woods.

"They're not far," said Moss. "They can't run that fast."

Mice scurried around the field, while nocturnal birds flapped their wings away from the rogues. The wind was still, and the air remained frozen in time.

Hana crawled into the ground, realizing that the dog tags were all clacking against each other. She quickly stood up and remained still as the rogues pointed the flashlight to where she was.

Lynn moved past a rogue while holding her arrow. But then she realized that it only took one alerted rogue to put the girls in jeopardy.

The girls snuck their way to the road where they found a couple rogues by Pike and his truck.

"What do we do?" whispered Becky.

"You're gonna use your pistol to kill those two rogues in the sides," said Lynn. "I'll get the one in the middle. After that, we run like hell to the other side."

Becky nodded. Lynn pulled back the arrow on her bow and released it, striking the rogue in the middle. Becky shot the rogue on the left twice and the rogue in the right three times.

Hana and Luan ran ahead with Lynn and Becky behind them. The rogues behind them heard the noise of the suppressed gunshots and headed for the road.

"Shit!" exclaimed Lynn. "I can't see! It's too dark!"

"Just hide! Hide!" whispered Becky.

Moss and the other rogues approached the girls. They moved their flashlights more quickly and they scouted the area more intensely. Lynn closed her eyes and took a deep yet quiet exhale. She looked at the girls.

"I got you into this mess and I'm getting you out of it," she whispered. "Run."

Lynn snuck past the rogues before sprinting away, causing a lot of noise. Some rogues chased after Lynn. Some rogues.

Becky, Hana, and Luan ran in the direction of the RV, catching the attention of the rest of the rogues, including Moss. They fired their guns at the girls, purposely missing them.

The barks flew out of the tree. Dirt and leaves were tossed a few inches into the air. Shrubs violently shook as the bullets tore through them.

Hana unsheathed her sword and ran away from Becky and Luan. Half of the rogues chased after Hana, while the other half continued running after Becky and Luan.

Lynn panted heavily while hiding behind a tree. The rogues approached from the left and right, while she nervously held an arrow. With each footsteps, her breaths grew heavier. Then, she popped out from the tree and swung her arrow to the rogue on her left. But the rogue grabbed her arm, pulled the arrow out of her hand, and shoved her against the tree. Another rogue came and smacked the butt of his gun on her jaw, knocking her unconscious.

That was one down, three to go.

Hana leaped up to a nearby tree. She grabbed a sturdy branch and lifted her foot on it. She tried bring her other leg to the branch but a rogue shot her hanging leg. Her grip loosened on the branch and she slipped down the tree before falling on her back. The rogues surrounded her, and before she tried unsheathing her katana, she was whacked in the head with a gun.

"We got the Japanese girl," said Jade, the rogue who shot her. "Status?"

"We're chasing the redhead and a Loud!" yelled Moss.

The flashlights caught the trail that both girls left behind. Moss and the other rogues were catching up to the noise and panic that the girls created. Then, the girls came across the roamers that popped from a tree.

Luan shrieked as a roamer lunged towards her, dropping her to the ground. She struggled to kick the roamer away as it began to grab her leather jacket. She pushed against its head causing the roamer to sink its nails into her skin. Or at least it tried to.

The rogues shot the roamer that were once their friend. Luan looked up and lifted her arms before checking her jacket.

No holes, tears, rips.

She sighed, though her voice trembled. Sage lifted her up and held her at gunpoint as they walked back to the base.

Becky rocked her arms back and forth, her feet front and back. She panted and gasped for help– a certain kind of help that hid a voice of despair underneath– though there was no one around to hear but the dead and the rogues who chased her to what felt like the end of time, but was in reality only the passing of a couple minutes. The roamers were gunned down by the rogues who were able to find them through the help of their flashlights, and did not pose a threat to Becky– who was more worried about the armed men behind her. Even with their armor, the rogues were catching up to the redheaded girl, but her stamina– powered by intense fear and adrenaline– outlasted almost all of the rogues. All of the rogues except Moss.

Moss was determined to catch Becky. She smacked a couple branches. He dodged under them and shot a couple bullets at her with a pistol. She moved out of the way, though her vest did catch one sharp bullet. In return, she fired her own pistol, but Moss was too armored to take down with a couple 9mm bullets.

Becky finally reached the RV before Moss was able to catch up to her. The door remained open so she leaped inside the vehicle. Moss crouched and lifted his assault rifle, pulling the trigger as Becky drove away with the door open. The bullets tore through the side of the vehicle as Becky closed the door. The RV turned and drove away in the road, but was followed by a Humvee.

Moss went inside the Humvee and gave the driver orders to go faster. Becky continued driving the RV away from the Humvee until she spotted the three-way intersection. But before she was able to drive straight ahead, a couple armored vehicles blocked the intersection. She continued to accelerate the speed of her RV, prompting the rogues in the vehicles to mount into their gunner seats.

They fired the machine gun. However, Becky pulled her steering wheel counterclockwise and drove out of the road into the woods. She crossed into a sparse section before entering the road that led back to another town. The bullets followed the RV, though Becky picked up her speed and moved in a zigzag, dodging more bullets.

The rogue driver following the RV tried to enter the woods but crashed into a tree. Moss flung forward and hit the dashboard. Groaning, he exited the vehicle and stared into the distance of the road, wiping the blood away from his nose.

The RV escaped into the night horizon. And it headed for Medway instead of Houlton.

The sun rose over the hills in the distance. The birds chirped and the insects buzzed. Jace's lizards ate a fly in the corner of his bunk bed. Water dripped from the IV bag to the floor as Haley slept. The light entered to the prisons, causing George to blink his eyes as he awoke. Sergei yawned and stretched as he was ready to switch his shift to Kotaro.

But then he saw an RV from the distance.

"They're back," said Sergei.

"Who's back?" asked Kotaro.

"Becky, Hana, Luan, and Lynn. Wait, nyet! That's not their RV. It's… wow. I haven't seen that metal box in a year."

The RV drove through the burnt town. David was surprised at the sight, even more so after finding a roamer wandering in the street he resided in. He kept on driving, making a turn towards the gates outside the infirmary.

Sergei opened the gates and allowed the RV to come inside. After finding a place to park, David exited his vehicle, revealing his thin-bearded face. He kept his shades and his beanie hat on. Lori exited the RV too, walking alongside David.

"Oh, David, long time no see!" said Sergei. "What's with ragged face? Haha! You're not the only one."

"It's good to see you too, Sergei," smiled David. "The town is smaller. Yet it looks… bigger."

"We're very close as a community," said Lori. "Everyone in this town has been preparing to fight against Black and his army."

"Speaking of…" said David, "...we have to start preparing."

"If Lisa's been correctly keeping track– which I know she has– then tomorrow will be July 1st. And I know Black's gonna plan something. He loves his dates."

Lori walked towards the barracks before finding Bobby walking with Luna. He quickly hid something behind his back as he stood nervously.

"Bobby Boo-Boo Bear!" exclaimed Lori, as she ran to Bobby, hugging him.

"Babe! It's been a really long time!" said Bobby before turning towards David. "Nice to have you back! Sorry for taking your moment away."

"This is what I wanted to see," replied David. "Happiness."

Lori kissed Bobby before walking towards Luna and giving her a hug.

"Where should I head first?" asked Lori. "The lab, the infirmary, or our room?"

"Nowhere, dude!" said Luna. "Everyone's asleep. Just take a walk with the B!"

Lori smiled and nodded. Luna motioned David to follow her as the couple walked away.

Bobby led Lori to the former center of town. The park was safe enough for Bobby to enact his plan. They walked in the soft grass. And through the warm air. And by a flew flowers that survived the napalm bombing.

Bobby stopped by the bank of the pond that stood in the middle of the park. Lori stood next to him in the slope, staring at the gleaming reflection that made the pond so beautiful and so romantic.

"This is so nice, Bobby," sighed Lori. "After a month of working my ass off… I really needed this with the man I love."

"I made you happy didn't I?" said Bobby.

Lori wrapped her arms around Bobby's shoulders. She nodded and kissed him, and again and again, becoming more passionate with each touch. Bobby took out the box from his back pocket and released his shoulders from Lori's grip. He walked backwards before stumbling and dropping his box to the ground. The box rolled down the slope.

"No!" exclaimed Bobby.

Bobby leaped to the ground and grabbed the tiny box before it touched the pond.

"Bobby? What's wrong?"

He sighed and shook his head while placing his left knee on the ground.

"Nothing, babe. I was just going to ask you something."

Bobby opened the tiny box and Lori squealed in ecstasy.

"Will you make me the happiest man in the world?"

Lori was speechless. All she could do is nod. Bobby smiled as he stood up, wrapping his arms around her.

Luna and David watched from a small distance away. They both smiled, with Luna unable to hide her glee. Lori raised her leg as she kissed Bobby. After they shared a loving kiss, Bobby removed the ring from the box and placed it in Lori's ring finger. She continued to squeal, though more softly this time around. It was the happiest moment in the calm before the storm.

Luan gasped as water was dumped on her face. Lynn shook her head, tossing water droplets everywhere with her hair. Hana coughed out water from her mouth, gasping for air. The rogues lied Hana on the table, wrapped her face with a towel, and dumped water on her face again.

Then, the girls were dragged out of the tent and were face to face with Black. He snickered before standing in front of his army.

"Soldiers! We will march into the town of Houlton and continue to lay siege until Lori surrenders! That's the plan at least! But plans always go sideways! So, this is what we're going to do. We will use Hana Konda! Lynn Loud! And Luan Loud! We will use them to force Lori to surrender herself, David Jones, and Vonda Crowley! That will be the last chance! And if they refuse…!"

Black looked at Luan, Lynn, and Hana before facing the rogues again.

"...we will destroy the entire town! And we will slaughter everyone and everything! You shoot to kill! And you will kill everyone!

The rogues began cheering. Luan looked around. The army wasn't as large as she thought. But their strength– their firepower made their size truly massive. The equipment they brought. Tanks, artillery, rockets. They were ready to end everyone in Houlton.

Luan trembled as the rogues cheered louder and louder.

Tomorrow… the storm would come.

One tremendous storm.


	20. Siege

_**It's time. Probably the fastest time I took to write a chapter. And probably the longest I took to edit it. I had this specific chapter planned out before I even started this story. I finally wrote it. Also, before we get into the story, I just wanted to say thank you, guys and gals for 10k+ views! If you enjoyed, don't hesitate to follow this story! Now, let's get to it!**_

* * *

"Oh my goodness," said Maria.

"You're gonna have to watch your back," said Tim.

Both adults looked around their surroundings. Tim continued looking around the burnt city. Detroit was in bad shape– in worse shape than it had before the Global Infection Event.

They walked past the entrance gate and made their way close to an alley by Building A. Tim went over the short fence and waited for Maria to enter.

"I don't know about this," she trembled.

"It's okay. Just keep wearing the guts. I'll smear some fresh ones on myself."

Maria sighed and handed Carlitos to a man she just met. She climbed over the fence and looked around the alley. There were bodies of the dead, riddle with diseases and other sorts of maladies. She grabbed Carlitos back and kept him away from the flies that hovered above the corpses.

"Follow me," said Tim as he entered Building A. "Come inside."

Maria walked inside Building A and witnessed the horror that was left behind. She kept Carlitos hidden inside her clothes, thankfully to protect him from this horrifying vision.

Tim grabbed a shirt from a coat hanger. Maria lifted her foot and noticed how sticky the blood was.

"This one," said Tim as he looked around the bodies in the floor. "This one already turned. You might want to move very far from here."

Tim grabbed a knife from his pockets and a pair of gloves. Then he started cutting open the stomach of a corpse that had turned into a roamer.

Maria looked away as Tim pulled out the intestines from the roamer, lathering it on his new shirt.

The door was pushed open by Tim. Both adults came out from the building, wandering out in the dead open. The roamers staggered around as Tim led Maria to the middle of the not-so-safe-zone.

They opened the door to the main office of the general who believed he killed Tim. Maria shut the door and looked around, finding crates of weapons and pictures of medals and awards.

"You're going down there?" asked Maria. "It's too dark! What if– oh you found the light switch."

Tim swallowed hard as he looked at the grotesque sight that lied in front of him. Maria shrieked and tried to gain her balance by placing her hand against the wall.

"W-What is that? Who are they?" gasped Maria.

"That man over there was my best friend, Gerald Brooker. These two men… I have no idea who the hell they are."

Maria sat down on steps. She looked inside her clothes and noticed that Carlitos was quiet. Too quiet.

"Feeling alright?" asked Tim.

"Just… a little shocked. Those are intestines in the ground. Not even fresh… how are you okay with seeing this?"

"What makes you think I'm okay with this?"

Tim shuffled around the basement. He looked for the USB drive, but couldn't find it.

"Y-You're just walking around like if there aren't dead people there," said Maria.

"This is hard to see. I've seen worse, so I guess I became a little numb."

Tim found a picture inside a drawer. It was a picture of an older man with a teenage girl. There was writing in the back of the photo.

Tess is finally old enough to drive. This worries me.

"This isn't pen ink. It's printer ink," said Tim. "He's got more than one copy of this."

"Who are you talking about?" asked Maria.

"General Quentin Black. You didn't have the radio on?"

"No. The radios weren't working."

"I made it work. I had a radio signal from the top floor where I stayed– I'll show you. But first…"

Tim and Maria walked out of Black's office. They headed to the courtyard by the office. The bunker was open.

They headed down the bunker, the lights already on and the inside abandoned.

"What is this place?" asked Maria.

"The place where most young people were held to protect them from the carpet bombing that this city took. But that's not the important thing I wanted to show you. Here it is."

Tim revealed a set of stairs at the end of the bunker. Both adults walked down the dark, murky stairs. Tim pulled out a flashlight from his small bag and lit the entire area up.

"What is this?" asked Maria.

"This, Maria, is a part of something giant."

The beam from the flashlight revealed a large tunnel with tracks in the sides, similar to train tracks. However, they were magnetic tracks. And in next to where both adults stood, was a metro map.

"Maria," said Tim. "Have you ever heard of the K.H.A.N?"

 **Chapter 20: Siege**

 **I - The Calm Before**

-Day 730-

The running water flowed out of the shower head and into the shower door– installed by the civilians themselves in an effort to create a more domestic-like look– like the raindrops outside. Foams of soap remained pluffy on the marble walls and soft skin of the couple. The steamy brisk of warm air filled the shower room in Unit A where Lori and Bobby spent a relaxing amount of time close together.

Lori's golden hair was lathered down to her shoulders by her fiance, who made sure that all the filth from the subway was scrubbed out of her youthful hair. After soaking it, she turned around and wrapped her arms around Bobby's shoulders, kissing him softly. Then, she lied her head on his chest as he kissed her neck. The water flowed down their young skin as they continued to express their committed love to each other.

Hair fell to the sink as David snipped away the untrimmed grass that grew from the follicles in his jaw. He looked into the mirror, staring at his dark-brown eyes as sensed the door opening.

"Started already?" chuckled Bobby. "Lori just couldn't let me go."

Bobby wrapped the towel around his shoulders as he walked around in wet shorts and sandals. He grabbed the can of shaving cream and placed some of it in his palm before rubbing it in his lower face. He grabbed his razor and stood next to David as they both looked into the mirror.

"You alright?" asked Bobby. "Like I said, it's good to have you back!"

David smiled.

"No, yeah I know, it's just… what you and Lori have– it's special. You've seen the worst in her. You saw what she did to survive. No doubt she's changed since you two met."

"Yeah, she changed. But I love her more for that. She's proven to me that her love will protect her friends and family. I–I don't know how to explain it but, when she's under all that filth and blood… she's still so beautiful."

"You made the right choice choosing to stay committed. There ain't a lotta women who can hold their own in a world like this. A lotta people for that matter."

Bobby nodded as he began to shave his face. After a couple minutes, David wiped his face with his towel and looked at his trimmed stubble. Bobby rubbed his smooth jawline and made a refreshing smile.

In the infirmary, Leni removed the coffee pot from the coffee maker and poured it into two white mugs. She walked over to the newly engaged couple and handed them their mugs of coffee. She couldn't help but smile in glee.

"I can't believe you're going to be my brother-in-law! Did I get that right, Lori?"

"Yeah. Brother-in-law. You got it right," smiled Lori as she sipped her coffee.

"And you," said Bobby, "are going to be my sister-in-law!"

"Yay! So, when's the wedding?"

Bobby gulped his sip of coffee. He looked around and shrugged.

"I don't know. I think it's too early to decide when. Besides, we have more things to worry about, isn't that right, babe?"

"Yeah, we do," said Lori. "Speaking of… I do have something important to check on."

Lori placed her coffee down on the table.

"I'll be right back," she said.

The door to the barracks opened. She looked around and saw luggages all over the place. There were also empty crates that used to carry ammunition. It seemed like nothing has changed. But something did change. The luggages held personal possessions and treasured items that promised a return to the domestic lifestyle.

Lori walked to the buzzer outside of the laboratory and pressed it. Moments of silence followed.

"This is Lori Loud. Come in Dr. White."

Just silence.

"Lisa?"

More silence.

"Anyone inside? Hmm, I guess not!"

Lori began to walk away when she paused, lowering her head. She fidgeted with her fingers and shook her head. She thought.

 _Nah, I won't go in. No one's in there._

Then, she really started thinking. She sighed and turned around, taking out her keys hesitantly. After taking a few steps towards the door, she turned more rash. She rushed to get her keys inside the steel latch. She turned it and opened the latch, finding a room of pitch darkness. The area that was lit up by the light from the barracks, now exposed by the opened door, revealed a mess of beakers and tubes scattered in the floor.

 _Oh no. Something happened here._

Lori looked for the light switch on the wall. She accidently kicked a plastic beaker and heard it clack against something hard. She flicked on the light switch and saw Reiji in the corner of the lab.

"Oh. I thought someone was in here," she sighed.

Suddenly, she was tackled against the wall by a rogue. He punched her jaw and shoved her down to the ground.

"What the fuck?" yelled Lori.

"You ain't keepin' me here much longer," said Jett. "Hey, ain't you the–"

Lori grabbed a glass flask from the floor and swung it at the rogue, shattering it on his face. He screamed as Lori picked herself up. She looked at the rogue and grabbed his ripped shirt, shoving him against the floor. His young face was lacerated with shards of glass, few of them stuck in his bleeding skin.

"How the fuck did you get in here?" hissed Lori.

"H-How the fuck did I get in here? What the fuck! How am I s'posed to answer that?"

Lori stood up and grabbed her revolver. She aimed it his chest and cocked it before Dr. White and George rushed to the lab.

"Wait, wait! Don't kill him!" yelled Dr. White.

"What the hell's going on?" gasped George.

"He's our prisoner!" explained the doctor. "That's Private Oliver Jett! We need him alive! It's for… scientific purposes!"

Lori looked down at the rogue and spat blood onto him. She then motioned her revolver towards the roamer in the corner of the room.

"What the hell was going to happen here?" asked Lori.

David entered the barracks, finding Dr. White and George outside the laboratory. He looked inside the lab and found Lori holding a rogue at gunpoint.

"We need a human subject!" Dr. White continued explaining. "Lisa and I… we made some important scientific breakthroughs! I'll explain them to you later, but for now, all you need to know is that we need him!"

"No. No, explain them now," said Lori.

Lisa came inside the room.

"Are you familiar with enzymes?" she asked.

"Biology was so long ago," replied Lori. "What about them though?"

"I was able to inhibit the enzymes in time to slow down the infection to a point where it would take months or perhaps even a year to cause cardiovascular death. However, the inhibition of these enzymes will also incapacitate whoever is subjected to this experiment."

Dr. White jumped in.

"What we're trying to do is activate the immune system in the body so it could attack the infection while it's slowly moving its way through the tissues. Then, we have to inject the body with some type of synthetic enzymes to keep the subject alive."

Dr. White fixed his glasses.

"We tried the first step with mice. And it worked. We need a human subject to confirm that it will work. We have to make sure we're not going the wrong direction with this project."

Lisa looked at Lori, pleading.

"This is the first step to the creation of an actual cure, eldest sister. If we can't have him, we have to get another human subject. And what's better than these subhuman rogues?"

Lori looked at George and David who all appeared as they disagreed with Dr. White and Lisa. She placed her revolver back into her holster.

"Tie him up. Put him in handcuffs this time."

Bobby looked at the white mug in the table. He placed his fingers on it and frowned.

"Coffee's getting cold," said Bobby.

Carol and Luna walked down to the dining hall in the infirmary building. Carol held a pair of keys when she looked at Bobby's finger on the mug.

"Woah!" giggled Carol. "Bobby! Since when did you propose to Lori? I've never seen you wear that ring!"

"He did it this morning," said Luna. "In the center of town, where there was no one around except David and I."

"David's here?" whispered Carol nervously.

"Yeah. Don't worry about him. He's cool with the– you know. He's cool with it. Just don't bring it up."

"Where are you girls heading?" asked Bobby.

"Taking my road test," said Luna. "Carol got a sweet new car working for me."

"Thank Lana for making it work," said Carol.

"Where's Zoey?" asked Bobby.

"Haley's watching her upstairs. I'll be back before she wakes up."

Carol and Luna left the building. They walked to a car by the barracks and started it. Luna exhaled nervously as she placed her hands behind the wheel.

"This runway's kinda– in bad shape, but you could still take this baby to the other side," said Carol. "Just remember what I taught you last time. Use both hands to steer."

"I've seen you use one hand before," said Luna.

"Well, that's 'cause I'm not a newbie like you, moonrock."

"Hey, you've been hanging around Jace, haven't you, dude?"

Carol giggled as Luna pressed on the gas pedal. They started moving around the runway, away from the barracks.

In the barracks, Jett struggled to free himself from the handcuffs locked around his wrists. He looked around and found Lori, Lisa, Dr. White, George, and David discussing with each other.

"Hey! Hey!" yelled Jett. "Can I get some water?"

Dr. White grabbed a rag and tied it around his mouth, hearing him protest with muffled screams.

"You can't keep him alive!" said David. "Bastard's gonna look for every way to make sure his ass doesn't end up being devoured by that roamer. The hell is that roamer doing there anyways?"

"It's for scientific research," said Lori. "But this, holding this rogue soldier hostage? I never approved this."

"You weren't here when we tied him up," said Dr. White. "And by your instructions, you made me the temporary leader."

"Well, I'm the leader now," said Lori.

"Which means you have to make a choice," said Lisa. "Didn't formulate that thought, did you?"

"I enforce, but I also advise," said George. "I don't agree with killing him at all. I really don't. In fact, we should just keep him prisoner in one of our prisons."

"Yeah and waste how much food doing that?" asked David. "He's a danger to this community. Can't keep him alive for much longer. And feeding him to a roamer? That's just sick. A quick death is a much better option."

"Did you all forget why General Black kept the families in here in the first place?" said George.

"No," said David, cocking his M9. "That's why I say we take this son of a bitch out."

"Hey, David!" exclaimed Lori. "No. Not yet."

"Hey, everyone!" exclaimed George. "Why would you want to swoop down to their level? They subjected innocent people to experiments and now we're just going to do the same to them? That's one of the things that made them cruel! And so is executing them! Please try to remember, we are better than them!"

"Goddamn it, you fools!" yelled Dr. White. "You see what the infection has done to this world? All of you are always talking about putting the world back to how it was when that's what I'm doing here! A cure! A goddamn cure! How is this even up to debate?"

Lori nodded.

"You're right," she said. "I've been asking you to make a cure. And here you are, making a cure. Though, it's on your conscience. And I'm making the decision to place it on mine as well."

Jett tried speaking to the survivors. Lori sighed and took off the rag from his mouth.

"What?" groaned Lori.

"Why are guys talkin' shit like I'm an uncontrollable monster who'll kill everythin' in front of me?"

"Don't pretend like you just didn't try to kill me. You're a rogue. Your loyalty is to Black. You and every other rogue are evil men who have no sympathy for your victims."

"I'm a soldier," said Jett.

"You betrayed your country and its values. You're a rogue."

"I'm a soldier just tryin' to do what is necessary so his family could live! You think I asked to be in this position? No! I joined 'cause I needed to protect my wife and sons from the infected!"

Lori gasped softly.

"They're someplace safe," continued Jett. "I don't know where… the locations are always moving. But after the final siege… you guys were supposed to surrender and I would've went back to my family."

Jett began tearing up. Lori has never seen a rogue tear up before.

"You guys are good guys. You have humanity. I admit, that's what makes you different from Black and his close friends. Please give me a chance to go back. A-And there are records backin' me up! I know you've seen Black's office! Just go in there and look for Oliver Jett! You'll see my wife's name somewhere in that record. And one of my boys. Or you can ask Dr. White. He knows about my family. Or you can trust my word."

Lori sighed before she heard a door shoved open. It was Bobby, Leni, and Becky.

"Lori, you're back!" gasped Becky.

"You're back as well!" said Dr. White. "Gone almost a whole day!"

"It's just me that came back. Lori, I have to tell you something important."

"Where were you?" asked Lori. "You look messy."

"I was chasing a traitor and found myself in the main base of the rogues…. Listen! Pike was a traitor! He has been keeping communication with the rogues this entire time and he sold out the medic! Lynn killed Pike but it didn't matter… it didn't matter 'cause Black shot the medic!"

Becky shivered.

"Listen to this too! The rogues chased us down! I somehow escaped and made it to Medway, but the others weren't so lucky!"

"Who are the others?" asked Lori.

"Lynn, Luan, Hana! They were captured by the rogues. I don't know if they're still alive…. I mean we did kill a lot of their men. It was stupid. It was stupid to go to their main base. It was stupid!"

"Alright, just calm down, Becky! Get yourself some rest and eat something. You look like you're starving. George, David! I need this town fortified! We need our defenses up at this moment! Dr. White and Lisa! Stay here and do not come out until I say so!"

"Who's he?" asked Bobby. "And what are we going to do with him?"

"I'm Oliver Jett. You best free me 'cause I can tell when a shitstorm is about to–"

Lori swung her fist at his jaw and knocked him out.

"I'm so tired," said Lori. "But I need to find this main base."

Becky handed Lori the map that Donovan gave her.

"Please defend the community. We might have to keep this place on lockdown all day."

David and George looked at each other and nodded. They ran out of the lab and into the armory. However, they found most of the weapons inside cleared out. They were going to have a hard time getting defenses up.

Meanwhile, at the main base, the rogues were torturing the captives for information.

Hana's face was wrapped by a towel as her arms were tied under the wooden table that she lied on. Lead poured water down on her face as she gasped for air, flailing her legs around. She coughed then he poured it again then she coughed.

Black removed the towel and watched as Hana gasped for air. Her face was reddened by the torture.

"Now, will you tell us what Lori Loud is planning?" asked Black.

"I tell you. She want to fight you."

"Where did she go? I know she came back with David Jones, but where did she go?"

Hana kept quiet.

"WHERE DID SHE GO?" thundered Black.

Luan and Lynn watched as Hana spit at his face.

Black growled and wrapped her face with the towel again. Lead poured down the bucket of water.

"Don't stop," said Black.

Hana muffled gasps and screams shocked Luan and Lynn. They were terrified as Moss continued to hold them at gunpoint.

"Stop it!" yelled Luan.

"Don't stop," repeated Black.

Hana continued flailing her head and legs around, her gasps sounding louder and more desperate. She then started to gag and choke.

"Stop it, you're killing her!" cried Luan.

Black ordered Lead to pause the torture. He removed the towel from Hana's face and allowed her to cough her lungs out. She groaned with each gasp, appearing as she couldn't recover from her torture.

"You obviously care for this Japanese girl," said Black. "Let's see how much she cares about you two."

Black held up Hana's skirt of dog tags. He shook his head.

"Look at this! I mean, Jesus Christ, you know death will be too easy of an escape for her!"

Black wrapped the dog tags around Luan and Lynn's neck like an 8-figure before pulling it back like a dog collar. He then pulled it back hard as Luan and Lynn bumped the back of their heads together, finding themselves unable to free the metal chains from their neck. They felt as if the tags were going to puncture their throat and kill them.

Lead turned Hana's head towards the girls and made her watch Black pull back the dog tags. Luan moved her tied fists on her neck as she closed her eyes and gagged. Lynn tried to free herself, but in her futile attempt to free her fingers, Black pulled harder, causing her to turn red as air escaped her lungs.

Both girls were tearing up as they were being choked to death. Hana decided she had enough.

"Augusta! Maine capital! Augusta!" she yelled. "Please stop!"

Black smiled before releasing the chain of dog tags. She walked up to Luan and snapped open the chain, allowing her to breathe. Then, she walked to Lynn and snapped her chain, releasing both girls.

"We finally broke her," said Black. "We didn't need her dog. We just needed our dog tags to tie up these girls like a dog."

Black walked towards a radio at the end of the tent and turned it on.

"Quebec Bravo to November Tango. Confirmation of group of survivors requested. City, Augusta. State, Maine. Population… unknown."

"What? What are you going to do over there?" asked Luan.

"There are groups of survivors that we deem necessary for our project. Unfortunately, your oldest sister put us in this position. They were going to beat this world, but… we need test subjects."

"Just leave them alone!" said Luan. "Why can't you just leave people alone? Do you have to be such a dick?"

"You remind me of my daughter who used to say that," said Black. "She always complained about me being such a… helicopter parent. A dick as she put it in her own words. They'll be fine, Luan. Alive."

"So you do have a heart. You're trying to protect someone! Your daughter! You have people you care about! You love them!"

"I'm… alone," said Black. "I care about my men. I care about everything I'm doing. But I certainly do not love anyone."

"Your daughter!" exclaimed Luan.

"She died 14 years ago," said Black. "She was the sweetest thing in the world… like her mother. But then the laws of nature happened. I understand it had to happen. But I absolutely loathe people trying to fight against the rules of survival. The strong should be the only ones to live. I've seen your strength and intelligence, Luan. I promise you, you will live."

"I hope you saw her die," said Lynn. "That's what your sorry ass deserves. I hope you feel you feel the pain in your heart, however small that is."

"You annoy the fuck out of me," said Black. "You're all brawns but no brains. Let's see how long you could last in this world."

Luan and Lynn stayed close to each other as Black pulled Hana off the table. He tossed her to the ground and allowed her to drag herself towards the girls. Then, he grabbed a curved katana from the table.

"Tomorrow… Houlton will be conquered."

Lori and David looked outside the base. Lori took a picture with Carol's Polaroid and left the area, heading back to David's RV. She was relieved that her sisters were alive.

 **II - The Storm**

-Day 1-

"What's going on?" asked Lori.

Luan continued to stare out of the window of Vanzilla glumly.

"Hey, did you hear me?" asked Lori

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about the play. You know, _Romeo and Juliet_."

"You're thinking about Benny, aren't you?"

"Yeah! I know it's weird and all but… I don't know, I just wish Benny didn't take the lead role."

"You should've auditioned for Juliet," said Lori. "Is that what you're regretting? Not auditioning?"

"No. I just wish Benny thinks of me more than just a friend. Death is such a preferable alternative as well."

"Ahh, I see," said Lori. "Lucy's poems got to you, right?"

"You'll get with a boy eventually, Luan," said Leni. "Life is not all about boys you know."

"Well of course you would say that," said Luan. "You're a beautiful flower. People pick beautiful flowers from a garden all the time."

"I think you read enough of Lucy's poems," said Lori. "Look, Luan, it took me until junior year to get my first boyfriend. And guess what? He turned out to be the best boyfriend I ever had! What I'm saying is, why worry about that little stuff when you could worry about something bigger?"

Luan sighed. She couldn't help but smile.

"You're right."

"Of course I'm right," said Lori. "Also… you do realize that flower quote is talking about death, not love, right?"

"I must've gotten the stanzas messed up," giggled Luan as she rubbed the hair out of her temple.

Lori smiled as she looked ahead at the road. Her eyes awaited for a wonderful yet quiet day.

-Day 731-

Lori frowned as she looked into the laboratory. Her eyes awaited for a long and difficult day.

"We have to give him up to the rogue army. Like Black claims. He's reasonable."

"In exchange for Luan and Lynn?" asked David.

"I need them back. Hana… she could handle herself if it comes down to that."

"Alright," said David. "Ready to interrogate him first?"

Lori nodded as she took a deep exhale. Her walkie-talkie crackled.

"In position," said Luna.

Luna remained prone in the woods outside the prisons with her M110. Sam lied next to her with binoculars in her hands and a rifle by her side.

Benny snuck out of the town with his ninjato, moving towards the woods. He also carried an M4 carbine with him along with a bag filled with ammo.

Leni looked outside the infirmary and found Jace and Preston walking next to each other. She groaned and went outside.

"Are you guys going to fight again or will you behave this time?" said Leni.

"We came here to apologize," said Jace.

"Both of us," added Preston.

"When we fought, we didn't realize how stupid we were and… we didn't think how we could've hurt our friendship."

"I just felt pressured by this world. I only had my Uncle Jeff, so there weren't a lotta people to talk to, so when I met you, I didn't wanna let go."

"I don't know. I thought for some reason, you were obligated to go out with one of us, but I didn't see that you wanted to take it slow with us."

"And for that..." said Preston.

"We're sorry," said Jace.

Leni rubbed her arms and smiled softly before lowering her head.

"I'm sorry too," said Leni. "I like you guys too, and I guess I have been sending some signs… but we have other things to worry about than being a couple! It was wrong timing, guys. Very wrong timing."

"Yeah, I don't know… we're stupid boys," said Jace.

"If I'm being honest with you two, I'm not looking for a relationship. It's going to take me a while to get over Chaz."

Preston and Jace looked at each other. Jace scratched his head while Preston rubbed his chin.

"Umm, Leni?" asked Jace. "If you don't mind us asking…"

"...who's Chaz?" asked Preston.

"Oh come on, guys. You know… Chaz! I didn't tell you guys about Chaz?" gasped Leni, to which the boys shook their heads to. "OMG. Sorry, guys! Have a seat in the… hmm. Why don't you two come inside?"

Leni, Preston, and Jace went inside the infirmary, unaware of the incoming storm, signified by the distant rumbling of thunder.

The lightbulb above the captive's head flickered. The prisoner was sweating as he stared at the roamer in the corner of the room. David, Dr. White, George, and Lisa watched from other corner of the room.

"Hey, over here," said Lori, snapping her fingers. "Paying attention?"

"Yeah," stammered Jett. "What is it?"

"I just asked you a question. Who is General Black working for? Remember, if you comply, we will find a way to get you back to Black."

"Okay. General Black? He's workin' for an organization. The K.H.A.N. Periods between the letters. Or you could just say the KHAN. Think that'll be easier."

"Krissen. Are you familiar with that name?" asked Lori.

"I think that's the leader. I mean, that's what the K in KHAN stands for."

"Why is he working for her?"

"Number of reasons. He provides an army– excellent security. He does much of the dirty work– such as testin' on many of these poor fellows. You know I've never took pleasure in doin' my job."

"What's the experimentation for?" asked Lori.

"They're tryna' create a cure. Your whole enzyme thing? It ain't gone work. The doctor here is just pullin' your strings."

Lori looked at Dr. White. He crossed his arms and shook his head. She turned around and pistol whipped Jett.

"Okay, okay! It might work, but I really don't know! They don't have a scientific mind like the one of the little girl over there!"

"I thought they had the cure," said Lori. "They created an infection and never decided to make a cure for that? What else are they doing?"

"They're trying to control hordes of the infected," said Jett. "I've heard stories about roamers turning their eyes from golden to red. It means they're under the control of someone."

"I've heard those stories too," said Dr. White. "Some of the things they're doing. It's mad science."

"If you heard that…" said Lori. "Then you must've heard where the Wasteland is."

"That ain't no story," said Jett. "It's in Nova Scotia. Or as we call it now, Nova Terra. I know it's Latin for something but I forgot what it was–"

"New Earth," said Lisa. "New Land. New World."

"I was… that far from Houlton?" gasped Lori.

Jace and Preston listened to Leni carefully.

"He and I liked each other so much. That's why his death was so painful. And I just don't want to experience that all over again."

Leni folded her arms and placed them on her knees. Jace and Preston wrapped one of their arms around her shoulders and moved closer to her so felt comforted.

"You're not losing us," said Preston.

"But I can understand why you would want to get over Chaz first," said Jace.

"Thank you, guys. You two are the best."

Leni kissed Preston's cheek then Jace's cheek before lying her head on their arms. Then, a thundering noise from the distance alerted the three survivors.

"Was that thunder?" asked Leni.

"That didn't sound like thunder," said Jace.

Jace and Preston realized that they heard something terrible. A storm was about to come.

"So is that it?" asked Jett.

"I still have a whole lot of questions left," said Lori. "But we don't have a whole lot of time left. Maybe I could ask one more–"

An artillery shell struck the top of the barracks, shattering a part of the rooftop and sending debris to the top floor. The building shook, and the laboratory shook along with it.

"What the hell was that?" asked Lori.

"I don't know," said George. "Let's check it out."

"Wait, please get me out," said Jett, ready to break down. "Get me out!"

Lana and Lily ran to Lincoln's arms. Clyde exited his room and looked into the main halls of the barracks. There was a large hole in the rooftop, one that displayed the first of the many bombings that would occur.

"What's happening, Lincoln?" asked Lana.

"I think we're under attack," he replied. "Everything's going to be fine. Just stay close to me."

Another artillery shell rained down from the sky. It landed on its target– the infirmary roof. The explosion sent debris flying off the roof as it shook the entire building.

Leni, Jace, and Preston all yelled as the items inside the building shook and fell to the ground. They quickly picked themselves up and ran to the room where the wounded were held. Luckily, it was empty since all the wounded recovered or were recovering at a bed in their cell or room. However, Haley was there, though she was fine, just frightened. Carol came down from the top floor of the infirmary building with a crying Zoey in her arms.

"Oh my god!" gasped Carol. "We have to leave now!"

"Where to?" yelled Jace.

"The sewers," said Haley. "Filthy as it sounds, we'll be safe there! Just try not to breathe in the shit."

"I have to go the church!" exclaimed Preston. "Can't leave my uncle there!"

"I'm coming too," said Jace.

"Me too-" said Leni before being stopped by Jace.

"No! You're going with Carol and Haley! It's safer for you! Go!"

Another artillery strike caused the air to tremble. This time, it landed on the courtyard of Unit D.

Vonda and Ronnie Anne leaped out of their cells and looked around the prison halls. The civilians were in a panic. Both girls grabbed their weapons and ran to the end of the prison, peeking out of one of the gated windows.

"They're here," said Vonda. "We have to get these people outta here."

"How?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"The prison buses. They're bulletproof. And they go fast."

Lori, David, and George ran out to the runway. They looked around, and luckily for them, they didn't hear more artillery shells raining down from the sky. Bobby ran out from Unit B where he was trying to find his sister. Lincoln and Clyde looked out the window from where they stood in the barracks. Jace and Preston watched the fighters of Houlton, including Becky, mobilize to the burnt town. Even Kimi ran out of the infirmary to watch what the humans were up to. In a single minute, the world seemed to be revolving at this very moment, and it all seemed like a single second passed by. And before she knew it, Lori stood in front of the infirmary building, before the very force that she was going to fight against.

Humvees stood at where the former entrance gate stood. Machine guns, turrets, mounted guns all aimed at the community guarded by a bent meshed fence. Rocket launchers and other explosives were at the disposal of the army. The rogues wore heavy armor, some even carrying ballistic shields. The rogues further out in the back carried mortar launchers and there were even a few sniper rifles hiding in the woods. An M1 Abrams tank stood in front of it all, Sergeant Brick himself manning it, but the man who truly was in front of everyone was the one man himself.

General Quentin Black glared at the community with anger. His one eye was almost blood-red with fury. And his fury also took shape in the form of gigantic firepower.

"Lead!" yelled Black. "Uncover the captives!"

Lieutenant Lead walked to the three captives that knelt in front of the tank but behind Black. He took the sacks out of their heads one by one, first time revealing Luan.

Benny's breath grew wearier and desperate as he prayed that nothing was going to happen to her. Luna tried to get a clear aim at Black, but was unable to act as she was too mesmerized in the moment.

Lead took out the sack from Hana's head.

Becky watched from the roof of a burnt house, shaking her head. David gulped as he thought about the possible fate for the captives.

Lead took out the sack from the head of a battered Lynn.

Clyde squinted and gasped while Lincoln felt his own heart sink lower and lower down his chest. Vonda and Ronnie Anne trembled in fear.

Lead then walked up to a rogue and grabbed the curved katana from him before handing it to Black. Black raised it in the air and then looked at Lori.

"One last chance. Surrender!"

Lincoln looked away and looked at his younger sister. Lana and Lily stared at their older brother, asking many questions without saying a word.

"We have to get you guys out of here," said Lincoln. "Pack up your stuff. We're leaving."

Bobby ran inside Unit A, finding his sister and Vonda at the end of the hallway.

"Hey, sis!" called out Bobby.

"Bobby! Look what's happening outside!"

"I know, I know. We have to get these people out of here!"

Ted and Kotaro came out from their cells.

"There are a couple prison buses in a lot outside," said Kotaro.

"We gotta get these folks out there soon," said Ted. "There's gonna be a hell of a fight. And I know ain't no one in here want to take part in that."

"Uh huh. Let's go," said Bobby. "Everyone! Follow Ted and Kotaro! Follow them to the buses!"

The civilians inside the prison began to follow the men as they walked outside the prisons. Meanwhile, in the barracks, Lincoln and Clyde made it their responsibility to evacuate all the civilians.

"There's gonna be a couple vehicles outside!" said Lincoln. "But I need you all to pack up your things first! Remain calm and do not panic. Everything is going to be fine. It has to be."

Sergei marched to the Patton tank in the end of the runway. He saw many of the fighters mobilize near the barracks and armory, awaiting orders from Lori. Some civilians waited for instructions and evacuation vehicles from inside the barracks. Sergei sniffled and placed a stick of gum inside his mouth as the thunder rumbled closer to the town. The drops of rain poured into his skin as he climbed onto the tank.

Brick sat on the mounted seat on the tank, watching Black hold the katana high. Sage and Jade were by his side, awaiting for orders. Moss was at the burnt town, also waiting for orders. Coal and Hoover each led their own squads and they all looked at the sorry community.

"We can make a deal!" said Lori. "I have one of yours–"

"No negotiation!" yelled Black as he lowered his katana. "There are only two choices you have. Either, you give yourself and your whole family up, then give up David Jones and Vonda Crowley, then surrender the entire town and its civilians to me or… I kill everyone in this town… then these three girls… then you."

"There's gotta be another way!"

"There isn't! There isn't another way. This is the only way, Lori."

Lori looked back at the community. Many of the fighters turned towards her. Black walked behind the captives and raised her katana again.

"You know how easy I've been to this community?" said Black. "I could've slaughtered you all back when you first attacked us in Royal Woods. But I have a larger project in mind. And you all ruined it! And this project is bigger than all of us! So, that's why I'm giving you one last chance now."

Lori turned around and held up a picture. It was a picture of a young brunette girl about Leni's age. She stood in front of a car, hugging a younger Black.

"This was your daughter, right?" asked Lori. "There doesn't need to be any more fighting. We can all just… leave each other alone. I realize that now. There are countless rogues who won't be able to return to their family because of us… and for that, I'm truly sorry! But you have to realize that blame goes both ways!"

"Where'd you get that picture?" asked Black.

"In your office," said Lori. "It was in a basement deep down the barracks. She's really pretty, Black! And she looks so innocent here. But I learned from Dr. White that she died many years ago. That must have broken you and I totally get it."

Lori sniffled.

"I get it, General," she said. "But please don't take it out on us. Just think about your daughter. I mean, look at yourself. What would she say if she saw you like this?"

Black lowered his katana. He gulped and placed his fingers on his eyes.

"She… she wouldn't have said anything. Everything I'm doing is for her. After everything is done… not one more person should have to die in their bed, praying that the cancer would go away. Only the strong will survive."

"Your daughter wouldn't even recognize you now!" exclaimed Lori. "It wasn't her fault that she died young! And it's certainly not yours! So stop trying to save the world from something that you can't defeat! And that's okay, Black. It's okay. It's no one's fault."

"My daughter…" said Black, his voice breaking, "...she was too weak for the world. Ain't nothing changing my mind."

Lori gasped. Black raised his katana.

"Nothing at all."

Black swung the katana down. The katana quickly made its way down. And down. Until it sliced Lynn's shoulder.

"No!" yelled Lori.

Hana and Luan turned around unable to grasp what just occurred.

Lynn gasped and looked at a gleaming light from her right side. And so did Black.

Thunder clapped across the sky as Luna shot her sniper rifle at Black. But Black grabbed Lynn and jumped down to the ground. The bullet struck Lynn in the chest, causing her to cough before she collapsed to the ground. And she lied there, blood squirting out of her shoulders. And she remained there, bleeding to death.

The air froze. The raindrops splashed against the ground slowly. Luna choked with disbelief before tears flowed out of her eyes. Sam then covered her mouth before she screamed and sobbed.

Lori shot her revolver at Black, managing to shoot his left ear out of his head. He yelled as blood leaked from his head. The rogues fired back at the people of Houlton. And the people of Houlton fired back at the rogues.

A firefight between the two armies commenced.

George carried Lori inside the infirmary building before any of the rogues were able shoot her. David went inside a Humvee and drove to the town where the first assault would take place. The other Humvees guarded against the rogue arm, creating a stalemate with the mesh fences representing no man's land.

"I need everyone to mow down everything you see on sight!" yelled Captain Moss.

"You heard the man!" exclaimed Sergeant Hoover. "Go! Go! Go!"

The rogues advanced to the burnt town. Many of the homes were still intact enough to be used as mini-forts by the Houlton army.

David and Becky secured the center of town with many of the fighters. They waited for the army to approach. Then, they fired their weapons just as the rain poured harder.

Moss approached the town center with a convoy of Humvees and fired at the fighters on the top of each roof. He used his own SCAR rifle to kill some of the fighters, having no problem with running out of bullets since his Humvee carried tons of ammo.

David shot an M4 at the rogues, but found it difficult to bypass their armor. Becky shot her suppressed pistol at the rogues, when she realized that her aim wasn't as good as she thought it was.

The Humvees continued moving towards the town center. The rogues continued shooting at the fighters at the roof. As they approached the center of town, the rogues mounted their machine guns and aimed at the fighters.

"Move!" yelled David.

The rogues shot their machine guns at the fighters in the town center, destroying the benches, statues, fountains, and a decorated field. They finished off the damage that the napalm bombings couldn't inflict.

"Firing mortar!" yelled Hoover.

He and a couple rogues fired a few mortar shells into the air, some of them landing on houses many yards away. The roofs were blown off, killing a few hidden defenders.

"Retreat!" yelled David. "Move to the barracks! Now!"

The fighters moved away from the town center as the Humvees began to surround the destroyed park. Many bullets splashed against the pond as the friendly Humvees drove away.

Moss and his rogues fired bullets and tossed grenades into the homes, flattening them all. The streets were destroyed and the rain began to flood the potholes that they created.

"Where to now?" yelled one of the rogues.

"The barracks!" ordered Moss. "We're blowing that shit to hell!"

Brick drove the M1 Abrams tank towards the Units, passing the firefight that occurred by the infirmary. The rubber tracks pushed against the dirt, crushing all the pebbles and twigs under it.

Luna and Sam set down their scopes and rolled over to the bushes in their sides. The rogue controlling the machine gun scanned the area, trying to find more fighters to kill.

"Damn. It's not safe here," said George. "We have to go."

"Go where?" asked Lori.

"I'm going to the prisons. You run to the barracks. Try to help the civilians leave this place. I have to defend!"

"Okay, go!"

George ran out of the infirmary and remained low behind the Humvees as the firefight continued. Lightning flashed across the sky as thunder followed. The storm raged on.

 **III - Rain of Death**

The tank moved towards the Units and toppled down the fences. However, it stood by Unit A, appearing to wait for further instructions.

George found a prison bus leaving the area. He turned back to the prison and ran inside where he found a mess of items and people scrambling to either fight or flee.

"Where's Lori?" asked Bobby.

"She's running to the barracks! No doubt there are more civilians in there trying to escape!"

Artillery shells rained down on the prisons. The buildings shook as it seemed that the sky took out their anger on them. Shards of concrete was tossed into the air like shrapnel. More and more shells landed on the prisons, destroying the top floors.

"Oh god!" yelled Ronnie Anne, covering her ears. "How long will this last?"

"Y'all need to get out of here!" yelled George. "Grab one of the buses and go!"

Bobby nodded. He grabbed his gun and went to defend Unit A from the approaching tank.

"Go, Ronnie! Go!" he exclaimed.

Ronnie Anne ran away from the halls, finding herself running to the abandoned lot in the middle of the prisons. There was a bus waiting for her to go inside. Or she thought it was waiting for her.

"What's the hold up?" exclaimed Ronnie Anne. "Some people are choosing to stay and fight!"

"We know that," said Dr. Feinstein. "It's some redheaded guy looking for his son in Prison C. We're waiting for them."

"I'll go check it out!"

Ronnie Anne ran inside Unit C, searching for a young man. She looked around and found many armed fighters waiting to kill some rogues.

"Hey, have you seen two redheaded guys?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Yeah, that way," pointed out one of the fighters.

"Thank you! C'mon, Rusty… where'd you go, man?"

George, Vonda, and Bobby came out of Unit A.

"Everyone! Go! Go! Go!" demanded George.

The buses began leaving the abandoned lot while George and Bobby provided cover fire. Vonda held her bow and scanned her surroundings. She then realized one of the buses wasn't budging.

"Hey, what's the hold up?" asked Vonda.

"We're waiting for a young man, his father, and–" said Dr. Feinstein.

"Just leave them!" said George. "We'll get 'em inside the RV by the infirmary!"

Dr. Feinstein nodded and motioned the driver to move the bus towards the barracks. As they left, Haley, Leni, and Carol, holding Zoey, approached the prisons.

"What are you ladies doing here?" exclaimed George.

"We're heading to the sewers!" said Haley.

"You should," said Vonda. "The buses just left."

"Head for the barracks instead. The laboratory is safer there. The doors are shut tight and there's no way the rogues could get inside! It's safer for the baby than some damn sewer."

Haley nodded.

"Alright. You guys go!" said Haley. "I'll stay here and help the wounded. Go!"

Leni and Carol ran away, using the fighters for cover. George turned towards Haley.

"You sure about that?" he asked.

A few bullets smacked against the prison wall. Bobby ducked and sighed. Haley smiled sarcastically and nodded.

"I'll be fine," she said. "As long as my brain is still where it should be, I can help."

The tank moved forward to Unit A, shooting a missile at the guard tower. The guard tower crumbled and crushed the base before dropping to the ground.

"Goddamn," groaned George. "Are your ears working, everyone?"

They all shouted in agreement. The tank moved around Unit A and turned its large gun towards Unit B. It fired the missile and exploded the entrance. A large hole revealed injured fighters.

Some rogues propped out from behind the tank and began firing onto the injured fighters. George came out from the corner of the wall and fired his shotgun at the rogues. Vonda then finished them off with her arrows.

"Run!" yelled George.

They all ran away from where they were as the tank fired its machine gun at them. Bobby ran inside Unit A and found himself trapped in there. George and Vonda ran to Unit B where he regrouped with the rest of the fighters.

In Unit C, Ronnie Anne searched through the flickering lights in the hall. She reached the end of the hall and sighed as she leaned on the wall.

"Rusty, where the hell are you?" she sighed.

"Here," said Rusty, coming out from a dark corner in a cell. "I have a gun. And don't worry. I'm holding it right this time."

"You need to leave. That gun is not going to protect you from the tank."

"My dad is still out there. I don't want him to see me killing people. You know that'll traumatize him?"

"Better than being dead. Get your butt out of that cell and move!"

"No!"

Ronnie Anne grabbed Rusty's arm and pulled him. He pulled back as he struggled to stay in the corner. She then pulled much harder, shoving him into the halls.

Suddenly, another explosion caused the ceiling of the top floor to collapse. And then, the cell itself collapsed, the debris falling where the metals bars used to be at.

"Oh my gosh!" yelled Rusty. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," said Ronnie Anne. "I'm just a little cramped up in here. Can you see me?"

"No. And you sound really quiet."

"Oh. Just go, then," said Ronnie Anne, her voice echoing inside her concrete cell. "I'll find a way out of here."

"Rusty?" called out Mr. Spokes. "Where are you? We have to go now! The town's under attack!"

"Okay," said Rusty, looking at his gun, then dropping it. "I'm coming, Dad!"

The rogues stormed Unit B and fought against the fighters that had the area locked down. There were a couple fighters who moved to the crumbled roof, but they were quickly sniped by rogue snipers.

"We have to leave," said George. "It's a lost cause. There are too many rogues here."

"Agreed," said Vonda. "Let's go."

George tapped Haley's back as she was stitching up one of the fighters. She fended off her hand before George tapped her harder.

"What is it?" groaned Haley.

"We have to leave! The rogues are coming in way too fast!" said George.

"I'm sorry," said Haley to the fighter. "I truly am."

The fighter groaned as blood poured out of his mouth. He raised his arms as Haley, George, and Vonda left. A few moments after, the rogues stormed the prison, shooting their rifles at the dead bodies. A rogue aimed his rifle at the dying fighter and shot him in the head.

More artillery rained down on the prisons, killing the rest of the fighters and even some of the rogues.

"Damn," said Brick. "Huh. Might as well."

He fired a missile into the Unit D building, killing the rogues and fighters inside. One wounded rogue crawled out of the prison, begging the tank to pick him up. However, the tank continued on driving ahead, crushing the skull of the wounded rogue.

Haley looked outside the fences and found Luan and Hana watching the entire battle.

"Haley, let's go!" exclaimed George.

"The prisoners! I have to free them! Just go to the barracks without me!"

George and Vonda sighed and climbed into their Humvee. They drove away from the Units and made their way to the barracks.

Lori panted as she carried her rifle and revolver to the barracks. George stopped by her and opened the back door for her. Lori placed a thumbs up and climbed inside the Humvee.

The Houlton fighters lied dead outside of the infirmary building. The rogues marched onwards to the barracks, stepping on the mesh fence and the corpses of the people they killed. Black and Lead ordered the rogues to storm the armory when they arrive there.

Haley snuck past the rogues outside the fences. She made her way to the captives and snuck behind the corpses of rogues.

Hana looked at Haley before, unable to say anything with the cloth wrapped around her mouth. Haley took out a scalpel and sighed.

"Sorry this isn't sharp as your katana," she whispered.

One of the rogues turned around and found Haley a few yards away, cutting Hana loose. He aimed his gun at them before being sniped by Luna.

Haley flinched and moved her hair away from her eyes before looking at Luna, who sniffled while making a thumbs up. Then, the rogue snipers were sniped as well. All six snipers were killed.

Hana was freed. She removed the cloth from her mouth and grabbed Luan's katana in the ground. She lunged towards a roamer in front of her and stabbed him through his spine.

Haley then cut off Luan's tied rope, leaving her dumbstruck on the ground. Hana looked at her and tossed her katana back.

"You got this," said Hana before she dashed off.

Haley then grabbed Lynn and picked her body up. She walked away from Luan before turning back to her.

"Coming?" she asked.

Luan nodded and followed Haley, wearing her sheath again.

Lead marched with the rogues to the armory. A couple Humvees arrived to protect the prison buses.

Moss and his convoy of Humvees approached the barracks. They wanted to storm the barracks through the back entrance, or the original entrance– when it was an airport.

Black stayed back and allowed the rogues to overtake the armory. He slowly walked towards the fences to watch Moss's squad arrive at the barracks. He smiled.

Suddenly, David wrapped his arms around Black's neck and placed him on a chokehold. Black groaned as he watched Moss and his squad storm the barracks. But all Moss did was turn his face and ignore Black.

Black yelled and placed his left foot behind David's own left foot. He pulled David's arm and flipped him to the ground, falling with him. He coughed and grabbed his Bowie knife.

David pulled out his M9 and held the barrel of it.

"Ran out of ammo already?" chuckled Black. "You know, I've been waiting a long time for this."

Black lunged towards David and swung his knife around, cutting David's chest. He cackled as he dug his knife near his cheeks.

David swung his pistol at the general. He smacked him in the jaw and his arm. The general released the knife to the ground. David ducked for the knife before finding himself kicked by Black. He crawled towards the knife before Black turned him over.

Black stepped on David's neck as David himself struggled to push his boot away. Blood hung from Black's graying beard.

"I need to cut your eye out," said Black. "Just so you know how it felt like when you sniped my eye out."

"Go ahead, pussy. Come on! Do it! Do it!"

Black snickered as he picked up his knife. However, three civilians ran towards him and tackled him. David groaned as he regained his breath. Becky picked him up and dragged him away to the barracks.

"Wait, what about them?" groaned David.

"They sacrificed themselves for you," said Becky. "Just go."

Black stabbed the neck of one of the civilians before pulling out his Desert Eagle. He shot one of the civilians before shooting the other who attempted to flee. He picked himself up and pointed it in the air, looking for David. He let out a strong, short yell, sounding louder than the storm itself.

As the rogues closed in on the armory and barracks, the M1 Abrams slowly moved towards the Humvees protecting the prison buses. Then, Sergei arrived with his M60 Patton tank.

"What is this?" chuckled Brick. "Tank versus tank? You're on. That shit you have is outdated."

Brick shot a missile at the tank, severely damaging its armor. But it withstood the blast.

"My turn," said Sergei.

Sergei shot the missile at the rogue tank and manage to scrape away its armor as well. Now, the two tanks pulled out their machine guns. They tried to penetrate through the armor, but were unable to hit the driver for the tank.

The tank continued moving forward until a large anti-tank mine blew up the bottom exterior of the rogue tank. A body was launched out from the rear entrance of the tank.

"Damn. Take that, suka."

George and Vonda rushed towards the burnt tank after dropping Lori off at the barracks.

One of the rogues tried to escape through the top entrance. Vonda shot an arrow at the rogue, slicing through his neck. Brick pushed him out of the way and fell to the ground. He groaned as he lifted his arms up. His face was now completely scarred from fire.

"C'mon, now," he pleaded.

George shot him in the head and ducked. He found another rogue inside the tank and shot him in the head as well.

The smoke of a rocket high in the air caught the attention of George. He yelled at the friendly tank.

"Sergei, get outta there!"

Sergei opened the top entrance of the tank and tried to climb down from it. However, the rocket turned and dropped quickly towards it, exploding on contact. His body was launched out of the tank and landed on the runway with some of his limbs missing.

George and Vonda held their breaths as their Russian friend was blown to bits. Vonda lowered her head as she pulled out the arrow from the rogue's neck.

Lori hid behind the Humvees and watched the fire rage on the tanks. She watched as one of Sergei's limb splattered into the top of a prison bus.

The Humvees arrived outside of the barracks. Lincoln and Clyde came out of the barracks with Lana and Lily. They quickly went behind cover and found Lori amidst the firefight.

"Where do we go?" asked Lincoln.

"Inside a bus," said Lori as she reloaded her AK-47.

"I know. Where are we going?"

Lori looked inside the barracks. The holes in the walls and windows were unable to give a clear view of the laboratory.

"Is Dr. White and Lisa in there?" asked Lori.

"Yeah," replied Lincoln. "So is Carol and Zoey. And Leni."

Lori saw the rogues storm the armory. She then looked at the other side of the fences. And then the smoke billowing out of the prisons.

"D.C.," said Lori. "If you all take Interstate 95… you should make it to Washington. Tell everyone to go there. That's your new home."

Lori wiped her eyes as the rogues came closer to the barracks. Then, she heard gunshots inside the building.

"You better go now."

Lisa made sure that the locks were shut in tightly.

"It's all magnetic, right?" asked Carol. "Why do you need keys?"

"The keys activate the magnets," said Dr. White. "It's how this bastard wasn't able to get out in the first place."

"Hey, fuck you too," said Jett. "Look what happened. I'm going to die, aren't I?"

"We're getting the hell out of this place," said Dr. White. "When this battle is over, you'll live. Either the rogues beat us and free you or Lori wins… and she keeps you alive for a bit longer."

"How are we going to leave this place?" nervously asked Leni.

"There's an emergency exit over here," said Dr. White. "Just lift this shelf and… here's a button. It'll open a door."

"Hey, Lisa," said Leni. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just attempting to estimate time."

"Time for what?" asked Carol.

The rogues looked around the armory. They beamed their flashlights at the empty shelves. Then, they heard a tapping noise.

"Over here," said Sage.

The rogues arrived at the end of the armory and found a wooden bird, pecking at a timer. There was only a second left in the timer. Sage gasped.

"Shi–"

A large explosion blew up the armory and sent a fireball into the sky. The nearby rogues were swept off their feet and dropped a couple feet away from where they stood. Lead and Moss looked at the fireball from their position and gasped.

"It happened," said Lisa. "A fair number of rogues were dispatched. Incinerated, actually."

Jett sighed. He lowered his head as he dug into his pockets. He groaned and looked away from the group.

Moss and the rogues moved around the barracks, kicking the luggage around. Coal followed Moss with a flamethrower in his hands, specialized in one job. Burning.

"It's clear here," said Moss. "Burn it."

Coal pulled the trigger and set a small office room on fire. The rogues continued to search the area, looting the leftover ammo.

"Burn this one," ordered Moss. "That one. Over here. This one too. Don't forget that one over there."

The walls turned black as the fire raged inside the rooms, everything inside torched by Coal's weapon.

Then, suddenly, a claymore mine blew up and sent a rogue flying from where he was. He landed in the ground with his lower limbs missing.

"Holy shit!" yelled Moss.

A couple fighters came out from a jet bridge and trapped the rogues in the other side of the wide halls. Using metal crates for cover, the defenders were able to push back the rogues closer to the burning rooms.

But the metal crates worked both way. So now, the rogues and the fighters were at a stalemate in the halls.

Haley and Luan rushed to the prison where they found Rusty and his father outside a crumbled Unit C.

"What are you guys still doing here?" asked Luan.

"Never mind that," said Haley. "Look at the barracks. The damn infirmary. Nothing is safe. We have to go down the sewers."

"Where would that be?" asked Rusty.

"Across the barracks where hell is loose. You see that tiny air-traffic control tower? It's behind that."

"Okay. Will we be safe there?" asked Mr. Spokes.

"You should be," said Haley. "But I don't know if she will be."

Rusty looked at a bleeding Lynn. He frowned and moved towards the tower. Haley looked at Rusty's father and motioned him to follow her. Luan followed them before Rusty stopped in his tracks.

"Hey, uh, you're… Luna?" asked Rusty.

"Luan."

"Luan, right. Ronnie Anne is trapped inside that prison over there. You think you can get her out?"

"Sure thing, Rusty."

Luan ran back to Unit C, moving the debris out of way so she could enter the prison. She made her way into the prison, searching for the trapped little girl that had once threw pie into her face.

In the meantime, Haley led Rusty and his father to the tower. Using the corpses and potholes for cover, they were able to walk on the runway without attracting any attention. However, Lead and his rogue soldiers caught sight of them.

"Over there!" yelled Lead.

Haley placed a helmet on Lynn's head and dragged her closer to the tower. However, the bullets came raining across the runway as Black marched towards the three civilians. The three survivors took cover behind a couple metal barrels.

"What do we do?" asked Rusty.

Haley saw a squad of rogues waiting for the survivors to spring out of their cover. She took a deep breath until she heard a few sniper shots. She smiled as she knew Luna and Sam had their backs.

"We're going to run like hell now!" said Haley.

Another bolt of lightning flew across the sky. Black called for mortar fire. A couple rogues shot their mortar rockets into the woods where the two girls were located. After a few seconds, the mortar landed where he last saw the gleaming light. And the sniper fire was heard no more.

Haley picked up Lynn and ran across from the metal barrels to the tower. Rusty followed her before being noticed by Lead.

Lead moved his rifle towards the boy and shot him in the arms, then his chest. The other rogues shot their guns at him as well, shooting until he hit the ground.

Haley opened the manhole and lowered Lynn into the sewers before dropping her a couple feet to the stone walkway.

"Come on, now!" called out Haley as she climbed onto the ladder.

She turned around and found Rusty face-down in the ground, covered in bullet holes. His father sobbed and revealed himself from the metal barrel.

"No!" sobbed Mr. Spokes. "My boy…. Oh… why? Oh god."

Black walked towards Rusty's father who knelt by his dead son. His face was stone-cold, unable to show any empathy for the grieving father. He raised his Desert Eagle and aimed it at him.

"Go ahead…!" sobbed Mr. Spokes. "I need to be with my sons…"

Black pulled the trigger, executing Rusty's father on the spot. Spits of blood splattered onto his fingers. He lowered his gun and marched back to the barracks with it in his hands.

Haley was left speechless. She wiped a tear from her eyes and climbed down the ladder, closing the manhole.

She turned on a flashlight and looked at Lynn's wound in her shoulder. It continued bleeding.

"I'm sorry, Lynn," she said, her voice trembling. "I don't think you're going to make it. I can't save you."

The lightning flashed across the sky. The rain poured into the prisons, flooding the basements and cells. Luan tried to navigate through the pitch-black halls but she was too afraid.

Then, the roamers growled and stood up. Wearing civilian clothings and army uniform, all the roamers inside the prison waded through the flooding halls, raising their arms towards Luan. She raised her katana and sliced one of the roamers' head off. Then another one. And another one.

It felt good. Having the katana after a year felt nice, especially with all the training that Luan received from Hana. But the roamers were too much for her to handle. There were too many coming after her.

She couldn't find Ronnie Anne. She had to abandon the search and find a way out of the prison before the roamers were able to catch her.

The firefight continued raging inside the barracks. Dead corpses from both sides lied in the ground. Becky and David entered the barracks, making their way to the wide halls where the firefight was taking place.

They grabbed some more ammo in a crate by the jet bridge. David nudged Mr. Coleman.

"What did we miss?"

"Nothing much," replied the old fighter. "Just pushing back these rogues closer to hell."

David shot his rifle multiple times at the end of the hall and struck Coal in the head. He dropped to the ground and fell with the flamethrower still in his grip. The rogues quickly retreated away from the hall.

"Get out through the terminal entrance!" yelled Moss.

"You heard the man!" yelled Hoover. "Go!"

The rogues exited through a narrow hall upstairs that they haven't burned, passing above all the fighters at the end of the hall. The fighters shot up at the floor above them, but were unable to penetrate through the ceiling.

Luan made it out of the prison with a surprise waiting for her. Swarms of roamers were wandering around the town. Many of the bodies began to rise from where they died.

Luna and Sam coughed out the dirt from their throats and licked the ash from their lips.

"You survived as well?" asked Sam, chuckling softly.

"What in the bloody hell was that?" groaned Luna.

"Bombs. We're lucky we didn't take a direct hit."

Luna looked at what was left of Houlton. There were swarms of roamers scattered across the war-zone. Her jaws were frozen in place as she found Luan fighting the roamers and struggling to leave Houlton.

The prison buses began to depart from the war-zone. George and Vonda went inside David's RV, while Lori snuck closer to the barracks. She saw many rogues flee from the barracks, all heading to the runway where they were met with the rest of the fighters of Houlton.

Dr. White turned the keys in the emergency exit and deactivated the magnetic locks for the laboratory. He opened it and found many of the buses leaving.

"It's time to go," said Dr. White.

"Where to?" asked Lisa.

Dr. White looked around the buses. He found Clyde and called him.

"Hey, where are the buses heading?" he asked.

"Lincoln says Washington D.C. Hurry, we still have a couple more seats in this bus!"

Dr. White looked back at Lisa, Carol, Zoey, and Leni. He motioned them to leave. However, Jett rocked himself back and forth.

"Wait, don't leave me here! I gotta go too! If I stay here, it won't end well for me! It won't!"

Dr. White shook his head as he carried his bag of lab items. Lisa carried her bag of acids stored in plastic while Carol carried a bag of medicine. Leni carried her light bag of protection gear.

"Hey, you! Leni! I've seen you in the Wasteland! I know you have a heart. Please, I know you can't leave me here!"

Leni paused from where she stood.

"Please, I need to see my family!" exclaimed Jett.

"You don't have time to free him!" said Lisa. "George has the keys to his handcuffs!"

"Here, take it to the bus," said Leni, handing her bag to Clyde. "Just go. I can't leave this poor man in here like this. It's not human."

"Leni, just leave it!" protested Lisa.

"No. If I had known you guys were doing this, I would've freed this man a long time ago. He shouldn't have to be forced to not see his family. He shouldn't suffer."

"You're going to free him? Is it because you don't want him to feel the same pain he inflicted on you?"

"No. It's just the right thing to do. Go. I'll meet you later in Washington."

Lisa nodded. She, Dr. White, Carol, Zoey, and Clyde all went inside the bus. She looked back at the laboratory as the bus drove away, heading out the north gates. She then looked at Lori.

"Please, win," she said. "We need you all in Washington."

Jeffrey covered his head as Preston tried to calm him down.

"What's going on?" asked Jace.

"His flashbacks. I don't know- they were never this bad. We have to leave now!"

The bus drove away from the barracks. Jace looked outside the window and saw Leni waving goodbye. He smiled slightly before waving back, and before he knew it, he was outside of the town with the other buses.

Leni looked at the struggling prisoner. She looked around for something to unlock Jett's handcuffs.

"Have you seen any hair pins around here?" asked Leni.

"No. Aren't you wearing one right now?"

Leni removed the hair tie from her head, releasing her long, golden hair.

"This won't unlock your handcuffs, sir. I know where to find some hair pins. I'll BRB, okay?"

Leni headed out the emergency exit and looked around for a safe passage to the infirmary.

"Wait," said Jett. "Aren't there any tools you can use in here to free me? There's literally pliers on that table! I know I begged them not to use it on me, but that was then… and now I'm not being interrogated! Are you still there? Leni?"

Leni ran out of the barracks and hid between the rogue Humvees and mesh fences that separated the military-zone from the town. She snuck past corpses of roamers. She stepped over the pieces of flesh and shivered when she stepped on a puddle of rain mixed with blood.

"Leni?" whispered Lincoln.

"Going to the RV, Lincoln?" asked Lana.

"No, just go. Vanzilla is still by the infirmary. Lori and I could use that."

Lana sighed worriedly and went back inside the RV. Lincoln snuck past the firefight and tried to follow Leni who was already many yards away from him.

Jett looked at the light coming from the exit. He sighed and then turned towards the roamer in the corner of the room. He chuckled nervously as its golden eyes were fixated on him.

"So," said Jett. "It's just you and me now, right? I… uh… don't exactly taste delicious. So try not to bite me, huh? Unless it's my ass!"

Jett let out a hysterical laugh.

"Oh god, you really are ugly as shit, though. L-Let's talk about that Japanese girl. She lost it. I mean, look at her. Falling in love with a fuckin' zombie? Oh, don't look at me like that. I'm only talking to you because I've been here alone for thirty fuckin' days! Once I get out…"

Jett dug into his pockets. It was a long scalpel that he was able to retrieve when he tried to attack Lori earlier. He kept it in there.

"I'm going to stab the hell out of you," said Jett. "I'll spare blondie, but if she don't like what I do to you… well, I gotta do what I gotta do."

The storm raged on even stronger.

 **IV - Last Stand**

"This is Kotaro. Can anyone come in?"

Luna grabbed her walkie-talkie.

"I'm here. This is Luna… and Sam."

"Luna and Sam. We all evacuated. Heading to Washington D.C."

"Yeah, I can see that."

"Meet us at the rallying point."

Luna sniffled. She looked at the sewers by the air-traffic control tower. The water poured inside. Lynn was gone from sight. The roamers began to scatter about, as if they weren't just chasing their victim. Luan was gone from sight.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" sniffled Luna.

"The rallying point. You know the road behind you? We'll meet you there."

"Thank you."

Luna lied against a tree and began tearing up and looked ahead. Then she turned around.

"Leni?" she gasped. "Lincoln!"

Leni ran to the infirmary, remaining hidden in the tall grass and abandoned vehicles. She had to resort to crouch walking, her own flats getting muddy. A few bullets passed by her- both friendly and enemy- even though they were not intended for her.

She turned around and found Black and Lead behind a battered Humvee. Lead shot his rifle multiple times. He was shooting at the fighters who were still large in numbers. Headshot after headshots. Leni saw her friend Kathy in the fight, before being killed a second later by Lead. Mr. Coleman led David and Becky away from the barracks before he himself was shot by Lead as well.

She gulped and continued sneaking past the top-tier rogues. She moved her hair out of the way, sighing as she knew she should've kept her hair tie on.

Leni looked at the infirmary up ahead. She smiled as she continued to crouch-walk closer to the building. Suddenly, a thunder in the sky revealed an artillery shell rocketing down somewhere in the war-zone. And after a few seconds, the entire community knew.

The artillery shell hit the already collapsed roof of the infirmary building. The shell exploded the entire top floor of the building, burning clothes that Leni herself was working on. She took a deep breath and continued on.

Suddenly, a roamer growled at her from inside a Humvee, causing her to yelp. Lead turned around and nudged Black.

"What is it?" asked Black.

"A Loud over there. She's heading to the infirmary."

"A Loud?" asked Black, turning his head around. "That's Leni Loud. Let's go."

David dragged Mr. Coleman behind a friendly vehicle.

"You alright?" he asked.

David removed Mr. Coleman's shades. His eyes stared blankly ahead at the sky.

"Fuck. Becky, come 'ere."

Becky reloaded her Glock. David sighed and looked at her in the eyes.

"I need you to drive the RV outta here. George and some of the kids are in there."

"No," she replied. "I'm staying here. I have important business to take care of."

David looked at the rogues across the runway.

"Who is it?"

"Captain Dickhead over there. No doubt he was the one who pushed Black to doing this kinda shit. He's like another Black… just more aggressive."

"You're not leaving then?"

Becky shook his head. David sighed and ran to his RV. He found George, Vonda, Lana, and Lily inside.

"That's it?" asked David.

"Plenty people left in buses," said George. "Many more are MIA. And some are… KIA."

Becky patted Lori in the back.

"We got this," said Becky. "Go after Black. End him."

Lori nodded. She went inside a Humvee and started it. The fighters behind it moved to another vehicle for cover as she drove away.

The rogues tried to shoot the armored vehicle but Becky and the rest of the fighters had her back. Becky grabbed a rifle in the ground and shot it at the rogues. More bodies were dropped.

However, the rogues equipped their shields and began advancing towards them. Becky knew it was up to her to lead the fighters.

"We can spread out now!" said Becky. "We're not defending any prison buses now! So surround these bastards!"

Becky and the other fighters spread out from where they were. They used the vehicles as cover and as a way to move around. The rogues continued pushing on.

Leni entered the infirmary. The lights were all out, prompting her to grab a flashlight. She shined it around the entrance hall, finding the floor being flooded by the heavy rain. The couch floated at the end of the hall. The plant was washed away. The medicine was drenched in the flooding water.

She climbed up the stairs, covering her mouth as dust and smoke lingered around in the air. When she reached the top floor, she found boulders of concrete lying in the middle of the room. The corners of the room were covered in bricks and the bedrooms of Carol and Haley were completely trapped in debris. Rain poured from the roof, soaking the burnt clothes and fabrics that floated around.

Her feet splashed against the water, moving around as Leni searched for a hair pin. She picked up a can of orange dye. She sighed as she tossed it out the roof, knowing she could never use it again to make any clothes for Lincoln.

She continued to walk towards the sewing machines. Small scraps of them still floated in the water as the rest disintegrated into smoke and ash. The desks that held them was split in half and flipped upside down.

Leni knelt down and opened up one of the drawers. She found strings, needles, and even a tiny, metal cup. A thimble.

She continued to dig around the drawer but found nothing. She looked in all the drawers but couldn't find anything that resembled a hair pin. Her lips began to quiver.

"No, please. I have to save that man…"

She then lifted her right foot and found a hair pin, floating around in the water. Her eyes opened and a smile formed in her face. She quickly crouched and grabbed it, leaving the infirmary soon after.

Becky and the rest of the fighters continued spraying their bullets at the rogues. Then, they saw the RV moving away from the firefight. The rogues tried to shoot it, but at a cost. Their distracted firing gave Becky and opportunity to aim for their heads and kill them. Three shots, three rogues down.

Lead tackled Black out of the RV's way as it zoomed past them. Lead went into a prone position and fired his gun at it.

"No, don't waste the ammo," said Black.

Suddenly, many shots went off, all from a Colt Python.

Lead turned around and was shot in the head by Lori as she drove the Humvee past them. Black gasped and ducked for cover that was just not around.

Lori braked the vehicle and came out from it, tossing her revolver at Black. He blocked it with his arms, but before he realized, Lori lunged at him.

She pressed her right forearm against his neck and pushed his head onto the ground. With her knees, she prevented Black from moving his arms. He gagged as Lori pressed with all her might.

"What happened, Black?" hissed Lori. "Can't even land one hit?"

Black's red face seethed and his eye made a mean glare at the girl. He quickly lifted his knees and shoved her away from him. He took out his Desert Eagle and aimed at Lori before she smacked it away with her rifle.

Lori aimed the rifle at a frozen Black. Next thing she knew, he ran towards her, pulling his fists back. She fired the rifle and hit Black in his chest, but he still punched the rifle out of her hands and gripped his hands around her neck.

"I'm unkillable!" yelled Black. "I have what it takes to live in this world! You are strong! But I am stronger!"

Lori pushed her thumbs against Black's eyehole, causing him to scream in excruciating pain as blood pumped out. He shoved her away and covered his bleeding eye hole.

"That's for my parents!" yelled Lori.

Black took out his Bowie knife and swung it around as Lori attempted to dodge it. And dodge it she did. He was sloppy in his swinging, causing Lori to predict where he would try to cut her from.

He had enough. Black tossed the knife at her, striking her in the chest. She yelled and fell on one knee as she coughed. He walked towards her and then placed a strong blow on her face with a kick.

She fell to the ground, as she looked at the knife in her chest.

"This vest is good," she groaned.

She removed the knife from her vest, with only the tip of it covered in fresh blood. Looking at Black's prepared stance, she knew he would take back the knife. So she did something her younger self wouldn't have done.

Lori tossed the knife away from where they stood. Black watched the knife disappear into the heavy rain, knowing that he wouldn't see it again. He spit into the ground and punched Lori.

He punched and punched and punched. Even when she fell to the ground, her back splashing on the red water, he continued to punch her. But she blocked it all with her arms.

Then, Black grabbed her arms and opened it, placing a strong blow on her left eye, creating a large cut in her eyebrows. He stood up and began kicking and kicking.

Lori struggled to survive once again. The lightning roared more intensely. The winds picked up and Black's beret flew off his head.

"No mercy this time," said Black.

Black picked up Lori, went behind her, and wrapped his arms around her neck. Then, he placed one of his hands against her right temple.

Lori's hair was drenched and covered in ash and mud. Her temples and lips were bleeding, with cuts on her eyebrows and forehead. A large bruise appeared on her left eye, leaving her unable to open it. Her right cheeks were swollen and bruised. She placed her bleeding knuckles on Black's arm as she struggled to scream. Her ring finger was especially cut up, though the ring with the diamond remained unharmed itself. It was real diamond after all.

"It's a shame, Lori. You were going to beat this world. But you wanted to fight back against something that couldn't be defeated. But hey… at least you survived for two years. That's longer than 99 percent of the world's population."

Lori knew it. Black was going to snap her neck in a couple seconds. She counted down.

Three.

Two.

One.

Lori gasped as Black released his grip on her neck. She looked ahead and saw why.

A frightened Leni stood a couple feet away from Lori and Black. Her feet were glued to the ground and her eyes were unable to close.

"Leni, run!" cried Lori, but her voice came out so faint, the rain was able to mask her voice.

Leni understood either way. She turned away and sprinted for the armory. Black raised his Desert Eagle and shot one of her legs. She screamed and fell to the ground, dropping her hair pin.

"No, please don't," said Lori, her voice breaking. "Let her go. Kill me instead. Please!"

"In due time," said Black as he continued marching towards a bleeding Leni.

He raised his Desert Eagle, the barrel pointed at the back of her creamy hair. Lori called out to her beautiful sister.

"Leni, look at me! It hurts, I know!"

Leni's tears ran out her eyes as she struggled to keep eye contact with Lori.

"Leni, just keep looking! I love–!"

Black pulled the trigger.

The thunder flashed across the town of Houlton.

The black skies continued to darken the world.

The sound of gunshots raged on.

And there was no more hope that the community would stand.

Luna stared from the distance. She covered her mouth as her eyes watered. Her heart ached even harder as she saw her sister's body drop to the flooding ground. She lied her head on the ground and sobbed as Sam tried her best to comfort her.

The spray of young and innocent blood stuck to the barrel of General Quentin Black's Desert Eagle. Smoke puffed out of it and he lowered it. He stared at the young girl who was her daughter's exact age.

"Too weak for this world," said Black.

Lori crawled to her sister's body. She couldn't believe it. She looked at her and moved the bangs away from her beautiful face. It was unreal. It felt too hard to grasp. No way such an innocent soul has fallen victim to an evil corruption.

Black hovered over Lori, allowing her to grieve her sister.

"You'll soon join her," he said.

He lifted his gun and pointed it at the weeping Lori. That is, until a few bullets struck Black in his chest. One bullet after another and then another.

Black tried to gain balance and fell forward on his knees. Lincoln went forward with Lori's revolver in her hands.

"Bulletproof vest comes a long way," coughed Black. "Didn't you know to aim for the head? That's how you kill the dead."

Lincoln pressed the trigger. However, he finally learnt how fast six bullets could run out.

Black knelt down to the ground and picked up David's M9. He chuckled as he lifted it.

"Guess what. You're part of the dead too."

Black aimed both pistols at Lori and Lincoln who were now next to each other. The Desert Eagle in his left hand pointed at Lori. The Beretta M9 in his right hand pointed at Lincoln. He moved his fingers towards the trigger, ready to pull it in a second.

Then as fast as lightning took to light up the sky and shake the earth with it's thundering noise, Luan lifted her katana high in the air and swung it down, slicing General Quentin Black's arms off.

Lori and Lincoln both gasped as the general's limbs fell to the ground. Luan walked around the general, until she was face to face with him. He fell to his knees, unable to scream or whisper. His eye was wide open as Luan knelt with him.

"Now you're unarmed… bitch."

Black looked at Luan as blood continued squirting out of the sliced veins from his ripped upper limbs. He clenched his teeth before letting out a gasp. Then, he collapsed to the ground, his face sideways in the water as his bleeding eye hole looked out into the destruction that it caused.

The General finally fell.

Luan turned towards Lori and Lincoln with tears in her eyes. She shook her head and lowered it as she knelt by Leni. She lowered her head and gave Leni a kiss in her hair, before picking up an emotionally distraught Lori. Lincoln looked at Leni's body before helping Luan pick up Lori. Tears flowed down his face as fast as the raindrops went from his head to toe.

Luan pointed at Vanzilla by the infirmary building. Somehow, it has survived the battle. The three survivors limped to it.

Bodies lied in the ground, and some arisen to come back as a fresh new roamer. Then, they were quickly shot by the rogues and the Houlton fighters.

"I think we can push," said Moss. "There doesn't seem to be a lot of them."

"What about the roamers?" asked Jade.

"Just watch your back and you'll be fine. You're wearing some hardass armor. Their teeth can't get ya."

Jade nodded. A second later, a katana drove through her chest before Hana pulled it out. She fell to her knees and groaned before Hana decapitated her.

The roamers passed by a bloody Hana. The guts she wore masked her human scent and allowed her to sneak away into the swarm of roamers. With her was her loyal companion, Kimi, who wore a white rag with roamer guts that covered her body, but not her head.

Becky looked around herself. The fighters she ordered to scatter were nowhere to be found. And those she found were dead on the ground.

The rogues marched slowly towards her before a few roamers lunged behind them. They yelled as the roamers overpowered them. Their soaked armor couldn't protect them.

Moss turned around and sprayed his assault rifle at the swarm of roamers. He went into a crouching position and dropped his rifle, substituting it for a pistol.

After clearing the roamers out, Moss found himself held at gunpoint by Becky. He slowly raised his hands.

"Look," said Moss. "If I knew a place where you could live–"

Becky lowered her pistol and grabbed her machete. She swung it down his head and continued swinging it at him, cutting his head into pieces of sliced flesh. Hana approached the girl and stared worriedly.

In the distance, Becky saw a sight that broke her heart. Hana turned around and saw Bobby carrying Leni in her arms. Her young and beautiful face seemed to be at rest, a face ruined by the wound in her forehead.

Becky walked closer to Bobby and placed her hands on Leni's head. Her eyes watered and her heart stung. Hana turned away and looked at the barracks. She walked towards it as Bobby followed her.

A couple rogues snuck away from the firefight, regrouping with the artillerymen in the woods. They smiled as they realized they survived the storm. That was before they were gunned down by a rain of bullets. Six men dropped to the ground.

Hoover looked around and took out his pistol. He moved the wet hair out of his face and searched where they gunshot came from. He looked around, but could only heard the wind pushing the trees around. But one tree was pushed too much.

He looked up and was met with a falling Benny who landed on his feet and pushed his sword up through Hoover's stomach. Then, Benny shot a couple bullets from an M4 carbine in his left hand. They all hit Hoover in his chest– all except one, which hit his throat, dropping him to the ground.

Benny pulled out the ninjato from his stomach and placed it back into his sheath. He walked back to Houlton, only to see that no one was left alive. No one he could see, except Bobby, Becky, and Hana.

Jett raised his head as he heard splashing footsteps near the emergency exit.

"Hell of a fight out there, amirite? Oh, it's you three. And… aw shit. Blondie's dead. Did she get the hair pin at least?"

They all walked past Jett. Bobby stood by the steel door with the latches, away from the roamer in the corner, holding Leni. Becky loosened the ropes for the roamer in the corner, standing behind it. Hana stepped in front of the rope, removing the tape from the roamer's mouth.

"Remember, Reiji. _Aishiteru_."

Hana placed her hands on the roamer's cheek as she stared into the roamer's golden eyes. Then, she stood by it, wondering if the guts still worked. The roamer continued to growl at Jett. It still worked.

Hana nodded. Becky lifted her machete as Jett gulped.

"Wait. What the hell are you doing?"

Becky swung down the machete. The rope was slashed and the roamer limped towards the rogue prisoner.

"Hey! No! Wait, I'm supposed to be–!"

The roamer chomped on his face. He screamed and dropped the knife from his hand. Becky watched as Bobby left the laboratory. She walked slowly, watching the roamer tear the rogue's face apart until his screams died out. Hana grabbed the rope and allowed Reiji to continue consuming his meal.

The last thunder rumbled across the sky, though the rain continued to pour into the cemetery. Bobby shoveled out a hole while Becky and Hana waited outside.

" _So what did you mean?_ " asked Luan from a less savage time.

Bobby placed the body– covered by a white cloth– inside the grave.

" _What did I mean for what?_ " asked Lori.

Bobby shoveled the dirt back into the grave.

" _The beautiful flowers. What did you mean?_ "

Bobby patted the dirt into the grave.

" _Oh, that. Leni, you can go inside. I gotta tell Luan something quick._ "

He grabbed a wooden cross from inside the church that was premade in the case that more people passed away.

" _Luan. Ever wonder why the best people die?_ "

He placed the wooden cross before the fresh pile of dirt.

" _Why?_ "

Bobby dropped a bouquet of white lilacs on the dirt.

" _If you're in a garden, which flowers do you pick?_ "

Bobby, Becky, and Hana walked away from the cemetery– where the graves of Dana, Tabby, Wavehead, James, Jenny, Mr. and Mrs. Pringrey, and many more were located– as rain continued to pour on them.

" _The most beautiful ones. Oh yeah, I did hear of that one. Is it true, though?_ "

" _You tell me, Luan. You tell me. Now, go. I gotta look for parking._ "

Lori stared out the window of Vanzilla. Two years ago, she looked at her two sisters greet their friends with a carefree attitude. Now, she looked at the passing trees and falling raindrops, pouring down like they did in the shower door. She looked at the side mirror and saw the town of Houlton for the last time. Her blue eyes watered as she looked away, never to look back at what remained in the destruction after the final siege, ever again.

.

.

.

* * *

 ** _REMEMBER THOSE WHO STILL REMAIN:_**

 ** _Lori Loud_**

 ** _Luna Loud_**

 ** _Luan Loud_**

 ** _Lincoln Loud_**

 ** _Lana Loud_**

 ** _Lisa Loud_**

 ** _Lily Loud_**

 ** _Clyde McBride_**

 ** _Bobby Santiago_**

 ** _David Jones_**

 ** _George Cane_**

 ** _Vonda Crowley_**

 ** _Becky_**

 ** _Benny_**

 ** _Preston Salas_**

 ** _Jeffrey Salas_**

 ** _Sam Sharp_**

 ** _Carol Pingrey_**

 ** _REMEMBER THOSE WHO WERE GAINED:_**

 ** _Dr. Steven White, Haley Jennings, Kotaro, and Ted (Chapter 14)_**

 ** _Hana Konda and Jace Taylor (Chapter 15)_**

 ** _Reggie Harrison (Chapter 17)_**

 ** _REMEMBER THOSE WHOSE FATE IS UNKNOWN:_**

 ** _Lynn Loud_**

 ** _Ronnie Anne Santiago_**

 ** _Haley Jennings_**

 ** _REMEMBER THOSE WHO WERE LOST:_**

 ** _Mr. and Mrs. Pingrey (Chapter 14)_**

 ** _Richard Bolts, Sandy Jones, Lynn Loud Sr., and Rita Loud (Chapter 15)_**

 ** _Wesley "Wavehead" Hill, Tabby, and James (Chapter 16)_**

 ** _Dana, Jenny, and Mr. Harrison (Chapter 17)_**

 ** _Buck (Chapter 18)_**

 ** _Medic Donovan Bree (Chapter 19)_**

 ** _Sergei, Rusty Spokes, Mr. Ruddy Spokes, Mr. Coleman, Kathy, and Leni Loud (Chapter 20)_**

 ** _And many others..._**

 ** _END OF VOLUME 4._**


	21. Lost

_**After almost a month, I return with a new chapter! Enjoy! Also, you don't have to listen the songs stated in the story, but it does enhance the experience. That's all I have to say. Don't forget to follow and favorite the story if you enjoy!**_

* * *

Raindrops running down the windows. Teardrops running down from her eyes. A low rumble of thunder from the distance. A low whimper trembling from her lips.

The light from the blue phone lit up. It was a bright light, lighting up nothing that could be seen on the screen. Just white light.

Then, it buzzed.

Lori turned towards the glove department. It buzzed. She sniffled and wiped her tears as she stared at it. It buzzed again. She placed her hands on the small handle and opened it, rummaging through the notes written with red ink. The photos also had bloody text. They all the same grim message.

 _WHY COULDN'T YOU SAVE ME?_

 _MY BLOOD IS IN YOUR HAND._

 _GOOD LUCK FINDING THE OTHERS._

 _GUESS WHO CAN'T CRY ANYMORE?_

 _MOM AND DAD DON'T WANT YOU ANYMORE._

 _GOOD JOB SAVING YOUR SISTER._

 _I WISH YOU WOULD BURN._

 _WHO'S NEXT?_

The phone buzzed again. Lori placed her fingers on it. Her vision folded into darkness before revealing the object in her hand. It buzzed again and again. Her fingers lifted itself away from the phone, leaving bloody fingerprints on the screen.

Lori closed her eyes, letting one tear come out from them before passing out. The phone stopped buzzing and the photos no longer had any messages in them. But the blood from her wounds still remained.

 **Chapter 21: Lost**

 **I - Here We Remain**

The rain continued to pour on the van. Luan kept her hands steady on the wheels and her feet lightly pressed against the gas pedal. Then, she slowly let go of the pedal as she turned the wheel to the left.

The Medway Motel neon sign remained dark. A couple roamers lurked around the abandoned vehicles as Luan parked between two parking spaces. She opened the door and grabbed her katana before closing it. The rain soaked her hair again, but luckily, her leather jacket kept her body dry.

She ran with the bloody blade in her hands, looking around for the monsters. A wet roamer oozing blood with a saturated dark-red color appeared before her. Its clothes were ripped where a giant stab wound remained in its chest, and its shoes were falling apart. Its golden eyes glowed through the downpour.

The girl quickly drove her sword forward and moved closer to the roamer. With a quick lift, she held the katana by the scar in her right temple and lunged it towards the roamer's skull, the blade sticking through its wet head. She pulled it out and looked around, finding other roamers.

The raindrops splashed around as the blade of the katana cut through them. They slicing moved around in spirals, uppercuts, and zigzags. As the girl continued dancing in the rain with her katana, blood splattered into the puddles in the ground, into the abandoned vehicles, into the raindrops themselves.

Luan finished her dance and panted as she looked around. The bodies were in the ground and no golden eyes could be seen moving through the downpour. She placed her hands on her face and moved her wet strands of hair away from it. She blinked rapidly and looked back at the van.

She saw Lincoln pull Lori out of the van, and ran to the van to help him. She placed the katana back into her sheath and grabbed one of Lori's arms, placing it around her shoulders. Lincoln kicked back the door to close it as he tried to face the raindrops pelting the survivors.

They moved towards the motel and looked at the rooms in the lower section. Luan and Lincoln moved to a room, finding it unlocked. They opened the door and went inside, finding themselves in a pitch-black space.

"Hold her tight!" exclaimed Luan.

She ran to a large drawer beside the bed, dimly lit by the window, and took out a large towel. Next, she placed the towel on the bed and ran back to Lori, this time, picking her up with her full strength. She rolled her to the bed and sighed as she was now safely lying on the bed.

She saw candles on top of the drawers, prompting her to check Lori's pockets in her cargo shorts. She pulled out her lighter and lit up the candles before closing the door to the room. The candles were now lighting up the room and also revealed something suspicious on the drawer.

Lincoln looked over at Lori, inspecting all her wounds. Luan picked up the object on the drawer and flipped it around, staring at it as her eyes grew wide.

"Magnum?" whispered Luan. "Large… size… oh!"

"None of the wounds look that bad," said Lincoln, his voice cracking. "It could've been a lot worse– woah."

Luan gulped and tossed the box onto the drawer. She moved away from the candles and focused on Lori.

"Whose room was this?" asked Lincoln.

"Dana… and Wavehead," replied Luan. "Looks like they were really… close friends."

Luan placed her fingers on Lori's neck.

"She's just unconscious," she said. "I think there's another towel in the drawers. We'll dry ourselves up and… rest. It's been… a very long day."

After drying herself with a purple towel, Luan placed herself on the large towel in the bed, next to Lori.

"There's enough space here, Lincoln," said Luan.

"It's okay. Just go to sleep. I need to relax for a little first."

Luan nodded and placed her head into the middle pillow. Lincoln walked out of the motel room, leaving the door slightly open.

Luan sniffled and thought about her second eldest sister– realizing, that Luna has now taken that spot. The pillow became more damp as she continued to cry into it. Before she knew it, she was asleep, her tears drying up on her face.

Lincoln opened the passenger door to Vanzilla and grabbed the photo album from the glove department. He covered it inside his shirt and ran back into the motel as he was attacked by the rain. Then, he went inside and closed the door before taking the photo album out. He grabbed the purple towel and dried himself, finding Luan asleep in the bed. He tossed the towel away and sat down in the floor by the drawers, opening the photo album to find pictures of the Loud family. Tears fell onto the album when he flipped into Leni's section. Her baby pictures, a picture of when she went to first grade, much to the parents' surprise, a picture of her in the parks feeding bread to a bunch of pigeons, and a selfie with her former coworker, Fiona.

Then, he found the picture that Carol took back in Royal Woods when they were preparing to leave to Houlton. Many of the faces were colored by a transparent gray marker. He could list all the faces from when their deaths occurred in order.

Rocky. Chaz. Lola. Francisco. Liam. Chunk. Missy. Lucy. Darcy. Zach. Richard. Tabby. Dana.

Lincoln closed the album and tried to hold his tears back. Leni was already colored gray by herself.

Luan shifted her body around, fidgeting about.

Leni's body fell. Blood splattered the ground where Luan stood. She looked around and noticed that she was holding a katana. It was already bloody.

"Go ahead," said Black. "Kill me. It won't bring back Leni. It never will. KILL ME!"

Luan yelled and sliced Black's arms off. Then, she gasped as a golden eye appeared before her. The General has turned into a roamer.

"Good job," said Black in a growling voice. "You brought me back."

"No! No! No!" yelled Luan.

She continued slicing off Black's arms. Blood poured everywhere. Even the rain turned red as the raindrops became drops of blood. Red everywhere. Luan fell to her knee and looked up. Black smiled and aimed his gun at Leni again. They were both drenched in blood. Then, a gunshot.

"NO!" yelled Luan.

Luan woke up, panting as the thunder rumbled quietly outside the motel. Lincoln stood up and ran to Luan's aid.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh… my… god," she said, catching her breath.

"It's okay, I'm here," said Lincoln. "Nightmare?"

"L–Leni? Where– oh no! I'm still stuck in this shit motel!"

"You were only asleep for like an hour," said Lincoln.

Luan looked out the windows. There were a swarm of roamers.

"They followed us," said Luan. "We have to lead 'em away from here. Away from Lori."

Lincoln nodded and grabbed his combat knife. He blew out the candles in the room before following Luan out the motel room. The door closed, leaving Lori unconscious in the pitch-black room.

Luan uppercutted a roamer with her katana and thrust it into the neck of a roamer before decapitating it. Lincoln grabbed a roamer by his throat and pressed the knife against its eye. He pulled it out without turning it, realizing that the roamers were too wet to make it difficult to pull out a knife from.

Lincoln moved to another roamer and leaped, thrusting the knife up its jaws. The knife slid out easily again, and the roamer dropped to the ground without dragging the boy with him.

"There's too many," said Luan. "Come here! Back up. Back up."

Luan and Lincoln stood next to each other with their melee weapons ready to slice the roamers. The swarms were limping towards the survivors as their backs were faced against the woods. Then, the duo turned around and ran into the road.

"What are we doing?" asked Lincoln. "We could take them on right now."

"Run to cabin. There could be more coming. Can't risk them going into our room."

Lincoln nodded. He and Luan paced themselves backwards into the cabin. The roamers splashed their muddy feet into the pavement of the road.

The siblings took out the front roamers before taking a step back. The rain continued to torment the duo.

Their feet dug into the mud as they stepped back to the cabin. The roamers were slower now, making it easier for the siblings to pick them off.

However, a roamer by Bill's car rose up and grabbed Lincoln's shoulder. It pulled him up the trunk of the car and dragged him closer to its teeth. Lincoln struggled to release himself from the roamer's grip as he elbowed it over and over.

"Luan! Help!"

Luan turned around and quickly ran around the trunk of the car, turning her blade sideways. She pushed it to her left and impaled the roamer through its skull, narrowly missing Lincoln.

"Dang. What if you missed?"

"That would've sucked," said Luan. "There's more incoming. Get inside the cabin!"

Luan and Lincoln ran past the jerry can and a siphon hose. The roamers scratched their infected nails against the wooden cabin and growled. Some other roamers slammed their jaws and hands on the walls and the doors.

Luan and Lincoln sighed until they spotted another roamer inside the cabin. Lincoln yelped and stabbed it in the chest. Luan drove her katana through its mouth before it was able to scratch Lincoln.

"Oh, thank goodness. That's two dollars I owe ya," said Lincoln. "Oh, look at what this guy had."

Lincoln grabbed the gun that was around the roamer held by a strap. It was an MP5. He grabbed a sack that the man had around his back and checked inside. Ammo.

The door busted open and Lincoln fired his SMG at the knocking roamers. The bullets tore through the dozen of roamers and allowed both siblings to escape the cabin.

"Reloading," said Lincoln. "That felt kinda cool to say."

Luan stabbed a roamer behind Lincoln as he reloaded his new gun. He then cocked it and fired in short bursts at the remaining roamers.

"Was that it?" asked Lincoln.

Luan nodded. Lincoln sighed and felt his stomach grumble.

"Hungry?" asked Luan. "Me too. I haven't eaten since yesterday. All the rogues did was feed me peanuts and cheese."

"We didn't bring any food or water," said Lincoln. "What are we going to do?"

"Loot," said Luan. "This cabin and the town."

"Bill said he cleared it out already."

"Oh come on. He couldn't have cleared out everything now, could he? There's gotta be something he missed."

Luan and Lincoln walked away from the cabin with empty stomachs, wet socks, and muddy shoes. The corpses were left in the ground.

The town was empty. Many of the cars were already siphoned, the streets were clean from the usual litter that was spotted in all cities, and not a single roamer in sight. However, the water in the side of the streets were flooding into the sidewalk.

Lincoln and Luan spotted a small amber house with a mailbox next to its screen door. They approached the door and opened it, before jiggling the knob to the wooden door.

"Bill left it unlocked," said Lincoln. "It's gotta be looted."

"He had to have missed something."

Luan walked inside with her katana up. She looked around in search of foodstuffs, water, medicine, anything her siblings could use. Sure enough, the entire house was looted.

"Let's move on to another house. Somewhere far from here, 'cause of course it's gonna be looted near the cabin!"

Luan and Lincoln moved further into the town. The downpour softened slightly, giving Luan and Lincoln a chance to clear their sinuses. They held their weapons and moved from one house to another, looking to see if the door for the abandoned homes were locked. So far, all the doors they have encountered were unlocked. That was, until a few minutes later.

"This door is locked!" exclaimed Lincoln.

Luan hopped down from the stairs on the house across Lincoln. She ran to the door and jiggled the knob, and sure enough, it was locked.

"That's great!" she gasped. "Looks like Bill wasn't done looting after all!"

"So… how do we get inside?"

Luan scanned the front yard of the light-green house. She shook her head and then looked at Lincoln's gun. She asked for the gun, to which Lincoln responded by handing it to her, and then she turned it around so the stock was pointed towards the porch window. With one swift slam, the window cracked, prompting Luan to give it another slam. Eventually, the window shattered completely, and Luan moved all the glass out of the way so she could go inside.

Now inside, she walked to the door and unlocked it, though Lincoln went inside through the window. Luan looked at him and sighed.

"Something wrong?" asked Lincoln.

"If Leni was here, we wouldn't have to do that. I took a long time to get us inside, when she would've picked the lock in seconds. I took too long, and if there were roamers around… we would've been goners. I took too long… and that's why Leni isn't here. And now that she's not here… that's why I take so long. It's a vicious cycle…."

Luan turned on her flashlight. She lit up the room and looked around the living room. There was a TV and a couch and a lamp and a table. A half-empty bottle of water stood in the table next to a plate of rotten fruit. More specifically, lemons.

"Ugh, gross," said Luan as she turned around. "You alright, Lincoln?"

"No. I'm tired. I should be getting sleep but… I can't. I keep thinking about how I could've saved Leni."

"Lincoln… I was the one who couldn't run fast enough…"

"No, Luan, I WAS. I followed Leni, but the bullets… the gunfire… I was scared. I was afraid for my own life and you know what it cost? Leni's life. I'm the reason she…"

Luan wrapped her arms around Lincoln as he started to tear up. Their hearts were throbbing with pain.

"I know. You aren't the only one, Lincoln. You aren't the only one."

"Y-You were… having nightmares… was it about…"

Luan nodded.

"I know why I killed Black. He destroyed our homes, killed Mom and Dad in front of me, starved me for months, tortured me again and again… he even killed Dana before our eyes. But even then… I hesitated. It was only when he killed– that's when I knew it."

Luan turned towards Lincoln.

"It's murder, Lincoln. I can't stop thinking about it. I don't think I can kill again. I'm not like Lori. I have to be broken to kill again. But I don't wanna be afraid anymore. I… don't…"

Luan sobbed into Lincoln's shoulders. The rain continued to splash against the roof of the house. The roof kept the wooden floors dry for two years until tears plopped themselves on its surface.

"I wonder what Mom and Dad think of us now," whimpered Luan. "If they could see us… if their spirits were somehow here in this room… how disappointed would they be?"

"How mad at us is Leni?" cried Lincoln.

After a few minutes, Lincoln and Luan decided to release each other. Their watery eyes made it harder to see in the dark, though the flashlight did help.

When Lincoln walked to the kitchen, he saw a box of Zombie Bran- which had most definitely gone stale by now. He grabbed it and placed it inside his mouth, unable to stop his tears from running down his face. Luan grabbed a can of baked beans, now thinking about Lori's uncertain fate. She continued to find food, but not too much of it. It didn't matter to both Louds, as no amount of food would lift up their spirits.

Luan grabbed a handful of Zombie Bran and placed it in her mouth, replenishing her low energy. She continued to eat it as she watched the rain through the broken porch window.

"It's time to go now, isn't it?" asked Lincoln. "We gotta check up on Lori."

Luan nodded and tossed the empty box of cereal away. She tossed her sheath out the porch window and mantled through it. She grabbed her sheath and held her flashlight, beaming the light out into the street, revealing raindrops falling through the beam. By the unlooted neighboring houses, a few roamers looked at the flashlight and found the two survivors behind it. They growled softly and limped towards it.

"Who do you think they were?" muttered Lincoln as he walked through the flooding road.

"Who?"

"The guys in the cabin."

"Probably just random survivors like us. They became the undead's victims. That reminds me. We're gonna need the hose and can that they left by the garage."

"Do you know how to siphon gas?" asked Lincoln.

"No, I thought you would know. But I guess Lori does."

"Luan… what's gonna happen when Lori wakes up? I mean, we all have to admit… she was the closest to… her out of all of us. So, I'm kinda afraid- AH!"

"Lincoln!" shouted Luan.

A scream followed by a large splash then a squishing noise hooked Luan's attention. She shone the flashlight at the pavement of the road until she found a rectangular hole. She moved the beam of light down the hole, revealing Lincoln on shallow water with blood in his arms.

"Oh my god, Lincoln!"

"I'm okay! I just scraped my arm and something broke my fall! Uhh, it feels very squishy, and- oh, the smell!"

Luan moved the light away from Lincoln's face and down to his shoes. She herself wasn't able to see through the shallow water, but Lincoln could. He yelled as he realized he was stepping on torn parts from corpses.

"What is it?" asked Luan.

"Roamers! AH! Ah! Wait! I think… I think they're dead! Huh. It's their corpses."

"Don't touch it!" yelled Luan. "Do you have any holes in your shoes?"

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure I didn't step on their teeth or anything like that."

"You could still get infected! I'll get you out of there! Just stay still!"

"Sure! I mean there's nowhere to go."

Luan searched her surroundings. She moved her hair out of her face, struggling to find a solution to save Lincoln.

Then, she thought about one.

She ran to the closest car and found the trunk. She attempted to lift it, but it was locked. The rain poured on the door handle as Luan tried to open it. She pointed her flashlight behind her, finding something useful.

After a few seconds, a mailbox was flung to the car window, shattering it completely. Luan pulled it out and looked inside the car, searching for a pair of keys. Suddenly, a splash of water and a faint growl forced Luan to turn around.

She shrieked as a roamer shoved her against the car. It leaned its mouth to her arm and bit down causing her to scream.

Lincoln looked up. He grabbed his MP5 and began breathing heavily.

"Oh no. Luan? Luan! LUAN!"

A roamer passed by the storm drain and looked down, finding a moving organism. It growled and dropped down just after Lincoln moved out of the way. He covered his face as the water splashed against his shirt.

Lincoln aimed his MP5 at the roamer as it lifted its head up. He shot it and splattered its blood against the shallow water. The rapid bullets caused the water to jump into the other wall of the drain, revealing dark-red and gray fluids. Lincoln trembled and gagged.

Luan headbutted the roamer, causing her to flinch in unexpected pain. She grabbed the roamer and smashed it against the mailbox, over and over. Then, she dropped it to the flooding ground.

She looked at the blood in her arms and gulped, as she began to tear up. However, Lincoln's shouts forced her to focus on him, so she placed her head inside the car. The keys were there.

The trunk opened upon the insertion of the keys. Luan rummaged through the trunk, finding clothes and tools. Then, she found a pair of cable jumpers. She clipped them together and ran to the storm drain.

"Luan, what happened?" asked Lincoln.

"Had an encounter with a dead one! Just grab the cable!"

Luan tossed down one end of the cable down the storm drain. Lincoln struggled to jump to it. He looked around and found the corpse that he just created. He stepped on it, moving his legs out of the shallow water. With one leap, he caught the cables and held on to it.

But the cables snapped. Lincoln yelled as he fell down again, though the fresh corpse broke his fall again.

"Damn it!" exclaimed Luan.

Another roamer approached the girl. As she took out her katana, the flashlight lit up her arm, giving Lincoln a chance to catch the sight that passed in a second.

"Luan… your arm…"

Luan kicked the roamer away from the drain and sliced its skull off. Then she stabbed another roamer and another. She ran back to the trunk of the car and grabbed the clothes. Then, she ran back to the storm drain, soaking the clothes in the flooding water by the drain.

"What are you doing?" asked Lincoln.

"Something I haven't done in two years," replied Luan.

Luan twisted the clothes as tight as a stick of Twizzlers. Then, she tied the tight ends of the clothings with each other until they created a larger version of a never-ending chain of handkerchiefs. She moved it down the storm drain until Lincoln was able to grab it.

"Wait, don't pull it yet!" exclaimed Luan.

She stood up and grabbed her katana. She looked around her surroundings with the aid of her flashlight but was unable to find the source of the faint growls she heard. She quickly started panting as she saw nothing but empty streets and overgrown yards. Then, she looked down.

A crawler. Luan stepped in front of it and thrust her katana down, killing off the poor infected soul. She moved her hair out of her face again and returned to her tied clothes.

Lincoln grabbed the clothes and held on to it as Luan pulled on it. He placed his foot against the wall of the storm drain and walked upwards as if he were scaling a mountain. Each second he was closer and closer to the surface… until he finally made it out. He stumbled onto Luan and hugged her as he sighed in relief.

Luan smiled and dropped the tied clothes. She pulled him away from the area and led the way into the cabin.

"Luan, check your arm. Your right arm."

Luan shivered as she shook her head. She looked down and noticed that the blood was fainter.

"What the?" she gasped. "Grab the can and the siphoning hose."

Lincoln ran to driveway to retrieve the jerry can and hose that was left behind Bill's car. Luan went inside the dry cabin and pulled out her leather jacket. She tossed it on the ground and pointed the light at her right arm. She smiled.

Lincoln went inside the cabin and with the items in his hands. He dropped them as he smiled softly.

"Leni…" gasped Luan, "...saved me."

The rain relaxed once more as it turned into light rain. Lincoln and Luan returned to their motel room. Luan removed her jacket and placed it in the coat hanger by the door. She locked the door and placed her sheath down on the floor. Then, she pointed the flashlight at Lori.

"Look, Lincoln…" whispered Luan.

Lincoln turned towards Lori and looked closely at her face. There were droplets of tears close to her eyes, just lying there. Yet, her face remained unmoved ever since she fell unconscious in the van.

 **II - Aftermath**

The storm raged on earlier in the day. Luna and Sam limped to the prison bus in the road. Kotaro treated the wounds on their feet as Ted drove the bus away.

Luna asked Kotaro where her siblings were. He said he didn't know. Ted added that they should all be in Washington in a matter of weeks.

Not all of them, thought Luna.

Sam reached into her backpack and pulled out a cassette player. Even after she took a hit from a mortar strike, the cassette player and the tapes survived the blast. The tapes were her own tapes, since Tim's tapes were back in the RV inside Vonda's bag.

Sam placed a tape inside the cassette tape, which would play one of her favorite songs. She placed one of her earbuds in her right ear while placing the other in Luna's left ear. She pressed a button, now playing the classic song from The Who, "Behind Blue Eyes."

Luna looked out the windows, sighing. She always pretended she was a part of a somber music video when it rained, but now she was in no music video.

Lily looked out the booth windows of the RV and saw the passing trees and the rain splashing against the road. She sighed and looked back inside. She looked around, unable to find any of her siblings other than Lana.

Vonda looked at her father's tapes while sitting next to George in the passenger seats. In the sofa sat a boy, about Lana's age, and his father. The boy, Simon Weber, seemed unmoved by what just occurred and was just scribbling on a crossword puzzle.

David continued driving the gang away from the town, aiming for their new destination.

In a different prison bus, surrounded by other buses, Dr. Feinstein was driving his passengers down Route 95. Some of these passengers included Jace, Preston, and Jeffrey. In another bus, a driver carried Dr. White, Carol, Zoey, Lisa, and Clyde.

Carol looked down at her fussing baby. She rocked her softly, as she looked out the windows. The thunder continued to rumble.

Jeffrey trembled as lightning crackled across the sky. Preston knelt down by his side and attempted to calm him down, but the raindrops were only making his flashbacks worse.

The modern RV drove through the rain. Inside the vehicle were three young adults and a teen. The driver, Hana, had Reiji tied to the passenger seat. Bobby, Benny, and Becky all sat in the couches in the back of the RV. Kimi leaped to Benny's lap and lied there, deciding that it would be the right time to take a peaceful nap.

After an hour, the group made a stop by the truck wreckage in the side of the road. The group came out of the RV, with Kimi following Benny instead of Hana since she was scared of her new companion, Reiji. The putrid fluids oozing out of its flesh was enough to make any living being with a nose stay away from Hana.

The roamer quickly became tame when Hana cut off its mouth after it devoured Oliver Jett. With no nails and no teeth, it was impossible for the roamer to infect someone, unless someone deliberately consumed its fluids. Even the roamer knew that no sane person would do that, or at least the virus/parasite controlling its brain. So with no way to attack anyone, the roamer had abandoned its aggressive nature for a docile one.

Benny wiped the rain from his mustache and growing stubble. He shook his head and looked at Bobby who allowed the rain to pour down his face. Becky ignored the rain, except when it caused her hair to drop down to her eyes.

After a few minutes, the group arrived at the main base in Spednic Lake. The mud in their shoes proved that they made a difficult walk through the woods to get to the entrance gates.

"Look," said Becky. "Something happened here."

"Yeah, this base got blown to hell," said Benny. "I wonder who did this?"

"Couldn't be Black. He brought all his firepower to the town for invasion. This was someone else. Smells like napalm."

"Doesn't smell like victory, though," said Benny. "What are we doing here anyways?"

"Loot," said Hana. "Weapon. Ammo. Medicine."

"What she said," stated Becky. "Anything that's left over, take it. Anyone that's left… kill them."

Becky opened the entrance gate, leading Hana, Bobby, and Benny inside the base. With her green eyes, she looked around the base, then back at her group members. Hana closed her eyes as her pet roamer stood next to her. Bobby's head was lowered as he wasn't paying attention to anything. The petroleum smell and smoke didn't faze him at all. Benny had his thousand-yard stare, looking past the wrecked helicopters, melted armory, smoked vehicles, and craters in the ground.

Becky closed her eyes and allowed her tears to join the raindrops on her face. This time not for Chaz, not for Tad, not for D, not for Dana. This time for Leni.

The thunder rumbled softer and less frequently as time passed by. The rain, however, would continued to pour into the destroyed town of Houlton.

Haley sniffled and cried softly as she sat on the narrow walkway in the sewers, a dying flashlight by her legs. The sewage flowed around in a single direction as the rainwater continued to pour down the storm drains.

She placed her fingers over Lynn's shoulders and peered at the wound. It was too dark to figure out how bad the wound was, but she knew where it was.

Then, a beam of light lit up the sewer tunnels. Haley covered her eyes with her arms and flinched away from the light. A few clicks and snaps were heard as the beam of light grew stronger.

Haley slowly turned towards the light and raised her eyes as she found new survivors. At least new survivors to her.

"Well, this is unexpected," said the man holding the flashlight.

"Wha– who are you?" asked Haley.

"Care to explain who you are first?" asked the man.

"I'm… Haley Jennings. I–I'm a nurse… the best damn nurse in Halifax, I've been told."

"Nice to meet you, Haley Jennings," said the man, revealing himself as the other men moved their lanterns close to him. "My name is Waylon Prasad. This is my wife, Kavya. Looks like you got yourself a problem with your friend down there."

"Yeah, do you guys have any antibiotics for Lynn? I–I don't know if any of you have benzylpenicillin…"

"Do you know who we are? She treated one of yours from pneumonia!"

"I… actually don't have any idea who you people are. Can you please just tell me if you have medicine?"

"More than just medicine," said Kavya. "Benzylpenicillin you said? Najjad, give me your lantern."

Najjad passed down his lantern to Kavya who placed it down the walkway as she knelt down to Lynn. Her shoulders continued bleeding, though she grabbed a rag from her medical bag and pressed it against the wound. Then, she placed her fingers on her collarbone and moved around it, eventually making it to the wound where she felt a fracture.

"We are gonna have to fix that," she said. "Fracture in the collarbone."

Kavya took out a syringe and a bottle of antibiotics before lifting up Lynn's coat. There was a vest inside, one that stopped the .308 Winchester bullet that Luna fired.

"This is good," said Kavya. "Did she get stabbed with something?"

"Yeah, a katana to the shoulder."

Kavya took off Lynn's vest and slowly lied her down the walkway.

"You said you are nurse? Take this. Inject it in her."

Haley nodded. Waylon looked at the water pouring down the manhole cover and storm drains. Then he looked up.

"We're the people that your leader, Lori Loud, spent time with," said Waylon. "Well, I suppose no one in this town ever seen us except David, Becky, Luan, and Hana."

"Oh, you're the leader of the subway people," said Haley. "I'm sorry, was the name– oh god."

"It's alright. Since we're called that, might as well embrace that name! Subway People. I like that. It has a ring to it, even though we're not necessarily in a subway now."

Haley injected the syringe into Lynn's arms. Kavya dug her forceps into Lynn's shoulders, repairing the ruptures veins in her shoulders.

"How is it up there?" asked Waylon.

"Blown to shit," said Haley. "Bodies everywhere. Most of them with holes in 'em. Hey, can you check the prisons for me? I think… there might be someone in there."

"That's a strange way to thank us for saving your friend," said Waylon.

"I'm sorry, it's just… everyone in this town went through hell."

"No problem, I'll check it out. Najjad, Joshua, Jax! With me. The rest of you, make sure this place stays secure."

Waylon climbed up the stairs and lifted the manhole cover out of the way. As he got out, he found bodies rising in the once thriving community. He quickly got up and took cover behind the ATC tower with Najjad, Joshua, and Jax. He took out two katars, while Najjad and Joshua used their gunong daggers. Jax held a large axe, suiting his larger size.

They spotted their target, a roamer that began approaching them. It was a turned-Rusty who had wounds all over its body. Waylon quickly stabbed his knife into its head before pulling it out quickly, leaving the body standing for a second before gravity dragged it down to the floor. They found more roamers nearby, but they kept their focus on the prisons.

"...people croaked as soon as they were bit by the uglies… I took out all the roamers that tried to kill me. People got shot while I dodged every single bullet. And then this happens. I, Ronalda Anne Santiago, will die to rain."

She chuckled to herself as the water began rising to her chin.

"Oh… it's like I got tough for nothing, right? If the water doesn't kill me… the lack of air will. Oh, Liam and Zach. I know you guys are gonna laugh at me… lived out two whole years in this apocalypse, and then die to water? 'How do people drown, just drink the water,' as Rusty's dumbass would say. At least Rusty gets to live. I saved a life, just like Tabby. Except Jenny died a couple days after. Rusty, you better not die! Oh, I'll be pissed."

The water then began to reach her lips.

"Oh shit! Someone! Please… help…. HELP! Ugh… no one's… coming."

Ronnie Anne struggled to lift the debris out of her head. It barely budged. Then she strained her voice and lifted herself up with her back against the debris. The debris moved.

Suddenly, the debris was lifted up completely, just as Ronnie Anne spit out a mouthful of water.

"What the-?" gasped Ronnie Anne.

"If Joshua decided to tie his shoes once more… you would've been gone," said Waylon. "Let's get you outta there."

Waylon stood on the crumbled roof of Unit C, and he knelt down to lift Ronnie Anne out of the flooding cell.

"Who the hell are you guys?" groaned Ronnie Anne as she stretched out her back.

"Jesus, is everyone in this town lack gratitude?" chuckled Waylon. "Who are you?"

"I asked you first," said Ronnie Anne.

Waylon chuckled.

"I'm Waylon Prasad. This is Najjad, Joshua, and Jax. Now, I just saved your life, so I expect you to be polite to a certain degree, understand?"

"Okay. I'm Ronnie Anne."

"There you go! C'mon. Let's go, Ronnie Anne. Haley is waiting for you down in the sewers."

"Excuse me? Sewers? Look I don't even know what the fuck just happened in this town so explain to me why you guys are here instead of my friends and family."

"We're trying to figure that out too," said Waylon. "You're lucky to survive. And Lynn will be too."

The RV kept on driving ahead in the rain with no other survivors in sight except the ones that were inside the vehicle.

Lily looked at the driver. She clutched her older sister's arm and tried to hide herself behind her.

"What's wrong, Lily?" whispered Lana.

"That man. I dunno that man."

"You mean David? Sure you do. You just don't remember him 'cause you were still a baby."

"Do Lori know… David?"

"Yeah. They're like… close friends, I think? Or just someone she looks up to? Like a father figure. Nah, I doubt Lori got over what happened to Dad."

Lily continued to act timidly.

"Lily, don't worry! Your big sister Lana is still here for you! See this?"

Lana grabbed her AK74-US.

"I can protect you with this. But only I get to touch it. Don't touch it when I'm not around, got it?"

Lily nodded. Lana smiled and placed the gun on top of the table, the barrel facing away from everyone else.

"Hey, George," called out Lana. "Did Sergei take a bus or something? I need to ask him what ammo goes in this thing. Unless you know."

"Lana… you don't know?" replied George.

"Duh, of course not. No one told me that guns used different kinds of bullets."

"That's not what he was talking about," said Vonda faintly.

"Then, what are you talking about, George?"

George cleared his throat. He looked at the gun in the table before lowering his head, thinking about easy ways to give the news.

"Sergei died in battle."

Lana gasped softly as she glanced back at her gun. She then looked outside in the rain.

"I didn't get to see most of the battle thanks to my big brother. Who else died?"

"I don't know how to tell you this… but your sister Lynn…" said George, his voice breaking.

"What about her?" exclaimed Lana her heart racing. "Don't tell me she died! I asked you who died! Don't tell me she did!"

"Black sliced her shoulder with a katana. Then…"

George couldn't even reveal who sealed her fate. She didn't want Lana to know. She didn't want her to know that Luna put the final nail in Lynn's coffin.

"She must have bled out," said George.

"Are you sure about that?" asked Lana. "I didn't see her anywhere! There was no body!"

"It's possible that someone could've saved her," said David. "Keep your hopes high, Lana. Lynn's a tough girl. The sword didn't cut her shoulder all the way through. She can survive that."

"What about Lincoln? Or Lori? Or any of my other sisters?"

"I don't know," said David. "I truly don't know."

In one of the prison buses, the mood grew more sorrowful as the rain continued to pour down. The skies darkened and the air cooled.

Clyde looked at his healthy leg then compared it to his bionic leg. He grew a lot in two years, but he almost didn't notice. His right leg was much longer than the metal leg he had. In the past few months, no one commented on his stumbles, since they thought it was something he was used to.

"Hey, Lisa?" asked Clyde. "You think you can make my robotic prosthetic longer? It's starting to feel uncomfortable."

"I know I can increase its length. There must be a spare container of scrap metal in the back of the bus somewhere."

"I got it," said Dr. White. "I was just trying something out… here you go."

The doctor handed Lisa the box of scrap metal. She knelt down and lifted Clyde's pant sleeves before taking out a ruler, protractor, and calibrator of her own. Then, she took out a small tool that sparked blue flames.

"Hey, what is that?" asked Clyde nervously.

"Welding tool," said Lisa as she began welding the metal with the leg. "Don't be in a state of concern. I constructed it myself with attention to precautionary measures. You shouldn't feel the warmth unless the flame is in contact with your skin tissues."

"Uhhh, fire is scary," said Clyde. "I'm going to stay worried."

"Then stay worried," said Lisa. "I completed extending the length."

"What? That fast? Gee, Lisa, you're amazing!"

"Or so I've been commented upon before," said Lisa. "Can you still peanuts-?"

Carol's baby began bawling as loud as she could. Carol sighed and rocked her softly to no avail. It's cries felt as if it could shatter the windows in the bus.

"What's with the blubbering?" asked Lisa.

"She's hungry," said Carol. "...I'm hungry too. My chest is hurting."

Zoey's cries continued to pierce through the survivors' ears. The mood grew more desperate as Lisa tried to look around for something to calm down the baby.

"Thank goodness we're not in the wilderness," said Lisa. "Unfortunate soul would have no idea that her deafening cries would result in our untimely deaths."

"What do we do?" asked Clyde.

"We have to look for food," said Dr. White. "Driver! Can you change your course for a little? Find the nearest town! There's gotta be formula somewhere, or at least some food so Carol can replenish her energy and her fluids."

Lisa sighed. She looked at Zoey before quickly taking an aspirin tablet when no eyes set upon her.

A few drops of rain dripped from the leveled ceiling. The sunlight passed through the window. A gust of wind blew into the cracks in the wall.

Lynn gasped and screamed as she peeled her eyes open and leaped out of her bed.

"Woah, woah! Chill!" exclaimed Haley, holding Lynn down in the bed.

"Where is he? WHERE!" hissed Lynn.

"Easy there. No one's here, 'cept the subway people."

"Who?" asked Lynn.

"The people Lori stayed with for a month."

"Also the people who saved you," said Waylon, coming inside the demolished infirmary building with his wife. "Nice to meet you, Lynn Loud. I'm Waylon Prasad. And this is Kavya, my wife, and the woman who saved your life."

Lynn looked around. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the sunny light inside of what remained of the infirmary room.

"What happened here?" she asked.

"It'll take a while to explain," said Haley. "For now, I gotta replace your bandage. Good morning, Lynn. You survived."

"Ohh, my head hurts," said Lynn, falling back down on her pillows.

The morning sun and the rainbow in the sky mocked the inner torment that Ronnie Anne faced. The wheels in her skateboard passed by the powder and pebbles that lied on the runway.

"Hey, where ya going?" shouted Joshua.

Ronnie Anne ignored him. She continued to skate towards the prison, feeling more disgusted the more bodies she found lying on the ground. Then, she found Rusty and his father, both in the ground. One has turned before being killed off, while the other had no golden eyes.

Ronnie Anne quickly leaped from her skateboard and covered her mouth as tears bubbled in her eyes. She then clenched her first.

"Fuckin' ginger. Shoulda' taken the gun… now what am I supposed to tell Lincoln?"

She knelt down.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, Rusty."

She placed her front foot on the skateboard and pushed it with her back foot, skating away from the ATC tower and towards the infirmary building.

Haley wrapped an arm sling around Lynn's shoulder after checking her eyes and muscles.

"You have a very special kind of body," said Haley. "It's only been a day, and you're not showing any signs of infection, internal bleeding, and fatigue."

"Unlike some of the other kids, I actually exercised," said Lynn. "Been doin' it since I was born."

"Played a lotta sports too, right?" asked Haley. "What made you stop?"

"How'd you know that?"

"Your bone calluses. You had quite a number of them. And that's just on your collarbone."

"Well, I did. In fact, I loved sports… which is an understatement by the way. But then… I had a friend. His name was Francisco. He was such an awesome guy and probably one of the only dudes to able to compete with me in sports. He was a little hot-headed… kinda like me. I thought he and I were gonna beat this world… but it beat him. The roamers didn't get him… until he was shot in the head. And I watched 'em eat him 'till he was no more."

Lynn looked over at the quiver at the side of the room.

"Can you get that for me?"

Haley nodded and handed over the quiver after retrieving it. Lynn lifted the quiver up and looked at the bottom pocket shaped like a sack. She zipped it open and hesitated before placing her hand inside. She pulled out the baseball, the same baseball that was given to her by Lincoln to remember Francisco.

"No one played sports like he did. I loved him… just as I loved sports."

Haley lowered her head. She stood up and teared up as she was reminded of her father who loved watching his favorite NHL team driving a puck around. She then walked out the room, finding Waylon sitting in the damp sofa with his wife.

"Can you take us to Augusta?" asked Haley. "Take us to the subway station. Please."

"No can do," said Waylon. "Safe as it sounds, there's been a large presence that we've been fearing. We lost a man after he warned us about soldiers marching into the city. We left after that."

"If it's not safe there then where can we go?" asked Haley.

"Go where everyone else went," said Kavya.

"I don't know where everyone else went! Washington is too far… and I don't even know where the hell Royal Woods is! Lori said Michigan, but I don't know where that is!"

"You… don't know where Michigan is?" stammered Waylon.

"I'm Canadian, okay? Just… I'm going to Washington. I'll find Steven there. Maybe Carol and Lisa as well."

"Scientists they are, right? Lori told me about them. Go save the world, Haley. But you can't fix it. I'll be outta your hair now."

Waylon stood up and left with his wife. Haley walked back inside the room and helped Lynn to her feet.

As Haley and Lynn exited the infirmary building, they saw Ronnie Anne skating closer to them. She wore a backpack and was ready to leave the destroyed community.

"Where we going?" asked Lynn.

"Somewhere far away from here," said Haley. "Ronnie Anne! Come 'ere!"

Ronnie Anne stopped in her tracks and held her skateboard in her hands as she looked down at the helpless roamer. It was unable to stand up as it no arms to help it get up.

Its golden eye were staring at Ronnie Anne and its mouth were growling at her. She found an M9 in the ground by a severed limb. She picked it up and aimed it at the roamer's head before lowering it down.

Then, she picked up a Bowie knife from the ground and stood above the roamer. She remember how evil it was in its past life. He was the reason she had no family besides Bobby now. Nothing changed. It was still evil in her eyes.

She knelt down and pointed the blade at the roamer's golden eye. She placed her hand around its neck and thrusted the knife into its eye, finally finishing off the monster that destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of families– maybe even more.

Ronnie Anne passed by the Desert Eagle in the ground and walked towards Haley and Lynn, both standing by a Humvee. She opened up her empty knife holster and placed the Bowie knife inside.

"Who did you just-?" asked Lynn.

"The General," said Ronnie Anne. "Let's leave."

Haley carefully placed Lynn in the backseat of the Humvee. She put on her seatbelt and moved ahead into the driver's seat as Ronnie Anne made her way into the passenger's seat. They all looked back at the ravaged community, now inhabited by the subway people. It was the last time anyone from the group set their eyes on the community before they abandoned it. It was time to look for another home again.

 **III - The Call**

Blood poured everywhere. The thunder crackled across the sky. Gunshots erupted in every direction.

A yellow canary chirped by the window. The light set itself on the girl's eyelids. Then, her eyelids slowly opened.

Her eyes blinked once. Then, once more and again before she realized she was awake.

Lori looked around the room and rubbed her eyes as she found the yellow canary by the window. She cleared her throat and looked at the bottle of water on top of the desk. She grabbed it and chugged it down her mouth before coughing slightly.

"Leni?" she called out. "Leni, are you here? Wait… Walter?"

The yellow canary continued chirping. Lori quickly leaped from her bed and ran to the window, scaring the bird away.

Her pupil contracted, causing her blue iris to expand, as Lori looked out the window. She inspected the parking lot and found Vanzilla. But there was no one around.

Lori grabbed her hatchet and walked towards the van. A ringing in her ear began to intrude her mind. She heard another gunshot as she slammed against the van door. Panting, she looked around for the gun. But it was all in her head.

She opened the door and found a photo of her sister Leni. She gulped and heard a desperate cry. Then another gunshot.

Lori rubbed her temple before covering her eyes. Tears flowed out like a waterfall as Lori became more aware of her time loss.

"No, Leni… I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I couldn't save you. I didn't fight hard enough."

Lori took a seat on the passenger's seat and sobbed into the dashboard.

"Lynn… how is Leni doing? I… it hurts so much…."

Then, a buzz.

Lori lifted her face from the dashboard while sniffling. She heard another buzz. Confused, she looked at the dashboard and waited for the buzzing.

It buzzed again.

She quickly opened the glove department and grabbed her phone. And sure enough, it was buzzing again. She peered at it, and saw that it was an unknown caller. Feeling surprised, she hesitated to answer it before reluctantly pressing the answer button.

"Hello?" whispered Lori.

"Yo," said the male caller. "You missed my last call. You coming to the party or what?"

Lori blinked rapidly. She was left speechless.

"Hello?" muttered the caller. "Still there? Is this a no because…?"

"I–I'm still here," murmured Lori. "It's just– how?"

"What do you mean how? You don't know where the party is? You got lost or something?"

"No– no, it's not that," sniffled Lori. "H-How are you calling this number? Who are you?"

"Lori, it's me. Don't you have my contact saved?"

"You… sound familiar… where are you?"

"At the party, bro! I mean… ma'am!"

Lori scanned her surroundings. The sky was clear and the puddles of water remained still in the pavement.

"You have… service. I have service… you're somewhere safe."

"'Course I am. Sorry… you must be lost in the… other world."

"Other world?" asked Lori as she shivered. "You're… away from this place. There's still electricity where you are. You guys are celebrating parties… tell me where you are."

"What was that?" asked the caller. "I'm sorry, we got new guests! I gotta go."

"Wait, no, no! Don't go! Please! Please, don't go!"

Lori broke down into tears.

"Please…" sniffled Lori. "We're… we're dying…"

A couple beeps repeated in the call. The other caller hung up. Lori lowered her phone down and was left distraught of what just happened.

"It's not real…" whispered Lori. "There is no party… there is no… party. Who was that?"

Lori placed her phone in her pocket and lifted her hatchet as the ringing returned inside her head to torment her broken life. She gasped and struggled to get out of her seat from Vanzilla. She screamed, falling to the ground as the ringing grew louder. She opened her weary eyes and found bloody messages in the concrete pavement of the parking lot.

 _GOOD LUCK GOING TO THE PARTY._

 _YOU WILL JUST GET EVERYONE KILLED THERE._

 _JUST HOW YOU GOT ME KILLED._

 _REMEMBER THAT?_

 _IT'S NO WONDER YOU CAN'T GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF._

 _IT'S NO WONDER LINCOLN AND LUAN LEFT YOU._

 _IT'S NO WONDER YOU'RE ALONE AND LOST._

Lori picked up her hatchet and stormed to the woods. Her eyes were almost bloodshot from anger and madness.

In a muddy area of the woods, a roamer struggled to lift its feet as it growled and lifted its arms towards a nest of birds at a branch high above. Before the roamer could turn away from the nest and lower its arms, a swing from a hatchet knocked its damp skull out of its neck.

Another roamer nearby turned towards the young woman. He hissed and limped towards her as she stormed closer to him. With a yell and a mighty swing packed with fury, Lori split the roamer's head in half. She kicked the roamer away and swung her hatchet back, killing another roamer. Then, she lifted her hatchet and swung diagonally, cutting yet another roamer's head in half.

Her eyes had no direction. Her arms could only move like a machine. Her brain had no motive to do anything but take revenge. But there was nothing to get revenge on. She lost it.

Then she turned towards a rabbit in the ground. The rabbit was nibbling on the grass, calmly enjoying the sunlight. Then, a hatchet flew across the air and struck the rabbit in its fluffy tail. Its tail was bleeding, as she hopped away from the hatchet in the ground.

Lori ran towards the rabbit, picking up the hatchet. Everything she saw was red. She chased after the rabbit with the hatchet in her hands, shuffling through the brushes and running past the berries in the ground.

She lifted the hatchet with both of her hands in the air and tossed it at the rabbit again. But the rabbit jumped into its burrow and was gone from sight. That is, until Lori grabbed the hatchet and swung it down at the burrow, cracking the dry dirt that surrounded it. She placed her hands on the burrow and dug in, destroying the rabbit's home. Many of the bunnies hopped away, though Lori caught the one that mattered to her. She placed her hands around the rabbit with the bleeding tail.

The rabbit struggled to free itself as Lori tightened her grip around its body. She then placed her hands around the rabbit and panted. Everything was turning more red. She slammed the rabbit against the ground and screamed as she twisted her hand. She screamed until, finally, she heard a snap.

She closed her eyes before opening them, being showed a calmer world. The red was gone. She looked at the burrow, all wrecked, before looking at the rabbit. Placing her hands around her mouth, she lied down on the dirt and broke down, unable to stop herself from sobbing alone in the woods.

"Found anything yet?" asked Luan.

"No," muttered Lincoln as he opened a cabinet from inside a locked house. "Wait, scratch that. Wow, no way."

"What, you found food?" asked Luan.

"Oh yeah. A whole bag of trail mix. Look, that's an almond. And that's a walnut. Is that candy?"

"Yeah," smiled Luan. "Take that. We're going home. I'm kinda getting worried for Lori."

"Yeah… can't really say she went through worse, right?" sighed Lincoln. "You still got those water bottles?"

"Mhmm. Right here. Let's go!"

Luan and Lincoln climbed out of the broken window and left the abandoned house.

Lori returned to the parking lot with the hatchet in her hands. She tossed the hatchet into the passenger's seat and closed the van before walking back inside the motel. Her eyes were weary and her legs moved at an unsteady motion. She opened the door to the motel and lied down on the bed, sniffling as the hunger put her into a light sleep.

"I mean… it just made me angry… but do you think he saw me as his daughter?" asked Luan.

"If he did… that is sick. How could he torture someone he sees his daughter in?" said Lincoln. "He's just an evil man. Sick."

"So there was no shed of humanity in him?" asked Luan. "He was detached from everything, maybe even his daughter. I mean he called him weak… but was he just putting on a show?"

"No, Luan. He was just an evil man. Why would he be good in any way?"

"I don't know. Just tryin' to convince myself that I won't regret killing him."

"You definitely won't," said Lincoln. "Woah, look over there."

Lincoln pulled Luan behind a rusty car. They both looked at three parked cars across the street. The headlights were on for one of them. And all three appeared fresh.

Lori blinked her eyes. She stretched and wondered what woke her up. Luckily, her ears were working.

She quickly turned towards the motel window and saw two silhouettes from behind the curtains. The loud footsteps approached the door. She gulped and quickly dropped down to the floor behind the bed and away from the door.

The door opened, revealing two survivors. One of them was a man wearing a denim jacket and baggy jeans. The other was a woman wearing a leather vest and jeans with folded ends. They both had disheveled hair, though the woman had her longer hair tied up in a ponytail. Both survivors carried a small pistol with them, though the man had a shiv made with the end of a switchblade and a wooden handle.

As they took their first steps inside the room, Lori lowered herself until her stomach was flat on the ground, hidden from the light that lurked into the room. She held her breath as the footsteps marched closer to the drawer. Finding the space below the bed empty, she slowly crawled sideways to hide under the bed, being literal inches away from the survivors in the room.

Lori faced away from the headboard that extended down to the carpeting in the ground. She looked both to her left and her right, realizing that there was no escaping the feet of her survivors that surrounded her.

"Ain't nothin' here," said the woman. "Just a bunch of dirty-ass clothes that would rip the moment I put 'em on."

"That won't be a problem with me," said the man. "Lookie here."

Lori watched as the woman's legs strutted around the bed to the drawers. Her eyes blinked rapidly with each step that she took. Then she stopped next to the man.

"Oh thank the Lord!" exclaimed the woman. "It's been a whole minute since we found one last time!"

"Ain't that right? You know… I've been fightin' the urge too."

The curtains closed, the shoes of both survivors faced each other, followed by the sound of a gun being placed down against wood. Then, smooching and soft moans followed. Next, the mattress pressed against the bed, pushing Lori closer to the ground as the moans became more hurried.

The shiv fell to the floor. Lori panted heavily as the breathing became more active from the survivors and the moaning became louder. Her sweat began to drip down faster down her face as she stared at the shiv. Then, she noticed a small detail.

It was tainted with dry blood.

Lori gulped and tried to muster the strength to lift her hands and reach for the shiv. After a few more rapid blinks and racing thoughts, she decided to move her hands close to the shiv.

Her fingers crawled along the carpet, her arms slithering closer and closer to the shiv. Her nails were exposed to the dim light coming from the open door. Closer and closer it reached the bladed weapon.

Then, her phone buzzed. Loudly.

Lori's heart skipped a beat as she quickly moved her hands under the bed. She drew a couple heavy breaths as she reached for her pocket. She took her phone, but was unable to decline the call coming from a different unknown caller. She tried pressing the decline button, but it was nowhere to be found in the screen. All she did was clench the phone against her chest and muffled the buzzing.

After the buzzing stopped, the survivors continued to satisfy their urges, paying no attention to anything going on outside the bed. Lori looked around the bed and tried to calm herself down as the heat began to take a toll on her breathing. Nothing, she couldn't find anything, except a small thing by her hips. She pulled it away from her and placed it in front of her face.

A used condom wrapped by one of Dana's violet hair ties. Lori shivered and tossed it away, now facing the shiv in the carpet. She placed her hands outside the bed and pulled her own body closer to the shiv. Her face was now inches away from the small knife and was met with a glaring light peering through the open door.

A few footsteps approached the motel room. Lori gulped and quickly pushed herself back under the bed.

A bald man with a stubble and a tall and lean figure, stormed into the room. He held two UZIs in the side of his backpack and a small M1911 pistol in his hand. His sweater with torn sleeves revealed his toned arms with a skull tattoo.

"Shawn! Lydia!" yelled the man.

"Darius!" gasped Lydia.

"The hell is goin' on here? I told y'all to loot the motel, not fuck each other like animals in the woods! Do that in your own damn time!"

"Ain't a lotta time, Darius…" stuttered Shawn.

"I ain't wanna hear it. This ain't the first time I caught you two pounding each other like dogs! You know the rules!"

There was silence. Lori held her breath.

"If you let me explain..." said Shawn.

"What are the rules?" asked Darius, walking closer to Shawn with his pistol.

"Don't pile all this shit on him!" exclaimed Lydia. "I am to blame too!"

"What are the rules?" asked Darius.

"No lovin' if we're lootin'," muttered Shawn. "Or else it's a beatdown by the group."

"We got rules for a reason," said Darius.

Suddenly, a few gunshots went off in the distance. Darius turned around and looked outside the motel. Then he motioned Shawn and Lydia to follow him.

"Lucky bastards. You're off with a warnin'. Now get ya shit and follow me, go!"

The survivors grabbed their pistols from the drawer and dropped down a few unlit candles. Then, they left the motel room, heading into the woods, gone from sight.

Lori pulled herself out from under the bed, away from the door, and closer to the dirty clothing in the ground. She grabbed her backpack and stuffed the clothes inside, before finding a photo album in the ground. She opened it and found the same photo album that Leni organized and had stored in the glove department. She stuffed inside the backpack and zipped it closed before grabbing its top strap and running out of the motel with it.

The carpet remained empty except the stain that was left behind by the tainted shiv. And only a stain as a sign of the disappeared shiv.

Lori slowly made her way out of the motel room, her eyes shifting around as in a frantic search for a person, dead or alive. She looked at Vanzilla, noticing that the passenger door was still open. After one last scan of her environment, she quickly snuck to the van, tossing the backpacks into the passenger seat.

The ringing returned inside her head. She pressed her palms against her head and clenched her jaws as her head pounded against itself. She shook it off and blinked rapidly, but the world around her was still a blur.

Lori kicked the door, closing it as she ran around the front bumper of the van. She flicked her hair to the side and stopped on the tiny pebble that she stepped on.

The ringing disappeared. The woods, the van, the stranger on the ground was as clear as day now.

Lori remained frozen in place. The man who was on his knees with a siphoning tube in his hand looked at Lori in her eyes while moving away from the open fuel tank. He dropped his tube and slowly reached for his pocket.

"Hey, hey! Don't. We can talk about this," said Lori, her voice becoming low. "Please."

The man quickly used both of his hands to take out the switchblade from his pocket as he stood up. Lori ran up to the man and kicked his face as he revealed the blade from its handle.

The man groaned and staggered back as Lori ran up to him again. He swung the blade, though Lori leaned back and dodged it. She grabbed his arm and tried to grab the blade, but the man dropped it and kicked it under the van. The man grinned as he raised his eyebrow.

"Unarmed now," he snickered.

Lori elbowed his face and shoved it against the window of the van. There, Lori kept his grip on his neck, refusing to let him go. However, he proved to be stronger than her and was pulling his own face away from the blood-tainted crack in the window.

Suddenly, he groaned and was shoved back into the window as Lori pushed the shiv deeper and deeper into his lower back. Lori covered his mouth and lowered him to the ground before dropping him.

She held the bloody shiv in her hands and snuck to the back of the van, scanning her surroundings once more. She found someone.

Lincoln and Luan snuck in the edge of the road, hoping to avoid whatever survivors they encounter after spotting the fresh cars. Then, they found Lori by the van, motioning them to hurry inside. They looked at the body in the ground then at each other. Both siblings dashed to the van, opening the backseat doors before tossing their weapons inside. Then, they went inside themselves, sitting away from the weapons.

"Lori, are you sure you wanna drive?" asked Luan.

Lori entered the driver's seat and ignored her. She closed the blood-stained door and placed the car on reverse, driving back close to the motel. She switched it back to drive, and then made her way out of the parking lot before driving away into the road. She saw the switchblade in the parking line and the body that lied beside it.

Lori opened the car window and tossed the shiv out, before tearing up as she looked at her own hands. She looked at Lincoln and Luan and sighed in relief, knowing that they were still there with her.

The three siblings finally left Medway.

 **IV - I Lost Myself**

The next morning, Lori, Luan, and Lincoln arrived at the capital of Maine– Augusta. Lori parked at the side of a jammed road and exited the vehicle with her siblings. They all headed to the subway station a few short blocks ahead of the road.

Lori knocked on the chained door with the combination lock on the handle. Lincoln took a sip of his water before placing it back on the bag. Luan made sure she had no weapons inside her leather jacket. Then, both siblings finally built up the courage to talk to their eldest sister.

"So, Lori…" said Luan.

"...how are you feeling?" asked Lincoln.

Lori held her revolver and checked the chamber. Empty.

Lincoln accepted her silent answer. He knew that Lori was scaling a mountain of grief. He placed his hands inside his white and orange sweater and lowered his head.

Lori knocked on the door again. And again. And again.

She had enough. She grabbed the combination lock in the handle with the intent to open it herself, but the lock split open. It fell to the ground, leaving the handle unlocked.

Lori grabbed the handle and twisted it, opening the door and dragging the chains with it. The sunlight lit up the wide room that hid a large subway complex beneath it. The three siblings walked down the wide stairs and were met with the iron turnstile. Not being able to go through it, they peeked through it and found that Jax was not there.

"This place is abandoned," said Lincoln.

Lori turned around and walked upstairs, her vision getting blurry again. The ringing returned and overcame Lincoln's voice. Then, another buzzing. Lori turned back and saw Lincoln and Luan.

"Don't follow me!" yelled Lori as she ran out of the subway station.

"Lori!" exclaimed Lincoln. "Luan, what was that?"

"I… I don't know. I'm getting a little scared."

Lori reached into her pockets and pulled out her phone. Another unknown caller. She answered it.

"Please tell me who you are," said Lori.

"Lori, you already have my number saved in your phone," replied a female caller. "You're coming to the party or not?"

"Stop asking me that. I literally don't care about the party. I just wanna know who you people are, where you are, and how you know my name."

"The entire high school is here," said the caller. "Lori, did you lose your mind?"

"No! It's your mind that is lost! Your mind! Can't you see that my family and I are dying out here? Please, just tell me where you are."

"Oh, I forgot, you're lost in the other world. Nobody gave you directions to where we are, right?"

"You mean… the new world?" asked Lori. "No, no one told me."

"Sorry, Lori. I, myself, don't know how I got here either. I wish I can help you, but it looks like I can't."

"Why?" asked Lori. "I… I'm in Augusta. Please tell me I'm close."

"You are," said the caller before hanging up.

"Hello? Hello! No!"

Lori fell on her knees as the ringing returned to haunt her ears. She looked at the metro map ahead of her and saw more bloody messages painted on it.

 _LOOK AT THAT._

 _YOU MADE EVERYONE LEAVE._

 _SHE DOESN'T EVEN WANT TO TALK TO YOU ANYMORE._

 _OH, AND THE PARTY?_

 _YOU'RE NOT INVITED!_

 _YOU LOST EVERYTHING!_

 _YOU LOST YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, YOURSELF!_

 _JUST SUFFER NOW!_

A woman yelled in the distance. Lori turned around and gasped, moving out of the way before the woman could stab her in the back. As she dodged the swinging knife, she took out her hatchet and kicked the woman away from her.

The young woman panted and ran away from Lori, before being chased by her. Lincoln and Luan came out of the subway station after hearing the scream and found Lori chasing the young woman across the road.

"What's Lori doing?" asked Lincoln.

"I don't know. Let's go after them!" exclaimed Luan.

The young woman ran inside an abandoned house with open windows without glass, doors without wood, and walls without paint. It appeared completely empty inside with the exception of the needles in the sandy floor. Lori tossed her hatchet at the open rectangular hole where the door is supposed to be at. However, she missed and struck the cardboard that sat next to the hole.

Lori ran towards the house and grabbed her hatchet, finding the young woman in the dark corner of the empty room. She raised her revolver and aimed it at the young woman.

"Wait! Please don't shoot!" quivered the young woman. "I'm sorry! I only wanted your phone!"

"You were going to kill me over a phone?" asked Lori.

"I needed to take one last selfie!"

The young woman was the same age as Lori and had her golden hair. However, unlike her, it was long and disheveled, much like the dirt spread around her face and hands. Her clothes were ragged and covered in dark stains.

"Your knife! Drop it!"

The young woman complied with Lori's order.

"Who are you?" asked Lori.

"My name's Carly. I'm 19, I think. This is not my house. My house is a couple blocks away from here. Please don't kill me. I just need to borrow your phone, please. Please, I'll do anything for a selfie."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" asked Lori.

"I need to be together with my boyfriend," said Carly as she took out a picture of him. "See? I only have pictures of him. I just need a picture of him and I next to each other. I was gonna take a selfie while holding the picture."

Lori lowered her revolver and sighed.

"I just need a picture of him and I together," said Carly. "There's one in my old high school, but it's overrun by the monsters that killed my boyfriend!"

"That's not relevant– what are you doing hanging around here? Weren't you aware of the group of people livin' in the subway station?"

"Uh huh. I always avoided them. But then they left."

"Do you know where they went?" asked Lori.

"No… I don't mind what they do. So what are you going to do with me now… umm… I'm sorry. I don't know who you are."

"My name is… Lori. You need to leave. You're gonna get yourself killed out here if you're gonna live like this."

"Lori… can I ask you a favor? Can you please go to my high school and find my locker? A picture of my boyfriend and I should be inside. Can you grab it and bring it back to me?"

Lori crouched and glared at Carly.

"What makes you think I'll do that for you?" muttered Lori.

"'Cause, I know you'll do it for me. I see it in your eyes… you're broken. Something tragic just happened… and you know how painful losing someone you love is. I just need a picture of him and I. And I know you know… I need that. And you understand."

Lori didn't understand why she understood Carly. But nevertheless, she was going to do her favor.

"Okay. Where's your locker?" asked Lori.

"It's in the first floor, by the bathrooms. Locker 1212."

Lori nodded.

"I have three questions for you," she said. "How many roamers have you killed? How many people have you killed? And… why?"

Carly remained silent. Lori sighed deeply.

"I need you to stay here. If I see you go anywhere near my brother and sister… I won't hesitate to pull the trigger."

"I won't go anywhere," whispered Carly. "The high school is up the road near-"

"I know where the high school is. When I come back, you better have three answers."

Lori turned around and walked away, placing the revolver back into her holster. Carly sniffled and then stared at the photo of her dead boyfriend.

Luan and Lincoln walked around the streets together, looking for Lori and her attacker. Then, they heard a rumbling noise. They hid behind an abandoned car and saw a truck move in the distance. Behind the truck were people marching with weapons in their hands.

Lincoln found Lori coming out of a crack house, and ran towards her. Luan followed him, though her jog was more calculated as she evaded the marching survivors' sights.

"Lori! What happened? Did you get her?" asked Lincoln. "Lori? Where are you going?"

"Go back to the van," said Lori. "I… I gotta do something."

Lincoln ran up to Lori again as she continued walking up ahead in the road. He reached out to her and tried pulling her back.

"Lori, don't! It's dangerous, there's people here!"

Lori shoved Lincoln away from her and groaned in frustration.

"I said go back!"

Lincoln gulped as Luan held him and restored his balance. Lori wiped the sweat from her face and turned around, walking to the school. Lincoln and Luan turned away, now afraid of messing with Lori. It was clear that she wasn't herself. Not anymore.

The door opened, letting whatever sunlight enter the hall that hasn't gone through the glass windows. There was paper in the floor, from homework assignments to classwork to flyers about the upcoming prom that never happened. And there were corpses as well, mostly decomposed to a sack of bones with decaying flesh on them.

Lori held the hatchet in her hands as she walked past the bodies. She swatted the flies away from her and stepped on the maggots in the ground. She only looked for the bathrooms of the first floor but at the end of the hallways, she was met with a single wooden door. Opening the door, she found herself looking at the stairs that led to the second floor. But what really caught her attention was the grotesque amount of blood plastered into the walls and the rotten flesh that littered the stairs.

She left and closed the door, turning to her left instead. And then her right. She found the bathrooms, but of course, there were roamers blocking the hallway.

Lori stormed towards the right hall, lifting her hatchet. She yelled as she swung her hatchet at a thin roamer. Then she chopped the next roamer's head off. Then she sliced through another skull. She grabbed a roamer and shoved it to the lockers, banging it with her hatchet against the lockers. And for the last roamer, she noticed that its stomach was devoured completely. The roamer was unable to get up, so Lori put it out of its misery by stomping it down in the head with her boots.

Blood stuck to Lori's face with the sweat that created an adhesive combination of muck and yuck. She panted and shook her hatchet, tossing the pieces of flesh stuck to it down to the floor.

As she looked up at the hallway, she saw shadows passing by the windows. She quickly fell down on her knees, lying on the pool of roamer blood she created. She looked up at the window and saw survivors wearing a special kind of military uniform. Nothing she ever seen from the nation that formerly stood from California to New York.

In their left arm was a small white and blue flag. Barely visible from where Lori stood, it had a blue Saint Andrew's cross with a normal dark blue cross in the middle. In the area where the heart would be, four black letters were imprinted into the uniform that caught Lori's attention.

It was the K.H.A.N.

Using the small crack in the upper left corner of the window that Lori hid underneath in, she tried hearing their conversation. But as she lied her head down close to the puddle of blood in the floor, her ears caught another voice.

"Status report?" asked the female voice.

"No signs of present survivors, ma'am," replied one of the KHAN soldiers.

"Colonel, I have a suggestion to make," said the other soldier.

"Go ahead."

"Bomb the subway station. That way the survivors won't be able to return."

"We need that subway station for a future phase. Plus, the survivors have to return at some point. So, never… EVER suggest bombing the subways, got it, sergeant?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Her walkie-talkie crackled.

"Colonel Ash. Downtown section seems clear. Permission to move to east of the river?"

"Granted. Let's move, guys."

The KHAN soldiers marched away. Except the colonel. Lori swore she heard about her. She was one of the high-ranking rogue officers that wasn't stationed at Houlton. She came to a realization. There were many rogues out there, but none of them were after her. They were after the subway people.

Lori stood up and sighed as the ringing returned. She looked at the locker numbers as her head pounded. In her first try, she found Carly's locker with the number marked, 1212. As she approached the locker, her phone buzzed. She stopped where was and lowered her head. Then she looked at her phone and noticed it was an unknown caller, again. She answered it.

"Please stop calling me!" hissed Lori. "Stop. I don't know how you got my number, but just please… stop. I don't know where you are. You won't tell me. I don't know what the party is about. You won't tell me. I don't even know who you are. You won't tell me."

"Lori, it's me," said the female caller.

Lori's jaw slowly dropped as she slowly slid down the locker. She covered her mouth with her left arm as tears fell down her face.

"I don't… I don't believe it… how– how are you talking to me?"

Lori didn't receive an answer. She continued to sniffle.

"Leni?"

"I'm here, Lori. I know it's a lot to take in, but it's me."

Lori broke down.

"How– how did you…. I'm lost. You're not alive anymore… so how are you talking to me?"

"You'd be totes surprised what you can do here," giggled Leni as she tried to hold her tears back. "It's not just in your head, Lori. It's beyond this world. It's a happy place here."

"Who… who were the other callers?"

"Chaz and Dana. My friends… your friends. Yeah, I told them to ask you to the party, but to be honest… you don't have to come. It would spare you suffering, but people need you down there."

"I miss you, Leni…"

"I miss you too, Lori… we all do. We'll see each other again… when your time comes. And don't be afraid to fight for our family."

"Leni, I don't deserve to be here…"

"I'm here for a reason. The old world is not made for people like me. Remember how I died? I tried helping someone out… well, at least I'm happy now. Don't be afraid to lose your humanity. 'Cause if you're careful enough… you won't. And you won't lose our family. And you won't lose yourself."

"It's too late. I already lost everything. Even my sanity."

"You haven't lost everything," said Leni. "I love you, Lori."

"I love you, Leni."

Lori removed the phone from her ear and stared at it. She hung up and placed it back into her pocket. Then, she stood up and lifted her hatchet. She turned around and swung it as hard as she could at the lock, snapping it out of the locker. The noise was heard by the KHAN soldiers, no doubt.

Lori opened the locker and found the picture of Carly and her boyfriend, taped inside at the top. She pulled it out as she heard footsteps running into the school. She ran away from the locker and further into the right hall. There, she found another staircase that led to the second floor, but there was also another door. She opened the door and found herself out of the school into the courtyard.

She ran towards the mesh fence and tossed her hatchet to the other side before she climbed on it, leaping down to the other side once she made it above the fence. She grabbed her hatchet and ran away into the street, covered by a mess of overgrown weeds and shrubs. The soldiers came out from the school and looked around, noticing that their target has left bloody footsteps behind.

Luan and Lincoln looked at the subway station from across the street behind shrubs. They found KHAN soldiers guarding the area as they came in with Humvees and armored vehicles. There was talk going around that the soldiers found a survivor. They gulped and looked away.

"What do we do?" whispered Luan. "They're going to find Vanzilla."

"We need to leave," said Lincoln. "Stay in the van– get ready to drive it out of the city… I'll go look for Lori! If we don't make it back… leave."

"I can't do that! I'm coming with you."

"Luan, please."

"Lincoln, this is not up to debate. I'm coming. Either we all make it or we all don't. Plus, I know my way around this city."

"Fine. Lead the way."

Lori ran inside the crack house and rubbed her boots against the sand in the floor. Then, she ran to the dark corner before stopping in the middle of the room.

The young woman was hanging from a rope tied around her neck and attached to a large nail in the ceiling. Lori approached her body and found a chair tipped over on the floor. She lowered her head and found a note below her, along with a box of .357 Magnum bullets.

She knelt down, trying to look away from Carly's blue fingers. She picked up the note and the box. The note read:

 _I knew you could do it. Thank you for bringing the picture. Just place it in the ground. As you can probably see by now, I am reunited with my boyfriend once again. Sorry for attacking you earlier. You saw how lost I was, but not anymore. Anyway, here is the answers to your three questions._

 _No zombies, if that's what you meant by roamers. My boyfriend killed them all._

 _Just one person. Why?_

 _Because she lost everything._

 _Thank you, Lori. I hope you don't end up like me. Lost._

Lori lowered her head and sighed. She dropped the picture and the note. She turned around and walked out of the house, taking the small box of ammo with her.

She looked back and found the KHAN soldiers marching to the house with their guns in their hands. She looked ahead and left the street, hearing a burst of gunfire go off inside the warehouse.

On the way back to Vanzilla, Lori found Luan and Lincoln in the middle of the road. They stopped where they were as Lori continued walking. They didn't know what to say to her.

"Follow me," said Lori. "We're leaving. We're going to meet up with the rest of the group."

Luan and Lincoln looked at Lori and nodded.

Lori placed a CD into the radio of Vanzilla. Since Sam had the original version, Lori had to play the Limp Bizkit cover of "Behind Blue Eyes." But it felt more fitting now.

Lori sighed and started the engine for the van. Luan and Lincoln took quick glances at each other as they remained aware of the KHAN soldiers a few blocks away. But more importantly, they remained aware of Lori's mental state. And even though she has never been more broken before in her life, she hasn't lost herself completely.

Still, they all knew, even Lori herself, that she was no longer the same. What happened to Leni has no doubt changed Lori. But they didn't know how. They weren't going to know… yet.

Lori turned the vehicle around and headed towards the highway. They left Augusta, as a helicopter approached the city. Lori felt an urge to follow them, but felt it was better to just leave it behind.

Lori checked her phone. She tried turning it on. But it wouldn't turn on. The battery was dead. And it has been dead for the past two years. She looked ahead into the road with eyes that opened a new type of window. They were grieving eyes, but with the hope of recovering. All she could think about was the last word she saw on the note and questioned if she would end up like that.

 _Lost._

No. She was, but not anymore. She is no longer lost.


	22. Maladies and Disorder

_**My goodness, it's been a while. Hey, dudes, Mr. Potassium here. A lot happened and now I'm sitting here, typing in a new apartment, recovering from whatever the hell I'm infected with (no, not the zombie flu). I guess that's why I kinda like my new apartment because the heater actually works. Yeah, definitely do not sleep with a broken heater when there are record-breaking temperatures out there (Northeastern and Midwestern gang where ya at). Now, the weather is not to be completely blamed for my short "hiatus". I had an extremely busy two months, ESPECIALLY around the holidays. i also had to ponder of the future of this story (ideas, plots, and stuff). Then, writer's block. Oof.**_ _ **Anyways, the weather's getting warmer and I haven't died yet so, and I'm feeling VERY motivated now so I'm able to publish another chapter. So here it is! As always, enjoy!**_

* * *

-Day 12-

The mosquitoes buzzed around the corpses along with the flies and maggots. The buildings still had holes in them and the streets were still covered by ash and rubble.

Maria slowly rocked a sniffling Carlitos. She looked around, finding herself unable to soothe his fever as the rows of bed showed no signs of survivors.

"Still looking around the tunnels?" asked Maria. "If you don't mind, my nephew is sick and he needs medicine!"

Her voice echoed throughout the tunnels.

"I know you can hear me!" she said in frustration.

Tim came out of the tunnels.

"I did. I was looking at something more important."

"What is more important than him?"

"The K.H.A.N. tunnels. Just trying to remember where they lead to."

Maria sighed.

"We need to look for medicine. And fast. Or else Carlito's fever is going to get worse and it'll be too late."

"Alright," sighed Tim in disappointment. "You've been to Royal Woods before right?"

"I've lived there," said Maria.

"Then you would know what hospital to go to? And you would know where to find medicine for his problem?"

Maria nodded.

"Alright then," he said. "We're going to make the baby better then we're coming back here. After that, I'm going back to my hometown in Ann Arbor. Then maybe New York City or the Adirondacks."

"Specific places," said Maria.

"They are. It's where my daughter should be."

"You're not going alone," said Maria. "If you're going back to New York, then I'm coming. I need to go to Albany. I'm also looking for my daughter– and son as well."

"Boy, do I really doubt they're there," said Tim.

"We'll see," said Maria.

 **Chapter 22: Maladies and Disorder**

 **I - Long Road Ahead**

-Day 733-

A yellow canary perched itself on a branch, watching as the Humvee took an exit lane in the highway. Lynn looked outside the vehicle as she chugged down a bottle of water. Ronnie Anne kept still against the headrest of her seat as sweat ran down her face. She peeked outside the window and noticed that the Medway Motel she saw ahead in the distance was now a stack of trees and leaves with overgrown grass near the base.

"Yo, Haley," groaned Ronnie Anne. "Where are you going? You're going off the main route."

"I know, I know," said Haley. "Just tryna' see if we can get a car that doesn't melt our faces off. Or maybe some portable fans. We still have the box of batteries for power juice in the back, right?"

Ronnie Anne nodded. She was surprised she couldn't roll the window down. Even the roof of the vehicle was closed since this specific Humvee didn't carry a mounted turret on its top.

The Humvee slowed down as it scouted around the calm streets of Medway. Most of the cars seemed to be rusting, while others just looked like they didn't work at all. But then, a couple cars a block away were tainted with fresh blood on the front bumpers of the cars. The windshields were also properly dried.

"Something's not right," said Ronnie Anne, standing up slightly from her seat. "There's roamers in the streets. Bill never left them there."

Suddenly, a woman with hoop earrings and a yellow midriff ran into streets with blood on her stomach, which she covered with her hands. She held her other hand up as she lowered herself.

"Please, help me!" exclaimed the woman.

"Oh my god," gasped Haley. "What happened to her?"

"Looks like she got shot, maybe bit?" said Lynn, squinting at her stomach. "I don't know, I don't see anything."

Haley stopped the vehicle. She and Ronnie Anne stepped outside to look at the woman's injury. Lynn then looked around and saw something move behind a tree.

"Hey, I'm a nurse!" shouted Haley. "What's wrong?"

The woman then pulled out a SIG Sauer P220 and aimed it at Haley.

"Where ya headed?" she asked.

Haley looked down at the woman's stomach. There was no wound. It was just fresh blood rubbed on by her right hand.

"You bullshitted your injury?" hissed Haley.

"Where… are you headed!"

"Anywhere but here!"

"Whatchu got in the vehicle?"

"None of your business."

The woman pressed the trigger and shot Haley in her stomach. Ronnie Anne quickly slapped the pistol from her hand and punched her to the ground. A man popped out from behind a tree but was gunned down by the machine turret in the Humvee.

Ronnie Anne grabbed the pistol from the ground and aimed it at the woman.

"Get in the car and drive us outta here!" yelled Ronnie Anne.

Haley gasped as she held her bleeding stomach. Ronnie Anne kept the woman at gunpoint. Then, suddenly, a bolt traveled across the air and struck Haley in her left arm.

Ronnie Anne quickly turned behind her and pulled the trigger. She shot a man who fell to the ground with a crossbow in his arms and a string of dead squirrels around his waist.

She ran up to him and grabbed the squirrels before picking up the crossbow too.

"Oh my god, Haley! Are you okay?" exclaimed Lynn.

Haley dragged herself to the driver's seat and gasped as she closed the door. Lynn faced Ronnie Anne as she continued to stare down at the man.

Ronnie Anne had to check if he really killed the man. She did.

"Santiago, behind you!" yelled Lynn.

Ronnie Anne turned around and shot the woman in the ground with her pistol. She gulped as she walked towards the Humvee her legs feeling as if they were strapped with cinder blocks.

"Hurry up!" yelled Lynn.

Ronnie Anne ran inside the vehicle and closed her door as Haley pressed against the gas pedal. Haley leaned against the wheel as she kept her left arm straight. Blood leaked out the wound covered by the bolt. And blood poured out her stomach.

"There's more incoming!" yelled Lynn, moving the turret around.

Haley gasped as she struggled to keep the wheel straight. A few other attackers popped out from behind the fresh vehicles, firing their rifles and pistols. Ronnie Anne kept her head down as Lynn ducked behind the turret. The bullets ricocheted off the Humvee, though the glass in the window was cracked where the bullets hit.

The attackers jumped out of the way as the Humvee sped up in the road. It drove through the cars, running over one unfortunate body, as it continued to pick up speed.

Ronnie Anne looked behind her seat and noticed that the attackers chased after the Humvee on foot. She then found more fresh cars in the side of the road, where four more attackers hid by. Then, a rain of bullets from the turret decimated their bodies.

"Jesus," muttered Ronnie Anne as she turned towards Haley. "How are you driving this thing well?"

"Experience," groaned Haley. "Can you… grab that gun strap… and tie it below… my ribs?"

Ronnie Anne nodded as Haley continued to drive ahead in the road. Then she made a turn and began driving away from the town and north back to Houlton. Lynn climbed down from the turret and fixed her sling. She looked as Ronnie Anne tied the gun strap around Haley's waist, making sure that less blood poured out from the wound. Luckily, the bullet was still inside to keep Haley from losing too much blood.

"I'm going to make another turn…" murmured Haley. "You two need to… jump out… and hide."

"What about you?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"I'll be… fine."

Haley turned the vehicle towards another road, slowing down the Humvee. Ronnie Anne placed the strap for the crossbow across her chest and back, and opened the door. Lynn flung her bow and her own M1 Garand out of the Humvee. Then, she covered her broken elbow and leaped out of the armored vehicle, landing on her feet on the grass before rolling along with it. Ronnie Anne followed Lynn's lead, flung her skateboard and the P220 pistol out, and covered her face before realizing how painful it was to have a crossbow on you while you roll.

She groaned as Lynn dragged her into the woods behind a tree. They both watched as the Humvee continued going ahead in the road. After a few seconds, a few cars made a turn and followed the Humvee in the distance, leaving behind one of theirs at a parking lot by Medway Motel.

Lynn and Ronnie Anne grabbed their weapons and the skateboard and made a run for it, finding the closest home available. They stumbled upon a house with an open garage, finding a car and a bicycle.

"Ready to leave?" asked Lynn.

Ronnie Anne looked back at the road, frowning as the skid mark remained in the pavement.

"Hey, Santiago. Look this way. We're not lookin' back that way anymore. Haley made her decision and now we need to make ours. There might still be some of those assholes in this not-so-sleepy town. So, ready to leave?"

Ronnie Anne nodded. Lynn sat on the bicycle and Ronnie Anne stood on her skateboard. They both moved away from the garage and gathered speed as they headed into the main highway, leaving the town of Medway.

And they continued, miles and miles, consuming sunlight, from morning to night to morning again.

In the next morning, two days after the siege in Houlton, the rumbling of an RV, a fraction of the noise that the city had, filled the air near the apartment building in Portland. David turned off the engine and got up from his seat, counting the number of passengers in his RV. Just in case.

The doors were flung open as the group made their way inside the building. David held his knife with his right hand, the blade pointing away from his chest. He held a flashlight with his other hand, though he had it off. There was enough sunlight coming from the windows and the patio in the middle of the building.

The group walked over five new fresh corpses in the ground, joining the other corpses with the Seal of Maine on their uniforms.

David was itching for a gun. He didn't even need to fire it– he just felt as if he can draw breath for another day if he had a gun.

He went behind the counter in the main lobby and opened up one of the drawers. He found a can. He took a closer look and found out there was writing in it. Then he opened it and found the Colt M1911 he was looking for.

George and Vonda looked at David as he took out the gun from the can. His sigh of relief was strange but they understood. Now, David didn't have to carry around a shotgun all the time.

"Hey, isn't that my mother's gun?" asked Vonda.

"What?" mumbled David.

"That's Sherry's sidearm. Or was," said George. "It's got a piranha carving in the bottom of the grip.

David pointed the pistol downwards.

"Huh, I never noticed that. Anyway… George. Stay and watch the group."

"Where you going?" asked George.

David climbed upstairs. He turned on the flashlight and made his way to the third floor, where he found a dark hallway. It was filled with roamers the last time he remembered. And now he can't find any of them.

He entered Room 3A as instructed by the can. And what a blessing the can gave him. He scanned the room and smiled.

"Found anything?" asked George.

David came out from the stairwell and dropped down three bags of pills and other medical drugs. Then, he dropped down an oxygen mask from his shoulders.

"There's more upstairs," said David. "Help me take it downstairs?"

George and Vonda smiled at each other. Lily looked visibly confused, trying to figure out why a long tube was connected to a plastic mouth mask. Lana smiled as she looked up at Frank Weber. Then, she looked down at his son, Simon Weber, who could only stare at the medicine with a deadpan expression. Lana twirled her braided pigtails and winked at him, but he didn't even blink. Lana frowned and looked back at the medicine, smiling again.

"We're staying here for the night," said David. "Our goal is to find some more food and water. And we sure ain't going back to that department store again. Think the others might arrive here?"

The next morning, the prison buses carried many of the survivors to the small city of Portsmouth. The buses stopped in front of the church that Jeffrey and Preston resided in. One of the drivers was asked by Jeffrey to lead the other buses to the church.

It was very easy to do, since there was no one in charge of making the important decisions. Most of the bus survivors looked to Dr. White for advice for where to find water and which roads would lead to what cities. But he could barely answer their questions. He was too focused in his work. Him and Lisa.

"Roamers!" shouted Dr. Feinstein.

Carol, Jace, Preston, Clyde, and some other survivors stepped up to fight off the roamers in front of the church. Reggie hesitated before grabbing a hammer from the toolbox in the back of the bus.

Carol held a Swiss Knife from that Lisa had in the laboratory back in Houlton. Clyde had his trusty baseball bat while Preston held his pocket knife. Jace looked around for a weapon when he was handed a hammer.

Carol stepped ahead by stabbing the closest roamer in the eye as Preston lunged next to her, stabbing another roamer. Clyde gulped and swung down his bat, taking out a roamer with a crack in its skull. Then he smashed another roamer into the outer wall of the church as Jace bludgeoned a close roamer.

Their onslaught against the roamers continued as they cleared a path in front of the church. However, a swarm remained. Reggie decided to take a chance with this swarm.

"Hey, guys, lose the guns!" yelled Carol. "We don't wanna attract more of the roamers out there!"

The survivors listened to her. She waved around her snub nose revolver.

"Only for emergencies."

Reggie moved past the group. He walked towards the swarm, dropping his hammer.

"No!" yelled Preston.

Jeffrey looked from the bus window. He gasped and quickly rushed out of the bus.

"Reggie, stop!" yelled Carol.

The teenage boy kept on walking ahead. Preston ran ahead, tackling Reggie to the ground. Jace ran ahead too, killing the roamers surrounding the boys.

"No guns!" yelled Carol as she motioned the survivors to help the boys out.

Carol and Clyde began slaughtering the roamers as Preston dragged Reggie away from the swarm. Jeffrey and the others fled inside the church.

Moments after, Carol, Clyde, and Jace came inside the church.

"We did it," said Clyde. "All the roamers are dead."

"Good job, Carol," said Jace. "I think you can lead us!"

"Yeah, Carol!" exclaimed the survivors in unison.

Carol looked at the survivors inside the church. She saw a scared Jeffrey. An incapable Dr. Feinstein. Two scientists who lacked any fighting skills. She was the only adult up for the responsibility.

"Yeah," said Carol, "I guess I can."

Later that evening, Lynn and Ronnie Anne traveled down the state through the highway, one biking and the other skating at their top speed. Lynn was, of course, ahead of Ronnie Anne, though she wasn't too far behind.

When darkness fell upon the wilderness that surrounded the girls, they set up shelter in the woods near the highway. They would pick a high point– like a small hill– and tie strings between a couple trees. They would look for firewood and dry leaves so Lynn could make a campfire. Then, one of the girls would lay down in a soft patch of grass and nap as the other girl stays awake. However, on this one night, despite both girls being exhausted, they stayed up, sitting next to each other as they ate cooked squirrel meat.

"...and so you would expect Manning to be the MVP, right? But nah, it was Miller, but that's alright too. Totally deserved it. Still, I kinda expected more from Newton 'cause–"

"Lynn, shut up."

"What? Aren't you interested–?"

"No. I don't care about sports."

Lynn sighed as she clenched one of her fists.

"Can't believe there were only fifty Super Bowls before the world ended."

"That's fifty conversations I'm gonna have to listen to you ramble about," groaned Ronnie Anne.

Lynn gurgled her saliva and spat at Ronnie Anne, landing her gross fluid at the girl's left cheek. She hissed and removed the spit from her cheek when she heard a growling noise. She looked up and saw Lynn pulling back the sleeves to her own shirt. Lynn looked mad. But it didn't even faze her.

Ronnie Anne braced herself as Lynn clenched her fist. But she quickly released it and ran behind her, catching the roamer mid-lunge by its neck, and tossing it to the ground. Lynn continued to press against its neck but this time by the sole of her sneakers. The roamer moved its jaws up and down, its chin bumping into Lynn's shoes.

"Watch this," said Lynn as she grabbed her bow and an arrow, her foot not budging. "Aim like this and…"

Lynn released the string, landing the arrow in between the roamer's eyes. She stepped away from the body and looked at Ronnie Anne, shrugging.

"Still doesn't give you bumps on your goose? Shake your bones a lil'?"

Ronnie Anne looked away and sighed, softly sipping a can of water.

"What's wrong, Santiago? You've been really quiet and cranky lately."

Ronnie Anne shrugged.

"C'mon, you can tell me anything!" said Lynn. "I ain't gonna make fun of ya."

"Just worried about Bobby," she replied, placing her can of water down.

"Nah, it's more than that. You can't stop thinking about it, right?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," she said, picking up her can again.

"Blood on your hands. Feels worse than shit in your fingers, right? But it ain't. Hey, put the can down and look at me."

Ronnie Anne listened to Lynn.

"Look, the people you killed? Total scumbags. Wouldn't even spare you a can of beans if you were dying of hunger."

Ronnie Anne couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Tell you what– next time we see a house– we look inside and search for a bed to put our asses in. We'll get some sleep. However much sleep you want. You can sleep 'till you feel better. How about it?"

"Did it help you?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"It did," said Lynn. "It will for you."

Lynn looked around.

"We need to put cans on these strings. They'll make noise that way. We're both catching up on sleep, right?"

Ronnie Anne smiled and nodded. Both girls finished their cans of water and tied it along with the strings. Then, they both fell asleep.

The next morning, the girls were on the road, cruising along the woods as Lynn biked one-handed. She held her bicycle steadily, also keeping the skateboard steady as it was tied to the back of the bicycle with a rope. Ronnie Anne kept her balance as she stood on the board, looking around, seeing houses in the distance.

"Hey, there's a nice yellow house over there!" exclaimed Ronnie Anne. "Lynn? Did you hear me?"

"Yeah. Just tryna control my breath."

Lynn turned her bike to the left. Ronnie Anne lowered herself and placed her hands on the board as it slid to the left as well. Little did the two know, however, was that a large green box of armor and terror hid behind the yellow house. A few soldiers hung around the Stryker.

"Ah, holy fuck no!" blurted out Lynn as she braked her bicycle.

Ronnie Anne kept moving forward and bumped forward into Lynn, knocking her and her bicycle down. She groaned as she looked up at the men walking towards them. And behind them was a particular woman.

"Look what we have here. Two survivors," said the female officer.

Ronnie Anne grabbed her crossbow. Lynn dragged herself away from the bicycle while tending to her shoulder. But when both girls looked up again, the soldiers surrounded them. The female officer held her beret hat, revealing her black hair tied to a bun.

"You two look like shit. What are your names, survivors?"

"Ronnie Anne."

"Lynn."

"You two are faring well, Ronnie Anne and Lynn. Let me guess– 13 years old and 15 years old?"

"How the hell did you know that?" asked Lynn, standing up.

"I have knowledge in the… genetic field. My name is Colonel Catherine Ash. Where you two headed?"

"Somewhere far from here," said Lynn, "I had enough of the winter. This summer ain't gonna last long."

"Come with me. I wanna show you something. But first… tell me your story."

Lynn and Ronnie Anne looked at each other. They had no choice but to get inside the armored truck that stood behind the Stryker. They had to pretend as if they never saw the face of a rogue ever in their life.

The truck parked in front of a steel building with metro maps covering the walls. Lynn and Ronnie Anne got off the truck, holding their weapons and food.

"We're here. Welcome to Augusta."

Lynn gulped. This was the place that Luan was talking about. This is where Lori went to retrieve David. This is where the subway people were located at. And this is where Black ordered the KHAN to scout at.

She walked inside the building with Ronnie Anne and Colonel Ash. She looked around and saw steel beams and empty stores. She walked down the stairs and saw more of the same metro maps.

"It's not everyday we find survivors," said Ash. "Especially now. But I've been wondering. We've found some girls weathered and exhausted and you two don't ask us for a base?"

"We've met people like you," said Ronnie Anne. "We had enough."

"Santiago!" muttered Lynn. "Shut up! You're gonna get us killed!"

"I wouldn't worry about it! Hey, Colonel! You believe in survival of the fittest, right? That's why you didn't kill us on the spot!"

"Someone's caught on," said Ash. "That's why I showed you this place. It's your reward for living two long years."

"What reward?"

"This subway can go to any state, so long as it is its capital. For example, Augusta, capital of Maine, could go to Sacramento, capital of California. Only time you get this chance though. I would suggest choosing wisely. Hope you know your capitals."

Lynn looked at Ronnie Anne. She smirked.

"Wanna go home?" asked Lynn. "Your home?"

Ronnie Anne nodded.

"Sure, we'll take it," said Lynn. "Let's go to New York City!"

"That's not a capital," groaned Ash.

"Fuck, Lynn!" muttered Ronnie Anne. "It's Albany! The capital of New York is Albany!"

"Okay, okay. Sorry. Albany. We wanna go to Albany."

"Albany it is," said Colonel Ash, nodding to her men.

Lynn turned towards Ronnie Anne.

"Let's get you that sleep, okay? We'll just wait for the–"

Colonel Ash knocked out Lynn as Ronnie Anne watched. Then, in a blink of an eye, a KHAN soldier elbowed Ronnie Anne in the back of her head, causing her to black out.

"It helps pass the time," whispered Colonel Ash.

As the soldiers carried both girls to the subways in the track, a young woman held her breath as they walked over the bludgeoned turnstiles. She hid in the corner of the station, a blade in front of her face. Most importantly, she overheard everything. It was time to go to Albany.

Somewhere in New Hampshire, with mosquitoes buzzing under the hot sun, Kotaro was unable to drive his bus any further from where it was. He looked back and saw the passengers cough wildly. Their phlegm and bile spilled over the floor. One of the passengers grabbed a rat from the floor and tossed it out of the window.

"Damn. We're outta gas," he said. "I'm going out to get some. Ted, stay here and take care of the others. Sam, Luna, why don't you two help him out."

"Actually, we were gonna go hunt," said Sam, grabbing her AR-15. "These people can't live on canned food. Expired as well."

"We're gonna more than just meat to help these fellers out," said Ted. "Ain't no deer helping these people. They need medicine."

"Well, we can't go hunting alone," said Sam. "Luna and I need to watch each other's backs."

"I'll look for some medicine," said Kotaro. "Ted, these people are going to be fine. They just need to rest a little. They had a long night. Throwing up all night ain't fun. Trust me, I know."

"Alright," said Ted. "And what if they… you know…"

"You do what you have to do," said Luna. "We can't risk everyone's life."

Ted nodded. Kotaro, Sam, and Luna walked out of the bus.

"Watch your back, girls," said Kotaro.

"You too," said Sam.

Kotaro grabbed an empty jerry can and carried a small pack on his back. Luna and Sam walked into the woods with their guns. And in the woods, was where they were going to hunt for food.

But it was much harder than they thought. Minutes and half-hours passed by, and both girls had trouble looking for food. The sun was still rising, so lack of sunlight was nothing to be worried about. It was the fact that the passengers were starving that worried both girls. Many of them refused to eat more canned food, leaving only the healthy survivors nourished.

"How many bullets you got, Lunes?"

Luna slid out the magazine from her rifle and stood the rifle up-right. She shook the magazine slightly, finding it very light.

"Don't know, but there isn't a lot," she replied.

"Well, I got three bullets left," said Sam.

"How do you know that?"

"My magazine has holes in them. Look, three bullets. Plus, it helps to count how many bullets you shoot."

Luna grabbed her rifle and placed the magazine back in. Suddenly, a dear dashed across the trees. Both girls looked at each other and felt the hunger in their stomachs kick in. They ran after it.

After chasing it, they realized that the deer stopped by a small pond covered by logs and sticks. They also spotted a beaver in the pond.

"Hey, Lunes," whispered Sam. "You go for the deer while I shoot the beaver. We do it at the same time, got it? On my count…"

Luna nodded. She aimed in the scope of her rifle and looked into the deer's heart, and felt a river of guilt shower over her.

"Three… two… one…"

Sam pulled the trigger. The shot beaver fell down into the pond while the deer dashed away. In a slight panic, Luna pulled her trigger too, attempting to aim at the deer, but her bullets missed.

"Come on, what the hell!"

"It's not a big deal, Sam."

"What's your problem? We need food and you hesitated to shoot a large fucking deer!"

"My shot's been a little off lately…"

"You shot's been off since we left Houlton! Except for when you–! When you… shit."

Sam hugged Luna who was tearing up. Sam started to cry as well knowing that she screamed at her girlfriend for a trivial thing. She even almost brought up her sister Lynn.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. It's just… I'm hungry… still that's no excuse to scream at you…"

"It's okay, Sam. It's not as bad as my conscience beating me up. C'mon, get the beaver. I'm going back to the bus."

Luna walked away from the pond. Sam reached out for her before looking back at the pond, noticing that a hawk hovered above the corpse of the beaver. Then, the hawk flew away with the beaver in its talons, leaving the girls with no game to bring back.

"Damn," muttered Sam. "Hold up, Luna! I'm going back with you!"

Back in the bus, a certain smell took over the vehicle as some of it rotted away in the windows that were left open for the fresh air. One of the sick passengers checked on his neighbor, whose eyes were closed. They also had no breath coming out of their mouths. And their faces were pale.

"Sir, you alright?" asked the sick passenger.

It woke up. And its golden eyes stared at the passenger, before lunging at him, chomping at his neck. The passenger wheezed as the roamer tore off his throat and poured blood all over its body.

Ted was asleep as the roamer pushed the deceased human away from it. It stood up and moved on to the passengers behind him. They were awake, though barely able to see well. And unfortunately, not able to react in time as the roamer bit into their necks, killing them within seconds. And then, another roamer woke up from a different seat. And another at another seat. And another.

A scream forced Ted awake. He leaped from the driver's seat and pushed against the lever, closing the bus door.

"The hell?" groaned Ted as he rubbed his eyes. "Damn, I might be getting sick too!"

Then, his teary eyes were shot open as he noticed the passenger screamed louder. The roamers were biting his arms, legs, and face. Blood poured underneath his visible feet as his screams faded. His feet shook one more time before the roamers turned around and paid attention to Ted.

"Holy hell!" he screamed.

Ted stumbled down the bus steps and pushed against the door. However, the lever kept it closed as the roamers approached him. He leaped up the stairs and reached for the lever before a roamer took a hold of his arm and chomped down at it.

Ted screamed as he kicked the roamer away from him. He stumbled back and fell down the steps, his body smacking against the closed bus doors. The flood of roamers passed by the driver's seat and stumbled down the steps, crushing Ted against the door. Then, they forced their teeth onto his body, ripping him open like a packet of ketchup. Ted screamed wildly as his back was ripped apart. But no one was around to hear.

"Lynn looked kinda clunky," said Sam. "She probably had a vest on or something!"

Luna remained silent.

"Haley moved her away from the fight– she picked her up and everything– that's gotta mean she wanted to treat her! She wouldn't do that if she were dead on the ground–"

"Sam… just stop. I know you're trying to make me feel better about the whole thing and I love you for that but… I can't stop beating myself up over it. I'm not going to see her again… and it's my fault."

"Bullshit! It's Black's fault! No one we met ever used human shields! Of course it had to be a piece of shit like him to do that!"

Sam and Luna moved the branches out of the way as they stepped into the road, walking closer to the bus.

"Sam, please, I don't wanna hear– eww, what's that smell?"

Sam and Luna faced the barred windows. They saw bodies moving around in the shadow, though they weren't able to tell what they were doing. Sam walked towards the door as Luna removed the rifle from her arms.

"Oh, Jesus!" exclaimed Sam.

Luna ran next to Sam and gasped as she saw the corpse crushed against the door. Luna moved Sam back as they attracted the attention of the roamers inside.

"Hey, what's going on?" shouted Kotaro from the distance. "I got some fuel!"

Kotaro rushed to the girls' sides as he realized the grim nature of what was occurring. He then flinched and dropped his jerry can.

"Aww, shit. Fuck, no!" gasped Kotaro. "That's– that's Ted…"

"What do we do?" whispered Sam in fear.

The roamers growled as they clawed against the barred windows. Kotaro gulped and teared up as he grabbed his long steel wrench. Sam placed her rifle across her back and grabbed her ice pick. Luna did the same, except she took out her reliable crowbar.

"All these people…" sighed Kotaro, "...we didn't even know 'em that well."

He walked to the back door and stepped up to the emergency exit. He nodded at the girls and pulled it open. He then back up and started swinging his wrench furiously at the roamers. Luna pulled some of the roamers away from him and bludgeoned them with her crowbar.

Sam watched in horror as they killed off some of whom used to be their neighbors. As one of the roamers approached her, she sighed and quickly stabbed it in the temple with the tip of the pick, before sticking it out of its skull.

After clearing all the roamers from the bus, Luna, Sam, and Kotaro walked inside towards a deceased Ted, fearing the graphic memory that would never leave their heads.

"Sam… Luna… get all the food and water and get out of here."

Kotaro held back his tears as he grabbed his wrench tightly. Ted's corpse moved slightly, though it was unable to stand up. Standing up would he hard to do, when a roamer was missing parts of their spine.

Sam and Luna grabbed all the remaining foodstuffs and supplies that was left in the bus. And it wasn't a lot since it wasn't enough to fill up their bags. As they left the bus, Kotaro swung down his wrench, giving his friend a needed mercy.

After a few minutes, Kotaro walked out of the bus and followed the girls down the road to nowhere as far as they knew. The bus was left alone in the middle of the road with blood pouring from the back. Nothing around except flies and mosquitoes.

At a platform near a dark tunnel, with a subway station lit up by torches and candle lamps, Lynn and Ronnie Anne awoke. Rubbing their eyes and feeling disoriented, they looked around and wondered whether they were still at Augusta.

"Look the metro maps are still here," said Lynn.

"But this place seems different. It looks familiar," said Ronnie Anne.

"Goddamn rogues. At least they didn't take our weapons."

"I don't think they were rogues. I mean didn't you see their tags and the flag in their sleeves? Something feels weird, man."

Ronnie Anne grabbed her crossbow and placed it on her back as she held a Bowie knife in her hand. She walked out of the platform and up the stairs with Lynn following her, leaving the skateboard and bicycles behind.

Ronnie Anne looked around. The metro maps were there before, though it looked different than the ones from Augusta. It looked like the ones she's seen before.

"I can't believe it," gasped Ronnie Anne. "We're really here. We're home. We're home!"

Ronnie Anne and Lynn looked around. The streets were littered with trash. The cars were crashed onto buildings and abandoned in the streets.

After a few minutes, Ronnie Anne and Lynn arrived at the bodega. It was just like how the group left it before, though there were a couple blood stains here and there. They didn't completely loot the store. There was still some items that the girls could use, though most of the chips and sweets probably went stale.

"We've been gone for quite a while," said Ronnie Anne. "I just want to go to sleep in my own bed."

"Let's go up then," said Lynn. "In fact we can spend the next couple of weeks in here. No doubt some of the others are going to come here soon."

Lynn and Ronnie Anne dashed upstairs. Lynn looked for Carlota's room while Ronnie Anne headed for her own room. She opened the door and was ready to jump into her bed when she suddenly noticed something. Her bed was made, and a note was left on top of it. She grabbed it and read it.

" _Ronalda and Roberto. You don't have to stay put anymore. I'm sorry I took so long to return but I did, yet I did not stay. I don't know if you two will ever return, but I just wanted to let you know I'm okay. I'm with a man… and he's made me feel safe. We also have Carlitos, so it's not over yet. A woman told me that you two were out there saving the world… and I know these families mean the world to you now. I will be back home… and I'm not talking about this place. I will wait for you two when you're done saving the world. Mucho amor, your mother._ "

Ronnie Anne gasped. She dropped the note and teared up as she sat down in her neatly made bed. She would need all the time in the world to process this information. A fresh piece of evidence of her mother's status in this new world. Alive.

 **II - Mentally, Physically, and Emotionally Tested**

-Six Weeks Later-

Mosquitos buzzed around the prison buses as the heat cracked down at the unlucky passengers. Different buses, same story. Some of the passengers were coming down with an illness, an strange malady as Lisa described.

"It's a large concern," said Dr. White. "People are beginning to question what we're really doing for a cure."

"There's nothing much we can do about it, right? Carol is out getting mushroom, fruits, and herbs. We have to focus on the task at hand."

"People just want to see us do something. They want to see that we care. They want to see if we know what we're doing."

Dr. White looked closer at Lisa. But Lisa didn't want to look at the doctor. She kept her eyes on the test tube filled with potassium chloride.

"You know something, don't you?" asked Dr. White.

Lisa cleared her throat.

"It seems that this disease comes from a unique strain of malaria but it's something I've never encountered in my life before."

"We shouldn't be quarantining people then, right?" asked Dr. White. "Malaria is not contagious. We should only worry about the damn mosquitoes."

"This one is," said Lisa. "I don't know how, but this strain… it's gotta be influenced by the necrosis influenza. That's the only way I can see it happening."

Dr. White looked at the bus behind their own. Many of the passengers in the other bus refused to leave, so they were now at risk at getting infected by the sick.

"We really can't do much. We don't have to right medicine. Herbs are only going to prolong their suffering. We need medicine and we need it soon."

"I'm back!" said Carol, carrying a bucket of mushrooms and berries. "I got some herbs for tea as well!"

Carol walked inside the bus and headed to the widowed Mrs. Coleman.

"Did Zoey behave?" Carol asked.

"She's a lil' fussy but she's fine. Guess all 'em mosquitoes bites are torturing her."

"Mosquito bites? Gee, I gotta soothe those bites."

Dr. White approached Carol.

"Carol? Lisa and I need to tell you something. Follow us outside."

Carol followed Lisa and Dr. White while carrying Zoey in her arms.

"We need to start taking the risk of going into the big cities," said Dr. White.

"What for?" asked Carol.

"Stockpiles of chloroquine, proguanil, maybe even quinine," said Lisa.

"Quinine? That's used to treat malaria!"

Lisa and Dr. White nodded their heads as they walked back inside the bus. Carol looked down at her baby daughter, staring at the mosquito bites. Her leadership was now tested.

Somewhere in west Massachusetts, Lori, Lincoln, and Luan were gathered around a campfire near a large tent and a hammock on the side. The shade provided great cover from the burning sun and the smoke provided protection against insects.

"That joke knocked him dead!" giggled Luan. "Get it?"

Lincoln sighed before letting out a chuckle. Lori poured the can of beans into Luan's can and Lincoln's can. And she did it with a smile like she was feeling better from a long-lasting ailment.

"Cutting-edge jokes," sighed Luan before giggling again. "I'm sorry– it's becoming a habit."

"It's alright," said Lori. "If dark humor's how you cope in the apocalypse… go for it."

"I mean I already did like dark humor. It's just coming back to me now, ya know?"

Lori placed her spoon inside the can of beans and began to nourish herself. The crackling fire filled the silence– and not an awkward silence– but a peaceful one.

"Think we'll find the others?" asked Lincoln. "I forgot how many days it has been and we haven't seen one sign that someone's been going in this direction."

"It's the only way I know," said Lori. "I wanted to avoid the cities by the coast, so I chose to go to the place that I can't stop having nightmares about."

"Someone had to have gone to Albany," said Lincoln. "Maybe we're ahead of everyone else."

"Regardless, we will find some of the others in D.C. I already stressed how important this mission is… so important that people would give their life for Lisa and Dr. White."

"So we're not going to find everyone," said Luan.

"Not two of our sisters for sure…" murmured Lori.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Luan, you saw–"

"No, I know what I saw. I know she did. But not Lynn! I know you're not talking about Lynn!"

"I mean, Luna was hit by artillery as well," said Lori. "Maybe she couldn't have gone away."

"No, you were talking about Lynn!" said Luan. "Christ, Lori, have some hope! Haley and I went through hell to save her! I know she's alive. She believed in me and I believed in her!"

Lori lowered her can of beans while staring at Luan intensely. Lincoln gulped and stood up, grabbing his MP5.

"That was the last can, right?" he remarked. "Let me go out to hunt. I was taught by– I'll get a rabbit."

"Alright, but we need you hare soon!" chuckled Luan. "Get it?"

Lincoln smiled as he walked out of the range of the light emitted by the campfire. The sunlight continued rising in the sky, providing light through the holes of the wilderness canopy. He looked around, not really trying to hunt a rabbit, but just to have a moment of peace and quiet.

He felt kind of bad, though. He was around his sisters for six whole months while Lori and Luan were captured by Black. And not once did he want a moment of peace and quiet. But now, he hasn't seen his sisters besides Lori and Luan for more than six weeks, yet he feels the need to be alone.

Maybe it's just not the same without Leni and Lynn.

Then, near a burrow in the ground, by a stack of dry leaves and flint, below a crooked branch hanging low, a rabbit chewed on the overgrown grass. Lincoln grabbed his knife and waddled through the small heaps of soil in the ground. He kicked a pebble in one of the soil, scaring away the rabbit.

He groaned as he felt going back on his search for peace and quiet. But then he thought about the last can of beans. He turned around and tracked the rabbit's footsteps, pressing his shoes against the soft soil, suppressing the noise.

After a few minutes, he found the rabbit again, this time chewing on a leaf. Unaware that a boy was approaching behind it, it continued to chew on the leaf. Then, the rabbit once again fled.

Lincoln sighed as he noticed a roamer lurking down the small slope of soil. He placed his knife away, saving it for the rabbit, and grabbed his MP5. He grinned, not being stupid enough to fire the gun at the roamer and scare the rabbit, so he turned the gun around with the stock facing the monster.

He slid down the slope before bumping the roamer's knee, knocking it down. He then lifted his gun and slammed it down on the rotten skull. Not enough, he had to slam it down again. It wasn't enough again. He slammed it over and over until the cracking of the skull turned into a mushing of the brain.

He sighed and rubbed the stock against the soil on the ground. Next, he climbed back up the slope and into the heaps of soil. Then, he spotted another beast, but not of the dead kind.

"Oh, crap," muttered Lincoln. "It's been a while since I've seen one."

The bear turned its head towards Lincoln, crawling out of the shrubs that it was hiding in. It walked closer and closer as Lincoln stood still, keeping a guarded posture. Then, it lunged towards him.

Before he could even let out a yell, the bear knocked him to the ground and growled at him, its saliva flowing down on his shirt. Lincoln panted as he quickly stood up but the bear clawed him in his right thigh, rolling him down the slope.

"Dang," groaned Lincoln, as he lifted his ruffled head up. "No…"

The bear ran down the slope as Lincoln dragged himself back. The bear stood up, raising its claws as Lincoln grabbed the roamer's corpse. As the bear swung down the claws, he mutilated the corpse's left arm off, before clawing on its back. The bear kept mauling the corpse as the rotten blood was slung everywhere.

Lincoln screamed as the bear slashed his forearms, before biting his legs. The bear shook the boy's body as it continued to hold its grip on his leg. On the verge of losing his leg, Lincoln held his knife and stabbed the bear in the nose.

The bear roared as Lincoln pushed his knife deeper. It stood up and shook its head as Lincoln dragged himself behind a tree, the blood from his arm squirting into the soil, leaving behind a trail. But the bear didn't give up yet.

It chased after Lincoln as he tried to sit upright. Then, the bear lunged towards him, mauling his back. Its large claws tore off strips of flesh from his back before he was tossed into the tree.

Lincoln pulled out his knife again and stabbed the bear's right paw, causing it roar even louder. The bear then lunged towards the boy's neck before he pulled out his MP5. He pressed on the trigger and did not let go as the blood blasted off from the bear's body. Its roar turned into a desperate cry before collapsing to the ground, inches away from his body.

Lying against the tree, his clothes ripped apart, and blood spilling out of him, Lincoln dropped his gun and cried in agonizing pain as he turned pale. Tears flowed out of his eyes as they turned blurry, before he blacked out.

"Lincoln!" yelled Luan.

Panting and grunting, both Loud sisters ran across the woods and through the heaps of soil, bruising their feet little by little. They stopped by the slope of soil and slid down the slope, finding a destroyed corpse and a bear carcass next to a tree. Then, they found Lincoln lying against it, his face looking down.

"Oh my god!" gasped Luan.

Both girls ran up to Lincoln and lifted his head up, finding him unconscious. His body remained intact– at least his bones were– but pieces of his skin were ripped apart.

"Go back to camp and get the hammock!" yelled Lori. "I'll treat him right now! Go!"

Luan ran back to camp as Lori removed her backpack. She took out a white rag and patted it across her little brother's face.

"Jesus," she whimpered. "Please be okay. Please be okay."

She looked at the bear in the ground once again before turning to the MP5 on Lincoln's arms.

"You literally fought off a bear? Oh god... "

Lori dropped the red-stained rag and took out clothes from local stores. She wiped off blood from Lincoln's forearms, wrists, and legs. Then, she took out large strips of bandages and wrapped them on each wounded area. However, noticing that she was running out, she decided to use Lincoln's ripped shirt to wrap his leg with.

She pulled him away from the tree, when she noticed the blood stain left on the bark. She looked at Lincoln's back, gasping at the large claw marks that deepened into his flesh and the small streaks that would scar around it.

Lori choked back tears as she used the remaining bandages to cover the wounds. She looked back at the roamer corpse in the ground, bursting into small and silent tears, realizing how mauled Lincoln would've been if the corpse wasn't there.

Suddenly, Lori heard a low growl. She turned around and swung her hatchet at the roamer's neck, before removing it and swinging it down its skull.

"More roamers. Great…"

Lori stood up and prepared to fight off the other roamers as she found more of the infected monsters surrounding her.

Then, a sword pierced through a roamer's face before being pulled out. Luan held the mesh hammock wrapped up under her arm while holding her katana on the other. She sliced another roamer and another as she made her way to her siblings.

Lori held a steady pace towards a roamer before taking it out with a hard swing. Then her wrist turned as fast as her arm as the hatchet killed another roamer. Now her brother was safe from the infected.

Luan placed the katana back in her sheath and let loose the hammock. Lori picked up her backpack and placed Lincoln's MP5 in there before zipping it closed.

"Pick up his legs!" exclaimed Lori. "I got his arms!"

She and Luan picked up Lincoln and lowered him softly into the hammock. Then, Lori grabbed one side of the hammock while Luan grabbed the other. As they began to climb up the slope, the growls of the roamers grew louder in the distance as they followed their decayed senses. By the time they stumbled upon the slope, the Lori, Luan, and Lincoln were long gone back at camp. They ignored the slope and decided to go for the bear.

Dozens of miles away, though still in west Massachusetts, Luna began playing the notes to "Hello" by Evanescence on a keyboard. She looked outside into the city of Springfield, recalling what just occurred moments ago while also thinking about the events in Houlton.

" _Playground school bell rings again..._ "

Gunfire went off as Luna, Sam, and Kotaro fought their way through a street filled with roamers. Kotaro led the group through an alley as the roamers kept on them.

" _Rain clouds come to play again..._ "

Kotaro turned around and fired at the roamers as Luna and Sam hopped over a fence. As he ran out of ammo, he placed the gun on his back and leaped over the fence.

" _Has no one told you she's not breathing_?"

Luna hesitated to shoot a roamer in front of her. Instead, she turned her rifle around and smacked the roamer to the ground before stomping it with her boots.

" _Hello, I am your mind giving you someone to talk to… hello…_ "

Kotaro and Sam slammed against the door to a building. Cold sweats broke as Luna aimed her rifle at the approaching roamers. She couldn't pull the trigger. Then, suddenly, Sam pulled her inside the building. The group looked ahead and found the roamers that they would have to face off.

" _If I smile and don't believe…_ "

Luna beat the roamers in the side with her crowbar as Kotaro swung his wrench around and Sam stabbed the roamers with her ice pick.

" _Soon I know I'll wake from this dream…_ "

The trio moved around the room– which they found out was a music store– and took out all the roamers inside. Sam ran to the entrance of the store and shut the door.

" _Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken..."_

Kotaro told the group that he would try to siphon more gas from cars a few blocks away, so he needed the girls to distract the roamers.

" _Hello, I'm the lie living for you so you can hide… don't cry…_ "

Luna grabbed a keyboard and carried it upstairs. Sam looked around the store, searching for whatever supplies they could loot. Luna turned on the keyboard, noticing that the batteries still had a lot of juice to them. So she smashed a window open, and sat down on the floor with the keyboard on her lap.

" _Suddenly I know I'm not sleeping…_ "

Kotaro ran out the building with the siphoning hose in his hand and a jerry can on the other. Luna began to tap on the note, bringing her back to the present.

" _Hello, I'm still here…_ "

Luna cried as she continued to sing the song. The roamers surrounded the building and the somber notes only attracted more of them.

" _All that's left of yesterday._ "

Sam snuck into the room, wiping off the sweat from her face before realizing that some of it were tears. Luna whimpered, being able to barely finish the song. Sam walked and sat next to her before her girlfriend lied her head onto her lap.

"I feel nothing but negativity inside me," said Luna. "Am I fucked up for asking this?"

"Asking for what?" said Sam.

"I want to do it with you," said Luna. "You're going to be my first time… anything to feel happy for a second."

Sam blushed slightly as she looked away.

"You're not fucked up for thinking that… I-I've been wanting it a long time but… are you sure now's the right time?"

"When is it ever the right time?" asked Luna. "And I mean, I love you, so… I want you to be happy…"

Sam gulped and looked into her glossy eyes. Luna closed them before standing up and softly placing her lips on Sam's. Then, Sam closed her eyes and placed her arms back on the floor as Luna placed herself on top of her. She released her lips from Luna's to find her removing her shirt.

Sam gasped with a rosy blush on her cheeks, as she slowly removed her shirt as well. Then, Luna unbuckled her belt and lowered her pants as she quickly slid her hands in between her legs. She gasped softly as Luna moved her own fingers and stimulated her. Then, Luna once again placed her own lips against Sam's and lowered her underwear. She pushed her fingers in, letting a soft moan from Sam out.

Kotaro walked along the street with the jerry can in his hands. He walked towards the building and found that the roamers were still moving towards it but no song was being sung by Luna. Not a musical one, at least. He looked into his binoculars and saw the two girls, sweaty and nude.

"Jesus," he muttered as he grabbed his walkie-talkie. "Girls, I can see you two from here. Quit screwing around and let's get the hell out of this place."

"Oh shit," panted Sam as she grabbed her walkie-talkie. "We'll be at the car in a couple minutes! I'm so sorry, you had to see that!"

"Ugh, just put some clothes on. Good lord, you two are going to stink up the car."

"Alright, just go."

Kotaro sighed. It was going to be a very awkward car ride to Albany.

 **III - Symptoms**

The mosquitos continued to buzz near the prison buses. The quarantine bus, now labeled Bus 4 after Jace spray-painted it with its respective number, and the two other buses, Bus 1 and 3 all headed to Stamford in Connecticut. Bus 2 was to be the bus that Kotaro was in, but Lisa was unaware of the disasterly fate that occurred there. But she did know that Bus 4 was going to face the same disasterly fate if she didn't do anything soon.

"I'm going out to get some more herbs," said Carol, holding her snub-nosed revolver. "Might not cure this thing but it will help out with the symptoms."

"I'm coming too," said Clyde. "We can cover more ground like that, right?"

"Right. Do you know what plants I'm looking for?"

"No, but you can tell me! I went to gardening club back in fourth grade. They asked me to leave when one day, I was sent to the hospital because a bee stung me."

"Well, what if we see some bees?" worriedly asked Carol.

"Don't worry. I carry around this special EpiPen that Lisa made for me."

"Indeed," said Lisa. "Specifically modified to extend shelf life and increase the effects of epinephrine while also lowering the side effects. Plus, its effects have a longer duration."

"Okay. Let's go, Clyde," said Carol as she left the bus with him, giving her baby daughter a kiss beforehand.

Lisa watched them leave as she poured hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide into a flask. Then, Dr. White walked up to her.

"I don't recall this being part of the NIRT cure," said Dr. White.

"The what now?"

"NIRT. The NIRT cure."

"National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis?" questioned Lisa.

"No, the necrosis influenza of the rabid type. Haven't you been paying attention, Lisa?"

"What happened to the IOTD?"

"It's much harder to say," said Dr. White.

Lisa opened up a box and pulled out plastic bags from them.

"No, this is not part of the NIRT cure. I must apologize for being distracted. But now, my concentration is entirely focused on the issue at hand. These are homemade IV bags. I'm making IV fluid, like I have always done. But just in case you noticed, we've been very low in salt, so I'm making my own sodium chloride."

"It's good news to see you working on the malaria infection, but we got another issue at hand. More people are getting sick and more of the sick are trying to resist quarantine."

"Like who?" asked Lisa, looking outside the back window of the bus.

People shouted as Jace and Preston were moving the sick inside the bus. Jace wore leather gloves and a bandana around his mouth while Preston used latex gloves and a surgical face mask.

"C'mon, I ain't even sick!" yelled one of the passengers.

"Don't put me in there!" yelled another.

"Lay your hands off of me!" groaned a frustrated passenger. "I'll go in myself!"

Some of the other passengers started to divert from the line, but Dr. Feinstein and a couple other adults kept the sick from leaving. Jeffrey remained inside the bus, and stayed there with Mrs. Anderson, who volunteered to be the driver for the quarantine bus.

All the passengers finally agreed to fill up the bus, and the seats began to feel cramped. Reggie was the last passenger to enter the bus, but as soon as he did, he bolted out the exit.

"What the–" muttered Jace.

Reggie ran into the woods where Carol and Clyde were looking for herbs. Jace and Preston chased after him, leaving the door to the bus open. And a few mosquitoes entered through the bus door, making themselves at home.

"We have to do something about the mosquitoes," said Dr. White.

"I instructed Carol to look for lemon balm and field garlic," said Lisa as she packaged the makeshift IV bags. "It will deter the mosquitoes and bring a more natural scent to a dreary odor in our buses."

"Brilliant!" chuckled Dr. White. "Well, shall we go and help out the patients?"

Lisa nodded. She and Dr. White wore their surgical masks, left Bus 1, and made their way to Bus 4, entering through the open door. When they walked inside the bus, they saw a vision of death.

Some of the patients were barely holding on, only a few more vomits to end their life. Other patients were emotionally drained and unresponsive to jokes and sob stories. Some of them have lost husbands, sons, wives, daughters, brothers, and sisters in the final siege of Houlton. This was not how they wanted to go– decaying slowly until they were a pale bag of blood and bones. Then, they would become a bag of blood and bones walking mindlessly, joined by the billions of others.

Lisa and Dr. White interviewed most of the patients, trying to create some sort of diagnosis. But they all sounded the same. Started with coughs, then with a fever, before getting throbbing headaches. As they moved from patient to patient, they swatted a mosquito from the air, and got rid of another potential malaria carrier.

Suddenly, a patient started to cough violently. He spat out blood and phlegm as he struggled to breathe. Dr. White and Lisa quickly rushed to the patient and watched him as mucus dripped from his mouth and nose.

"Lisa, we need a suction catheter and a plastic pump, now!" exclaimed Dr. White.

Lisa nodded and left the IV bags in an empty seat. She ran out the bus and went to retrieve the laboratory items that Dr. White needed. The patient let out one last cough before falling unconscious.

"What's going to happen?" asked one of the patients.

"If he dies, then what do we do with him? Can't just leave his body there," worriedly said another.

"He won't die– just don't get close, goddamnit! Give me some space!"

Lisa returned with the equipment and pushed her way through the patients. She got frustrated as the area began to feel cramped. Finally, she made it to Dr. White with a few contacts with the infected– the human infected.

Dr. White stuck the suction catheter down the patient's mouth before attaching it with a plastic pump. He then looked around desperately for a bag to control the breathing. He grabbed an IV bag and prepared to open up the bag when Lisa suddenly intervened.

"No, stop!" she exclaimed. "I haven't diluted them! The bag is too acidic! Just suck it manually until I return with another bag!"

Dr. White nodded as he placed his mouth at the end of the suction catheter. Lisa ran out the bus and headed back to Bus 1 to get the leftover plastic bags.

Meanwhile, a couple footsteps from the distance caused Clyde to raise his bat. Carol dropped the lemon balm and aimed her revolver at the moving figure from the distance. Then, two more figures followed, beating the shrubs and snapping the twigs. Then, the footsteps came to a stop.

"Stop!" yelled Carol before noticing the fair hair on the boy. "Oh, it's just you. What are you doing here?"

"Can you make 'em stop?" quivered Reggie. "They're making me go in the bus of death. I don't wanna go. Please, I don't."

"You're sick, Reggie," muttered Carol.

Jace and Preston panted as they caught Reggie. Carol placed her revolver back into her holster and wiped off the grass from the bottom of her jeans.

"Your disease is contagious!" exclaimed Jace. "It's for the safety of the others!"

"Since when did I give a damn about the others?" cried Reggie. "Just leave me here! I'm going to die anyways, so why waste your energy on me?"

Carol flapped her tank top as the heat grew more intense.

"It's not what we do," said Carol. "We have to try to save your life, even when you don't think you can make it. We have to try. So please go back."

Reggie sighed and shrugged. His face was turning even more red, concerning Carol.

"You're very hot aren't you?" said Carol. "We have a fan in Bus 4."

"You're hot too," panted Reggie. "Look at that, the heat is getting to us. Why don't you come with me to Bus 4?"

Carol smiled.

"If that it takes, then sure thing. Hold my hand."

Jace and Preston let go of Reggie. He reluctantly grabbed Carol's hands before walking back to the buses. Clyde picked up the lemon balm from the soil and carried it back.

Dr. White continued to suck on the suction catheter. He was able to suck out some pieces of the phlegm that blocked the patient's airways, but didn't have the strength to take it out the tube. So, the doctor decided to do chest compressions, trying to get his lungs to work again.

As everyone was focused on the patient's predicament, a new problem arose in the front seats. One of the infected humans has turned into an infected dead. And its eyes were open, displaying a golden light that gave a warning to those who could see it. And only the person seated next to it saw the light, but it was too late to warn everyone else. The roamer has already sunk its jaw down the passenger's throat.

The passenger coughed as he choked in his blood as the roamer continued to devour his throat. The passengers continued to pay attention to the patient, causing a commotion around him. Hearing this, the roamer lifted its head up and dropped down the flesh from the passenger's throat and stumbled out of the seat.

Mrs. Anderson screamed as she was the first to notice the roamer. All the passengers yelled as they ran away from it, stampeding each other and shoving Dr. White. He dropped the suction catheter, releasing the phlegm to the ground.

"Ouch, my hips," groaned Dr. White as he picked up the suction catheter. "My pain is nothing compared to that of the patient."

"Are you crazy?" shrieked Mrs. Anderson. "Forget the patient! Run!"

Dr. White stuck the catheter down his mouth again and sucked on it as the roamer made its way to the middle of the bus. All the other passengers stood frighteningly in the back of the bus as Dr. White remained at the seat, keeping his patient alive.

Lisa went inside Bus 4 with the plastic bags in her hands. She shrieked upon seeing the roamer, causing it to turn around and prey upon the little girl. She ran out the bus where she found that Carol and the others had returned from their foraging.

"Roamer!" exclaimed Lisa.

Carol dropped her basket of herbs and plants, and she took out her revolver. She ran inside the bus and found the roamer a few feet away from her. Not wanting collateral damage, she kicked the roamer to the ground then aimed her revolver at its skull and pressed the trigger.

"Lisa! The bags!" yelled Dr. White.

"Oh, right," stammered Lisa.

She reluctantly walked inside the bus, stepping over the corpse in the ground. Since it was a fresh hard skull, and a small revolver took it down, the roamer's splattered brain did not fly out of its intact skull.

Dr. White took a bag and wrapped it around the suction catheter. He then started squeezing the plastic pump, pushing all the phlegm and blood into the bag.

"He's going to be fine," sighed Dr. White in relief. "He will be."

Some of the patients were still shaken up. It was their first time they had to face roamers from that close. And they were still shaken up from the death of the roamer's victim.

Carol walked up to the victim, who was bleeding from his throat. She immediately raised her revolver and shot the victim in the head before placing it back in her holster.

It wasn't an easy choice, but the patients had to see it to wake up in this new world. Otherwise, they would've faced its wrath.

In the next afternoon, Lori and Luan were walking around a small town in eastern New York. They held a candle to ward off the mosquitoes, though it didn't seem to be working that well. With them, they carried a bag of bandages, antibiotics, and other types of medicine.

They were getting closer and closer to Albany, closer than Lori remembered. Since the roads were already cleared out, Lori had an easier time driving in the streets, especially when her van was able to move at 60 miles per hours at certain points. It really did make the journey seem quicker than last time. But by no means was it any easier.

It was only made harder when her morality and her resources were tested. Low on ammo and spirits, Lori and Luan were confronted with a difficult choice when they were navigating back to the van. A survivor, wearing a yellow poncho and cargo pants was surrounded by a few roamers. Lori and Luan heard the gunshots going off and ran to the source of it to find out whether they had to face a new threat.

But it was no new threat. It was just a woman, fighting off a swarm of roamers to stay alive. However, as soon as Lori and Luan caught a look at her, she was bit in the back. Then, other roamer bites followed, and soon enough, the roamers were devouring the woman as she screamed.

"What are we doing?" whispered Luan. "Let's take those roamers out."

"No," said Lori. "It's too late."

"Well, at least put her out of her misery!"

The woman continued screaming, but Lori simply walked away.

"We don't wanna attract the roamers," said Lori. "Plus, we need to save our ammo."

Luan felt a sharp pain in her chest when she was forced to leave the screaming survivor alone. After a few seconds, the screaming stopped, and Luan dared not to look back. She sighed as she found Vanzilla. She would've want someone to put her out of her misery had she been trapped like that.

After a few hours, Vanzilla entered the familiar highway where the Piranhas attacked the group for the second time. It was also near the headquarters where Lucy was shot, where Tad was shot and bitten by a roamer, where Luan was shot.

Lori looked into the rear-view mirror and noticed that Lincoln was fidgeting around uncomfortably, even while he was lying down on the seats. She decided to drive to the bodega, the only place she was truly familiar with in this dead city.

There, she found corpses in the ground, some that have been decaying for years, but some were fresh. She grabbed her revolver as she crouched down, looking at a fresh corpse. Then, she heard a growl.

Luan laid Lincoln against the wall of the bodega as he held his wrists. They were throbbing with pain, but he had nothing broken, so as long as he could walk, he walked.

"Lori?" quivered Luan. "Roamers!"

Lori watched as the roamers stumbled from both sides of the streets. There weren't too much for three people to handle, but Lincoln was wounded, and someone had to assist Lincoln. One person would not be able to take out the two swarms.

"Oh shit!" yelled Lori as she opened the bodega door. "Roamers over here!"

The roamers poured out of the bodega, forcing Lori to run away from the door. She stood next to Lincoln as she shot her revolver at the approaching roamers. Then, the roamers in the street got closer and closer. And Lori ran out of ammo.

"Hold Lincoln!" exclaimed Luan as she took her katana out. "I'll cover you! There's an alley we escape to!"

Lori walked alongside a limping Lincoln and led him to the alleyway by the bodega. Since it was at an intersection, they were just going to make a right turn and escape through the other alleyway. But only one thing. There was a fence.

"Oh, man," groaned Lincoln. "You guys are going to have to go without me. I can't climb over that."

"No, you're coming," said Lori. "Even if we have toss you over the fence!"

Luan got closer and closer to the fence as she sliced the roamers closing the alleyway. A dozen swarmed the area, and Luan felt too exhausted to take them all out, so she ran to the fence.

"What are we going to do?" panted Luan.

"I'm climbing to the top. Then, I'll grab Lincoln's arm and drag him up then throw him down. It's the only way we can all get out alive."

The roamers went closer and closer. Lincoln gulped as he knew this plan would result in him breaking his bones and wounding him more than he already is.

Suddenly, a crossbow bolt stuck out the eye of a roamer and dropped him to the ground.

"Duck!" yelled a feminine voice.

Lori, Luan, and Lincoln ducked to the ground. Then, the crack of gunfire repeated each second as pistol bullets also thundered across the alleyway. The sound of flesh ripping and bones cracking also made up for the silence in between the gunshots, but soon enough, all the roamers were dead.

"What the hell?" muttered Lori.

"Oh my god…" panted Ronnie Anne.

Ronnie Anne dropped her crossbow and ran to Lincoln, hugging him. He groaned but smiled anyways, as he hugged Ronnie Anne back. She looked back into his eyes and smiled before pressing her forehead against his.

Then, in the back, stood Lynn, her hands on her head as she teared up in disbelief. Lori, Luan, and Lincoln also felt their eyes watering as they gasped in shock. Lynn let her tears run down her face as she dropped her M1 Garand and walked up to the three Louds and wrapped her arms around them. She sniffled as Ronnie Anne watched, unable to keep herself from smiling.

The roamers were all dead, and the survivors were all alive. And Lynn, who was thought to be dead, was alive.

But Lori didn't want to ask questions yet. She just wanted to hold Lynn. And she did.

 **IV - Quarantine**

In the darkness of the evening where the lamps no longer had juice to light up the road, the headlights of the RV lit up the dim area.

"Hey, it's getting awfully cramped out there, ain't it?" asked Frank Weber. "Yet it's so empty in this RV here. Kinda lonely."

"It won't be lonely any longer," said David. "We found the others."

The RV slowed down behind Bus 4 and braked by a clustered road with parked cars. The passengers inside the RV stepped outside and walked by Bus 4, looking at the people inside.

"Looks kinda depressing there," said Frank. "I see Mrs. Anderson!"

"I don't see anyone familiar there," said Vonda. "What's wrong with these people? Do they see us?"

"They must be asleep," said George. "Though, the sun just disappeared. Why would they be asleep so soon?"

"Let's check the buses in front," said David.

"Nah, Mrs. Anderson is still awake," said Frank as he opened the door. "Sup! Is everyone asleep?"

"You're not supposed to be here," whispered Mrs. Anderson.

"Why?" asked Vonda. "I just wanted to see if the others were here."

David walked ahead and found some people inside Bus 1 walking around and chattering. They had a lantern and it didn't take them long to notice them.

Lisa, Carol, Clyde, and Dr. White stepped outside. Carol held a sleeping Zoey. Lily cheered as she ran up to Lisa, hugging her sister. Lana followed behind her, also hugging Lisa.

"Wow," smiled Lisa. "I didn't expect us to reunite at this particular night."

But I'm glad we did," said Lana, holding Lisa tightly before releasing her. "Is anyone else here?"

"Jace went to sleep," said Clyde. "But it's just him. There's no one else you really know."

"Well, guess what? I kept his lizards safe. I brought 'em with me, and I bet he'll be so glad I took care of them. Lizzy and Izzy got nothing to worry about now."

"You got the lizards?" asked Dr. White. "You know what happens to be a part of their diet? Mosquitoes."

"Yeah, they eat 'em! That's how I got those pesky mosquitoes off my skin!"

"Try bringing them around the buses," said Carol. "You could bring them into Bus 4, but don't walk inside. They can go– you can't."

"Why?" asked David.

"An outbreak has been occurring throughout our three transportation vehicles," said Lisa. Bus 4 is the quarantine bus."

"Oh shit," muttered David. "We gotta get Frank outta there!"

"What do you mean these folks have a contagious disease?" asked Frank. "You're here."

"I already got my malaria vaccine before the world turned to hell," said Mrs. Anderson. "Chances are, you'll be sick."

Frank and Vonda quickly rushed out of Bus 4 before Dr. White placed his mask on. However, they were stopped by Lisa and Clyde.

"Don't take a step further," said Clyde. "You're infected now."

"Likely to be infected," corrected Lisa. "Still a chance I don't desire to take."

"I ain't feel sick," said Frank.

"Me either!" exclaimed Vonda. "Are you going to keep us here?"

"It's the only way we can protect the others," said Carol. "I want to keep Zoey safe."

"This isn't right!" exclaimed George. "You're putting them in danger!"

"I just want to see my son!" said Frank. "Let me see him!"

"No, go back!" exclaimed Dr. White. "Hey– stop! Stop, go back!"

Frank tried shoving Dr. White away before swinging his fist at him. He then punched him again and again before running to his son. David took out his sidearm and instructed Frank to stop.

"I just want to see my son!" he yelled.

"You have to go back!" yelled David.

Suddenly, Dr. White punched Frank back, before shoving him away. Vonda hopped out of the bus and went in to move Dr. White away. However, David pointed his gun at the girl, causing her to stop.

"Go back!" said David, lowering his gun. "Shit, I'll take care of 'em–"

George punched David before grabbing his shirt and shoving him to the bus. He went in for another punch but David blocked it and kicked his knee.

"Stop!" cried out Vonda.

David grabbed Vonda and dragged her back to the bus.

"Let go of her, you son of a bitch!" George yelled.

He held David by a chokehold and lowered him to the ground as he struggled to break free. Vonda cried out as the group began clammering against each other. The commotion managed to wake everyone in the buses, as George and David continued beating each other as Frank and Dr. White did.

Suddenly, they stopped fighting when Zoey began to cry. Carol sighed as she tried calming her down, but she wouldn't stop crying. David and George panted as they stared at each other. Frank and Vonda looked down at the ground before returning to Bus 4, much to George's dismay.

"I'm in charge around here," said Carol. "If I say they stay there, they stay there. And if I tell you to stop, you stop! We'll discuss this tomorrow. Settle your differences without this– disorderly conduct shit!"

Mrs. Coleman came out from Bus 1 and cleared her throat before approaching Carol.

"Need help with the baby?" she asked.

"No thanks, I got it. Though, people in here don't seem to think I do."

Carol, trying to calm Zoey, walked away with Mrs. Coleman.

"Geez, I never seen her get this mad before," said Clyde.

Lisa walked next to Dr. White as Mrs. Anderson closed the bus doors.

"I don't know if it's the heat or the stress, but it seems like people are losing their minds," groaned Dr. White. "It's always been like this, but now it seems worse, like a sickness in the brain. I guess that's why they call it the infection of the dead. Death, maladies, and disorder are some of the symptoms caused by the living dead in this new world."

Lisa turned around to Lily.

"I'm awfully sorry you had to witness that scuffle," she said. "It's an adult thing. You wouldn't understand."

"I don't," said Lily. "Can you read me to sleep? I'm scared."

"Sure. We got The Scarlet Letter that Carol has brought with her. You wouldn't understand that either."

Lily sure didn't understand anything. She wondered if she was ever going to understand anything.

In the morning that followed, a different RV made its way to the city of Albany. The cloudy skies did not do much to brighten up the mood inside the vehicle.

Bobby fiddled with the ring in his finger, twisting it around and around. He reached into his white T-shirt pocket and took out a picture of his fiancee, smiling as the sunlight reflected from her eyes, though not brighter than her golden hair. Bobby sighed and looked out the window. He didn't want to return to Albany. The first time he was there, he was with his entire family. Second time he was there, he was with a group, with only Ronnie Anne and Lori and her family as the people he loved. Now, he was only going to be by himself, with a smaller group.

At the same time, Benny missed his girlfriend. It seemed like it was the millionth time they were separated, though it didn't make it easier by any means. Though, whenever Hana wasn't busy sweet-talking to a roamer, she would distract him from his loneliness by training him in martial arts and sword fighting. She even taught him a few tactics, such as how to climb trees faster than he has climbed before and how to keep his footsteps silent.

Though, none of it mattered, since he wanted to see Luan. He would do anything to see her for one minute.

Becky missed Leni just as Bobby did. Her best friend, who was the most humane person she knew, was no longer around. And now, she felt herself losing her humanity. And the reason was because she never felt bad about letting the roamer eat Oliver Jett.

After Hana parked the RV close to the bodega from some instruction by Bobby, the group stepped outside and looked around. The streets were clear, and the area was empty. The door to the bodega was locked, which was strange, since Bobby didn't remember locking it the last time he was here.

"See? Walking distance," said Ronnie Anne as she pointed at the subway station stairs. "Ten minutes of walking and you're here."

"I kinda wish I didn't waste the gas I used to drive here," said Lori, stepping out of Vanzilla.

"There's gotta be plenty of fuel in this city," said Lynn. "I wouldn't worry about it."

Lynn looked at her siblings. She couldn't help but grin.

"Whatcha' smiling a lot for?" she said.

"Still can't believe you were wearing that bulletproof vest," said Lincoln. "And Haley was there for you. And the subway people. And Ronnie Anne."

"It's the will to keep fightin', right?" asked Lynn as she turned around and walked down the stairs. "You know best about that. Shit, I still can't believe it, a fucking bear. I hurt you when I hugged you, right?"

"It's alright," said Lincoln. "Seeing you again made all the pain go away."

"Aww, it's that mushy crap again," chuckled Lynn as she turned towards Lori. "By the way, where are the others? Did we all get split up?"

Lori gulped as she saw the metro maps. They began to haunt her as she hesitated to answer Lynn's questions.

"Lori?" called out Ronnie Anne.

"Yeah, we're split up. But we're all headed for the same place. D.C."

Lynn was okay with that answer so she smiled and continued walking down the stairs with the others. Then, they all heard some noise outside. It sounded like indistinct chattering, though it became clearer and clearer what they were saying.

"I swear I saw the RV come into this city," said one of the voices.

"No one ain't denying you," said a female voice. "Just that we might've lost it, that's all."

Lori and the others climbed up the stairs as quietly as they could, so they could heard the conversation a bit better. But it wasn't anything they liked.

"This city's got plenty of fuel," said a deep-voiced man.

Lynn looked at the group.

"Hey, that van looks familiar," said the same deep-voiced man. "Ain't that the one that we saw back in that sleep town? Medway?"

"Shit, it is, Shawn," said a familiar voice. "Take out your weapons. These guys killed Hunter by the motel, 'member? These shitbags probably worked with the girls in the Humvee too."

Ronnie Anne and Lynn looked at Lori, unwittingly telling her that it was them in the Humvee. And Lori looked back with her face turning pale, unwittingly telling the girls that it was her who killed the marauder, Hunter, back in Medway.

Lincoln took a peek ahead in the street. However, there was nothing, just an endless row of cars. Then, he turned around, and found nothing again, except Vanzilla. When he turned to his left, he quickly ducked.

A gunshot struck the gates that surrounded the stairs. Lori grabbed her revolver, now filled with ammo from the city, and held it by her face as she crouched. Ronnie Anne held her P220 while Lynn made sure her rifle was loaded. Luan kept her katana sheathed and moved closer up the stairs.

"Run back to the van?" asked Luan.

Lori nodded. Luan sprinted out the stairs and ran into the cafe next to the subway station stairs. A few gunshots followed, though most of them hit the cars shielding the cafe.

"Did she just leave us?" asked Lynn.

"No, she's leaving this place," said Lori. "Just like we are."

Lori ran out the stairs, followed by the rest of the group. They all ran into the cafe, provoking a few gunshots to frighten the survivors. The windows were shattered open and wooden splinters from the table and chairs were shot off.

The group opened another door, which led from the cafe to a Macy's store. They ran across the aisles of clothing, as a few more bullets flew across the store. The marauders ran inside the store, guns in their arms, and knives in their belts.

Lynn ducked under a metal shelf and looked into her sights. She aimed at one of the incoming attackers and pulled the trigger, pelting him down, before she leaped out of the incoming gunfire, following the group out of the store.

"Guard the exits!" yelled Darius. "And get the big gun out!"

A few marauders ran back to the entrance of the store while the rest continued chasing the survivors. The survivors turned around, aisle after aisle, finding skeletons in the floor. Then, a stench lurked from the dressing room.

"Go fight off the roamers," said Lori. "I'll hold off these assholes."

Lynn grabbed an arrow from her quiver and swung it down a roamer's skull with full force, breaking its face in the ground.

Luan unsheathed her katana and quickly decapitated two roamers while Ronnie Anne fired her pistol at another roamer.

Two marauders came out from the jeans aisle and approached the dressing rooms. A few moments after, they were met with two bullets.

"Shit, out of ammo," said Lori.

Two more marauders popped out from the jeans aisle with their weapons raised. However, Lori quickly shot them, using up two more bullets.

"Let's go," said Luan, tugging on Lori's vest. "We found a way out."

Lincoln limped out of the back door with the 'EMPLOYEES ONLY' sign with Lori and Luan behind him. They followed Ronnie Anne and Lynn along the small alley, before finding their van in the street a couple feet away.

The survivors quickly entered the van and Lori drove them all away from the street. From the distance, a Humvee was roaring with its giant wheels and an intimidating horn of a machine gun turret. Darius quickly ran out of the employees' back door with his M1911 in his hands and made his way to the sidewalk. The van was gone and the Humvee has yet to pass by the cafe.

Darius coughed as he took out his walkie-talkie.

"Pick me up. We're chasin' these fuckers."

Bobby, Benny, Becky, and Hana turned their heads towards the gunfire. Moments after, the clunky revving of an engine raced closer to the bodega, causing the survivors to hide behind a vehicle. Only Kimi and Reiji were out in the open with the roamer stumbling around the excited dog.

Then, the survivors watched as the blue and white van raced past the street, with a Humvee following behind it moments after. And all the survivors gasped as they tried to grasp what they just saw.

"That was…" stammered Benny.

"...Vanzilla," said Bobby. "They're in danger. We have to follow them!"

"Yeah, but did you guys see who was following them?" exclaimed Becky as she entered the RV. "It was a Humvee! The rogues are after them!"

Bobby looked back at her, trying to see if find the doubt in her eyes.

"Hey," said Becky. "I'm just saying. I just want to make sure you guys are prepared."

Bobby nodded. Hana led Reiji inside the RV and quickly stuffed him in the closet. Kimi then came running inside before Benny closed the door. And just like that, they all got off the neighborhood, and the bodega was seen no more.

The sunlight gave light to move on from an awkward night and begin a new day. The scientists were outside, working on a few experiments that would produce gas toxic in enclosed spaces like a bus. The others were taking care of the sick or were trying not to get sick. And a few were out foraging or scouting for a town– and maybe looting it if they found one.

The chattering inside and outside the bus were indistinct. It was all mumbling and noise to the organism– if it even knew what that was. Then, it opened its eyes. What used to work with Leni when sewing clothes opened its glowing golden eyes. What used to take care of Carol's baby daughter growled faintly. What used to be Mrs. Coleman stood up and lazily stumbled towards the passenger across it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" asked the passenger.

But then she realized. And it was too late. She screamed and flailed her arms as the roamer grabbed her arms and began clawing at her. She cried as she tried pushing the roamer away but it managed to overcome her weak strength and land her teeth in her collar. Her screams were all just noise to the roamer.

After a short drive in the RV, David and George stepped outside and began to scout ahead, guns in their hands. David held his Remington 870 while George held his Mossberg 590.

"Listen, David, about last night–"

"It's alright, George. I get it. Things got crazy and– I would've done it too, if it were my son in that bus."

George sighed. David looked at the wrecked buildings around him. He then found one that stood tall.

"But you know, someone had to be in control of the situation. Seems like they have a large problem– a large problem that we don't want in our hands. Now, we gave 'em the medicine we had, so that'll keep the people in the quarantine safe for now. And that means Vonda will be fine for now."

"Well, it's not just about that," said George. "David… did I ever tell you about Cassie?"

David and George entered the building and turned on their flashlights before climbing up the stairs.

"I don't think you ever did," said David.

"Well then," said George. "Imagine a normal high school girl, straight black hair, tan skin, attracts the wrong kind of boys. And not too far from where you lived, she lived in the Bronx. Anyways, just picture this innocent girl getting kidnapped while she's buying small groceries. She took the wrong alleyway and a bunch of dudes just put a bag over her face and she fought back, but she lost. Just… beat to a pulp. Then, imagine this girl being kept as a sexual slave for months on end while her parents looked for her. It's not easy, but she's fighting for her life by keeping her mind intact. She hasn't lost her sanity. Then, I come in."

David looked at George, who only stared upwards as he continued climbing the stairs.

"And the leader of this operation decides to have us executed by roamer bite. But we fought back. She and I pulled through– and we killed the roamer. Then, they beat the shit outta me while she's forced to watch… then they rape her violently. But she's still pulling through. This once innocent girl is pulling through. My god what a strong survivor…"

George cleared his throat.

"You know she grew up with a brother in prison? She grew up in a shithole of a rent-controlled apartment. Her best friend of seventh grade was murdered before her 13th birthday party. But she fought through it all."

The two adults were closer to the rooftops.

"She had the willpower, the strength, the courage to overcome any hell that was thrown at her. But I realized that was no match for disease when I found her dead in our cell from an infection she got from the roamer we fought."

David looked down as he slowly climbed closer to the top.

"It was quick too. And at the end of the day, she turned into one of them. Just like that."

David and George stopped before the door to the rooftop.

"I don't know what I would do if that happened to Vonda. After what happened to my Emma, I tried to protect Cassie. And now I'm trying to protect Vonda."

George opened the rooftop doors.

"I know why she has to stay in the bus. Still doesn't mean I'm okay with it. But I'll–"

"Hey, George. Awfully sorry to interrupt but… what the hell happened there?"

George and David looked ahead from the roof of the twenty-story building. Ahead was rows of burned structures that became more damaged the further it got, until it seemed like it was burned into rubbles of steel and concrete.

"I think that's supposed to be New York City," said George. "Looks like a war destroyed this place."

Unbeknownst to the two men, a speed limit sign showed drivers to not go above 65 miles per hour on the highway, but the back had a large X on it. It wasn't spray-painted. It was marked by blood.

* * *

 _ **Wow, what a relief it was to finish this chapter! Next chapter (which is going to be a long one like Chapter 15 and 16) is going to be pretty crazy. Really... fucking... insane! Set at a really familiar location (maybe even at home for y'all New Yorkers).**_

 _ **P.S. oh, the irony of this chapter. I couldn't have picked a better chapter title to describe my life during the past two months.**_


	23. Dust Zone

_**Still alive here! I've had an immensely busy schedule and I'm awfully sorry about keeping y'all waiting. But you are all so very much patient and polite, and for that, I'm incredibly grateful! There's no telling when I will post the bext chapter, but it could range anywhere from next week to next month. Sorry!**_

 _ **Anyways this chapter really drew the energy out of me. It's the third extended chapter, a lot longer than my usual chapters (which span around 15k words, cut up in 4 parts within one chapter, if you guys were curious). Also, some boundaries had to be pushed and for that, I have to issue a warning:**_

 _ **WARNING! THIS CHAPTER MAY CONTAIN CONTENT THAT MAY BE TOO GRAPHIC AND DISTURBING. CONTINUE AT YOUR OWN RISK. SERIOUSLY. A LOT OF FUCKED UP STUFF AHEAD.**_

* * *

-Day 5-

"Click, clack, click, clack, boom. Hey, got your knight."

The nine-year-old girl with a bob cut with bangs groaned at her father. He chuckled, shifted his hat upwards, and awaited his own turn.

"Didn't see that," said the girl. "But I bet… you didn't… see this!"

"You… you got my pawn. That's it? That was your surprise?" the father chuckled.

"Hey, that pawn could've been a queen! You know, the most important piece of the game– hey, my castle!"

"It's a rook. And I captured it while you paid attention to the overrated queen."

"Wow. Wow, you're too good with a bishop."

"Both bishops are the most important pieces of the game."

"What's so good about a dumb bishop anyways? A queen could go at any direction! Bishops only travel in X's!"

The father chuckled.

"You mean diagonal? Haha! Let me tell you something about bishops. Wonder why I keep checkmating you?"

"Because my king sucks? Seriously, my king doesn't ever capture one of your pieces!"

"Let me tell you a secret about the bishops. Well, for one– they're extremely dangerous if someone smart knows how to use them."

The door to the apartment opened. A brunette woman, around her 30s, walked in and placed her keys inside her bag. She walked up to the father and kissed him.

"Honey, she's waiting outside. She's going to the kitchen. We're walking with her."

The father nodded. He grabbed his wallet and looked back at his daughter.

"I'll be back soon. Keep the door unlocked. And don't cheat! Trust me, I'll know."

The girl scoffed and giggled as she looked at her own shorts.

The man, wearing a gray shirt and slim jeans with white sneakers, walked outside the apartment building. He took off his hat, revealing his scruffy short brown hair, and he looked at his watch.

"Sorry, we were a little late," said the woman.

"Yeah, I really apologize," said the man. "Nice to see you again, Beatrice."

Beatrice had slick black hair that rolled down to the bottom of her spine. Her white dress lowered down to her knees, revealing two lines of clear skin and black slip-ons. She wore a pearl necklace and a gold bracelet.

"Likewise, Calvin. Don't worry about it. You too, Teresa. Just as long as you two are still up to restaurant idea. Let's walk, shall we?"

The sunny and clear sky had multiple patrol helicopters hovering above the safe-zones in New York City, all set up by the U.S. military. Calvin, Teresa, and Beatrice walked along the streets of the Bronx Safe-Zone, a large area protected from the dead that infested the torn city.

Army soldiers and Marines, along with National Guards, were posted at certain positions and were strict about the rules, but were generally friendly to the people inside the Bronx Safe-Zone. Navy sailors were always hanging around any of the boroughs except the Bronx. Occasionally, one or two sailors would patrol around the Bronx, but they're mostly posted around the rivers and harbors.

Messages on the streets from the military showed where to find the kitchens, hospitals, police, and other services. And alarms were posted at the corners of every street, but they're only used to inform the civilians of curfew and possible roamer attacks.

"This is just madness and hysteria! It will all blow over soon," said Beatrice. "Things will get back to normal, maybe a little tense, but it will all go back to normal."

"I don't know," said Calvin. "Those infected ones are hard to take down. If it all goes back to normal, it'll be months from now. Maybe even years."

"So you're turning down the offer?"

"Don't be silly. No one said anything about turning down the offer," said Teresa. "Maybe this could be an advantage! Look, a lot of business are down, leaving a lot of space for us and cheaper rent!"

"Exactly. I like that kind of thinking!"

Calvin looked up at the sky. The helicopters continued patrolling the skies. But they were flying at an abnormal way. Like they were chasing something. A few more helicopters followed them.

"I'm going to head back to the apartment," said Calvin. "Something seems a little off."

"Honey, wait!" exclaimed Teresa. "Ugh, sorry, Beatrice, can we talk about this later?"

"Sure, the kitchen is over here! I will just meet up with you two later!"

Calvin ran back to his apartment and blew deep breaths. He walked across the living room.

"You're back!" chuckled the girl. "I didn't move any pieces! Promise!"

"I'll play in a minute, Sierra, I just need to contact a buddy."

Calvin turned on his CB radio and spoke into it while looking out his window.

"Guillermo, still out there?"

Calvin peered through the window. He looked at the ruined roads that lied outside of the safe-zone. There was nothing out there in upper Bronx and Mount Vernon. And the helicopters flew away from the area.

"Sup, Calvin. Yeah, still out the safe-zone. Ain't no army dudes or dead ones on my ass. It's fucking hot as hell though."

"Guillermo, please, language. My little girl's here."

"Oh, my bad. Need a status update? Still haven't found any new guns. Just switchblades and other knives. This street ain't worth– crap."

"Well, actually, I was going to tell you something else," said Calvin, turning around. "Helicopters are heading towards Manhattan. Any particular reason why? Any talk in the radios?"

Teresa came inside the apartment building and crossed her arms. Calvin held his finger up and looked at the tall skyscrapers.

"Well, actually yeah," said Guillermo. "The Army dudes were talking about an incoming unknown bogey in the air."

Calvin turned back around and looked out the windows.

"They say it could be from a different military zone like in Boston. It's probably nothing. Shit like this happens in other–"

White light flashed across the sky and snapped the city like a camera.

Calvin turned around and saw a bright fireball miles away. The helicopters ripped apart and the buildings were collapsing. His mouth was agape and his eyes were frozen at the sight of the fireball. He then quickly flailed his arms before tossing himself to the ground.

"Down, now!" yelled Calvin.

The blast wave tore through the skyscrapers, shattering windows, breaking apart brick walls, flinging vehicles. Nearby soldiers and civilians in the open were burnt to a crisp while others were melted into pieces. The blast wave shattered bone and flung people into piles of falling debris.

The fireball darkened and smoke billowed into a giant mushroom. The blast wave continued its destructive path, turning everything in its path to rubble. Then, the apartment building was hit, and the structure began to collapse.

Then, as the mushroom cloud continued rising into the air, the city was sprinkled with fallout. The sun was no more, fresh air was no more, the city was no more. Everything was turning to dust. Anyone who survived would witness the hell that was summoned upon them.

 **Chapter 23: Dust Zone**

 **I - Desolation**

-Day 14-

The sun was high and the air was brisk. A red Honda Civic Coupe moved along the roads with surrounding golf courses and wooded patches as the popular _Take Me Home, Country Roads_ by John Denver played in the radio. The song was not being played by any radio stations– the driver simply had his CDs stacked in the red car on standby to beat boredom.

Tim Crowley softly hummed along as he shifted his eyes from the nostalgic landscape to the rear-view mirror. He looked at his two passengers, one who was still ill from an unknown malady, but the medical supplies that they carried made sure that he wouldn't wither away from the other passenger, who lied against her seat, staring out the window with a desolate expression in her face.

"Something wrong?" asked Tim.

"I'm fine," replied Maria.

"We're close to Ann Arbor. But that's not what you're thinking of, right?"

Tim was met with silence.

"I'm sorry you couldn't find your children. Look, but there's still hope, you know? I doubt I will find my own daughter home, but I'll keep looking for her. I know I'll find her."

"You make it sound like you know where to look for her," sighed Maria.

"I do. And most likely, she won't be home. You know, most people left their homes. It's not safe staying in the cities anymore."

"Think that's why my son's girlfriend's family left?"

"He would've left with them," smiled Tim.

"I don't think my children ever made it to Royal Woods. There is nothing to prove that they were with the Louds. I can't imagine how poor Lori is feeling right now."

Tim looked around at the surrounding homes and drove along the clear streets of Ann Arbor.

"Lori, you say?"

"Yeah, Lori Loud. Bobby's girlfriend."

"She was also in Detroit then," said Tim.

"How do you know that? In fact, how do you know anything?"

"I know about Lori because I shared a room with two other families, and one of them consisted of a young woman named Carol Pingrey."

"I think that was Bobby's old classmate when he went to school back in Royal Woods. I don't know if it's the right Carol, though."

"Seems like it is. Carol would talk about Lori and Bobby to her parents. Now, we didn't find their bodies in Detroit, and we didn't find them in Royal Woods. Ketcham Park was completely burned, and no sign of rogues. I could assume that a large battle broke out between a couple fighters and the rogues, causing these three young people and their families to evacuate the town. Plus, that's what the others said, right? They could be in Albany– that's where Bobby and Ronalda would want to be at, right?"

"Where'd you get all this information?"

"I'm taking educated guesses," said Tim.

"No, the rogue part. You knew the rogues were at Ketcham Park. You know too much, don't you?"

"I… did a lot of research. I knew people that were connected to the K.H.A.N. in some ways. I had friends that helped me with my research and investigations. We've been doing this for years now. Decades. The necrosis influenza of the rabid type. I saw it coming before anyone else."

"Can we please start with… the K.H.A.N.?"

"Sure thing, after we make a quick stop."

After about a dozen minutes, Tim parked the red car in front of his house. A roamer corpse with arrows on its head lied outside the house. He grabbed the arrows and pulled them off the roamer. He then unlocked the door to his house and entered as Maria followed behind, holding a curious Carlitos.

He looked around the house, finding no signs of Vonda, though he wasn't surprised. He walked down the basement and found some of his weapons gone.

"Good. Meredith and Vonda were really prepared for the trip."

Tim grabbed two slingshots and handed one to Maria. He placed two bags of steel balls in his backpack then grabbed two throwing knives, one for each side of his belt. He then grabbed two FN Five-SeveNs, one for Maria.

"Oh no, I don't know how to use those," said Maria.

"You'll need it. You've seen what those roamers could do. Don't worry, I'll teach you. The slingshot too."

Then, Tim grabbed two small ninjato swords, one that can be held at each hand, and placed them in two scabbards tied to his backpack.

He moved the weapons upstairs and began to gather the food and supplies together.

"We'll be staying here for the night," said Tim. "So, about the K.H.A.N. Now, now, where do I start?"

-Present Day-

A small white car drove down the road by the Hudson River. The sun was still high, and the numbers in a thermometer would have surely risen. The car parked next to a park, then the driver and the passengers stepped out.

"This is the right place?" asked Kotaro.

"Yeah. Brings back memories," said Sam. "Not the good kinds."

"See the docks over there?" pointed out Luna. "That's where it happened."

Kotaro looked at his peaceful surroundings. It was difficult for him to grasp how such a beautiful place could be tarnished by terrible memories.

"We stopped here for only one reason," said Luna. "And it's not to visit the docks or the Piranha headquarters."

Luna walked through the park, passing through a field of flora. Sam and Kotaro followed her to a shaded area under a large tree with a couple ravens' nests. There, a tombstone with nothing in it but a carved name stood in the grass.

"I wish I could've given Leni and Lynn a proper burial," said Luna, her voice very low.

"You know how upset your father was over this?" said Kotaro. "He was cursing the world. He wanted to know what he did to deserve this."

Luna lowered her head and closed her eyes.

"But you know how he got better? He reminded himself that he still has family. He still had nine living children."

Kotaro moved ahead and stared down at the grave.

"I know how painful these six losses are. It's half of your family. But the other half are still alive… waiting for you."

Luna rubbed her eyes as she knelt down.

"I always found her creepy– more like spooky– but I still loved her. I'd do anything just so my heart could skip a beat when Lucy does one of her jumpscares. Now, all the jumpscares I get are from these bloody roamers…"

Luna cleared her throat.

"How'd you do it, Sam...?" Luna said, as her voice began to quiver. "Losing Lola... then Lucy… it was already hard enough knowing that they're gone for good. But this… this is the third instance I've failed to protect my family…! Please... tell me, h-how did you get over from losing... y'know?"

Sam gently closed her eyelids shut, while Kotaro widened his as he began to scratch his head, confused

"Sam, you've lost a sibling?" he asked tentatively.

A tense, foreboding silence filled the air, before Sam could find it in herself to answer him.

"Yeah..." she sighed, as a single tear began to run down the side of her cheek. "My baby brother, Simon... After both our parents had given lives protecting us, Simon became my responsibility from then on. Simon, he… he didn't seem too bothered at first. I thought, 'it's because he's too young to understand'."

Sam opened her grieving eyes.

"Then late one night, I heard him crying in his sleep. When I woke him up, he was trembling, very, very badly. He said he missed Mom and Dad, that... that it was his fault they died. All I could do was hold him tight, and tell him over and over again that he wasn't to blame. That night, I made a vow; to do everything I possibly could to keep Simon safe; no matter what. Soon, we reached Detroit... the Safe Zone was roughly a few blocks away... there were roamers everywhere. I was half-dead from exhaustion and a twisted ankle; I wasn't gonna make it. I told Simon to leave me and go. But he said no... such fierce determination behind those baby blue eyes of his."

Sam wiped the tear from her cheek.

"He carried me to safety first; from there, I watched as my courageous little brother heroically take down as many roamers he could. Not once did he give up; even as he grew weary, he chose instead to lead as many roamers away from me into a nearby alleyway. All I could do was helplessly call out to him with what little strength I had left. The next thing I knew, I woke up in an infirmary. A group of soldiers– _rogues_ , I mean– had found me while on patrol, and killed all the roamers in the area before taking me back to the safezone. I was told there were no survivors where they found me... I was close to falling into an deep, endless depression, had it not been for you, Lunes."

Sam then faced Luna.

"Remember Lincoln after... what happened with Lucy? I can tell her death still haunts him. But in a way, I've also come to realize that he's gotten stronger over the years. So have I. I've accepted that Simon gave his life to save mine, and at the very least, I owe him that much to make sure that his sacrifice was not in vain. I can't change the past. But I can choose my future. You're my future, Luna, and I'll do anything to make sure it stays that way. I'll always be there for you, just as you were there for me."

"...when was the last time you thought of him?" asked Luna.

"It's been years since then, but I still cry whenever I think of Simon, how much I miss him. I guess... I guess I never really did move on, huh...?"

"But that's not on you, Sam! You were badly injured; You didn't have a choice! I did! I chose to pull the trigger, and Lynn paid the price! I killed Lynn, my own family! And I could do nothing but cry after seeing that bastard put a round through Leni's head...! I'm a bloody fucking disgrace, Sam...!"

Luna's tears dripped down her cheeks. Kotaro cleared his throat.

"Believe me when I say this. You're not a disgrace. That song you sang a few days ago... your father and I could have never matched the raw emotions that you delivered with your musical talent. You don't just make your father proud. You make me proud too."

Sam placed her fingers on Luna's cheeks and wiped her tears off. Luna grabbed her hands and lied her own head on her face before slowly rising up.

They turned around where they found a piece of paper stuck to a tree by the grave. Luna gasped as she approached the paper, noticing that it was an arrow that held it in place. A red arrow.

Luna removed the arrow from the tree and read the note.

 _So, time for a new home. Houlton was not it. But still gotta make life worth living, amirite? Thanks for watching my back, Duchess of Darkness. Miss you tons._

Luna gasped. Sam and Koto smiled as Luna began running back to the car.

"How is this possible?" exclaimed Luna, barely able to hold her tears. "She's– we gotta find her! Drive, Kotaro, drive!"

Kotaro nodded as he and Sam hopped inside the car. They drove away from the park, Luna holding the note and the arrow. It's been years since she saw her younger sister write, but it was her handwriting that she could recognize.

"Wherever she is…" said Sam, "hopefully she's alright."

The high sun shone through the broken right window in Vanzilla. The blood from the athletic's girl hand glittered in her palm.

"Oh my god, Lynn!" exclaimed Lori after turning back. "You didn't tell me you were shot?"

"That's 'cause I didn't get shot," said Lynn as she tossed the glass from the window out of the van. "I scratched my hands on the glass in the seats."

Lori sighed. She looked further back into the road and then turned facing forward again. She looked to her left and saw the old Piranha warehouse that they attacked years ago.

"I think we lost them," said Lori.

"Think we can hole up in the warehouse over there?" asked Luan.

"No, never," muttered Lori. "That's where the people that killed Lucy used to sleep. We're getting the hell out of this place, and we're never coming back."

Lori kept her ankle boot on the gas pedal and her hands on the steering wheel. They were going to spend the coming night somewhere but not anywhere in Hudson.

The sun began to descend, though still high in the air, lighting up the disaster that happened in Bus 3. The bus was empty in the bus, except the roaming corpse of Mrs. Coleman and the dead corpse of her victim. The roaming corpse roamed no longer when Carol fired a bullet into her head and the victim didn't turn into one after going through the same fate.

With the heat radiating throughout the air, no tools for digging, and a limited source of bottled water, the idea of burying the two bodies was quickly thrown out. And no one wanted to leave the bodies out in the open for fear that more mosquitoes would carry the disease, and also because it felt disrespectful for the people they knew– so Carol brought up another idea.

Lisa gave Carol a large can of gel fuel that she batched up herself in the event that Lisa wasn't around and a campfire was in dire need. She called it Vulcan's Gel.

"Just don't get too close to it," warned Lisa. "Here's a birthday candle. Just light it up and eject it into the corpses."

The bodies were dragged to the side of the road away from the trees and bushes. Carol held the unlit candle before lighting it with her former lover's lighter. Suddenly, Zoey sobbed as Dr. White carried her out of the bus. He tried her best to calm her down, but only her mother was able to settle her down.

Zoey whimpered as Carol held her in her arms. She handed Dr. White the lighter and held up the candle before humming softly. As Dr. White lit the candle, Carol began to sing the lullaby Hush Little Baby to her daughter.

" _Hush little baby, don't say a word,_

 _Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird._ "

Carol stared at the candle as she moved closer to the corpses. Zoey sniffled as her glossy eyes looked at the wavering flame.

" _And if that mockingbird won't sing,_

 _Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring._ "

Carol tossed the candle onto the corpses covered by the Vulcan's Gel. The fire slowly spread throughout the corpses.

" _And if that diamond ring turns to brass,_

 _Mama's gonna buy you a looking glass._ "

Carol stared at the flames as she continued singing softly. She then turned around as Zoey stopped crying.

" _And if that looking glass gets broke,_

 _Mama's gonna buy you a billy goat._ "

She walked away as the flame grew higher and brighter. The bus survivors watched as Carol walked back to the buses, her soothing song putting her baby to sleep. Dr. White then walked back to his bus as the fire continued to burn the corpses away. The buses then drove away from the flames, preventing the disease from spreading.

But it might've been useless to do so as more survivors were falling ill.

Jace groaned as he hovered his hand over his head. He touched and groaned as he flipped his hand and rubbed down his face.

"You too, huh?" said Preston.

"Yeah. Didn't think it woulda' happened to me. It's only the beginning of it, right?"

"Oh yeah. It's gonna get worse. But it's good to remain hopeful."

"Oh trust me," said Jace. "Knowing that I'm going to see Luna, Sam… Leni in Washington… that's enough hope to carry me on."

"So we agree, right?"

"What's that?" asked Jace.

"We agree that we let Leni choose one of us, right? We don't go dumb over her?"

"Oh right. Yeah, I agree. You know what, Preston? You're a good man. Glad we're in this together."

Preston smiled and looked outside. The buses moved across the highway, showing the homes that collapsed during the initial days of the outbreak. A huge roadblock ahead forced the buses to take an exit, but another roadblock led the buses to take a road off-track road. The guardrails were bent open in this particular spot, allowing the buses to rock back and forth slightly as it passed through the bumpy dirt road into a suburban road.

Carol walked over to her bag with a sleeping Zoey in her arms. She signaled Lisa to grab it. Lisa walked over to the bag and opened it, finding a few bottles of quinine.

"You think you can replicate it?" whispered Carol.

"I can attempt to replicate it," said Lisa. "Dr. White? Shall we test some of it on our batches of the NIRT cure in development?"

"We don't have enough NIRT cures to replicate enough quinine– that's if we could– and finding the base, red blood cell enzymes, muscle cell enzymes–"

"It's alright, guys," said Carol. "Just see if you two can do anything special with the quinine."

"Quinine is not the only anti-malarial drug out there," said Lisa.

"I know. Just thought it would be easier for you two. Easier to replicate, right?"

The buses then stopped where they were. Carol walked up to the driver.

"Dr. Feinstein? What's going on?" she asked.

"Damn thing ran outta gas," he groaned.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Lana. "Every baby's got a few more miles in 'em. You just gotta know what to do with the engines and whatnot. Mind if I work on it?"

"Go ahead," said Carol. "In the meantime, we have to look for more fuel. There's plenty of cars around here… but that's not a good thing."

"More cars… more roamers," said Clyde.

"Exactly. So I want you guys to stay inside while–"

Carol's walkie-talkie crackled.

"Carol?" spoke George. "You're not going to believe what we just saw. Did you guys move or are you all still in the same location?"

"We moved. We had a situation. I don't really know exactly where we are, but I did see a sign saying we were in Mount Vernon. We took a dirt road off a roadblock and now we're somewhere in White Plains Road."

"That's where we are as well," said George. "We took a dirt road as well, so we're about to see each other in a couple minutes."

"So… what was it that you two found?" asked Carol.

The buses and the RV stood below a train track. David was eating his canned peaches as he and George explained what they saw.

"This is what Boomer must've been talking about," said George. "He called it the Dust Zone. Now, we know why."

"I still can't believe it," said Carol. "A whole city… just destroyed like that?"

"Lynn told me about it once," said Clyde. "She said it wasn't like anything she've seen before. Like George said. Rubble and debris everywhere, way less buildings standing."

"Had to be a nuclear bomb of some sort," said David. "It's the only weapon I can think of that can cause that much damage."

"But who would nuke New York City? And why?" asked Carol with a growing pain in her voice.

"Seems like the military would've done it," said David. "Couldn't be General Black or any of the rogue military. Doesn't fit their style. Must've been up to the U.S. government to nuke the city… possibly to prevent the spread of the infection. Obviously, it failed."

"Millions of lives died for nothing?" muttered Carol. "We have to find out more."

"Only one way to do that," smiled David. "You know what to do, Carol. After all, you are in charge."

Carol nodded.

"David and George. I need you and a couple others to further inspect the area. Pick some capable survivors. Find what you can. Come back."

David and George nodded. They gathered their group of survivors and before they walked away, they gave Carol a verbal message.

"If you have to move," said David, "try staying along the train tracks. We're in The Bronx, by the way."

Carol nodded as she waved goodbye to David. Baby Zoey was still fast asleep.

The sun fell as David and George looked around the borough. Behind them were a group of capable men and women, each carrying a bag of some sort.

Bricks were unevenly stacked on top of each other in the sidewalks, below holes in buildings. Shattered glass hung around the edges of the windows. Toys were scrambled all over the place in a certain toy store. Empty cabinets remained toppled on top of each other in a certain pharmacy. Paper, plastic, metal cans, all sorts of waste tumbled across the street with a slow breeze.

The slow breeze blew against George's long, thick hair that went down to his neck. A stubble grew along his jaw. The last time he was in New York, he had a buzz cut that kept him cool in the sizzling heat. Now, the sizzling heat began to warm his hair. He only had a white shirt with rolled up sleeves to keep him cool, while his jeans protected him from the mosquitoes that plagued the buses.

David scratched his short beard as he moved his hair away from his forehead. He kept his shades on as he looked around the scene of death around him. He fixed the collar of his blue T-shirt as he reached for his pistol in the holster on his navy blue cargo pants. But his M9 was not there. He groaned and took out a knife.

Around the small group of survivors were knocked-down utility poles, and wires hanging from the buildings. A burnt skeleton lied against a wall of broken cement blocks.

"Jesus," muttered David. "Manhattan suffered worse, didn't it?"

"Look, over there," pointed George. "People took shelter there. It could give us more clues."

The group walked towards a small building with boarded windows, a sign hanging above it, stating that it was a deli market.

A golden eye was frozen in place in the shadows. Then, it twitched as light flooded through the entrance door. The possessor of the golden eye lurked away from the light and tried to stay hidden from the group entering the store by remaining in the shadow that lingered in the corners of the market.

"These boards are wobbly," said Clyde. "We gotta pull them down."

"No, wait–" gasped David.

Clyde pulled down one of the boards from the window, causing the nails to spring out for the boards that it was connected to. All the wooden boards toppled on top of each other, creating an echoing racket in the market.

The light marked the store with sunlight, and revealed a more disturbing scene left in the interior that was not easily noticeable with a flashlight. It also revealed a lurking roamer in the corner of the room. It was missing an eye, and it lacked any clothing below the torso. Just a small shirt for a small roamer.

"Sorry… it's just… I thought there weren't any roamers around," said Clyde, his voice shuddering. "Is th-that a child roamer?"

"Goddamn," said George. "It is. But it's got no pants on. And there's blood around its…"

George cleared his throat as the group began to place the pieces together. He took out his knife and approached the roamer as it stood in place. Then, the roamer raised its arm slowly, as if to attack, but by then, George already stuck his knife through its missing eye hole. He pulled it out and dropped the corpse.

"Some people make me absolutely sick," said George.

Breathing in after a heavy sigh, David raised his head and looked around the deli market. Clothing was littered across the floor with bloody stains. Empty shelves with plastic wrapping and trays were scattered around. Lumps of meat that appeared like carcasses were leftover near the freezers. And there were symbols that appeared in random places in the store. Two dark strokes that left a stain of wherever it was scribed.

"The hell is that?" huffed David. "What's with all the X's?"

"X marks the spot?" replied George, his voice remaining unchanged. "The people that were here… they were clearly not right in the head. Could be a case of invisible psychos being freed by the apocalypse."

"Or mass hysteria after a nuclear explosion," said David.

George walked around the market, inspecting the area before returning with the group.

"There isn't anything here. To find out more about the nuclear explosion, we gotta get closer to ground zero."

"Alright," said David. "Let's go. Daylight's running out."

 **II - Marauded**

-Day 23-

The highway was empty where Tim and Maria were walking. Carlitos looked around his surroundings, noticing a large body of water to his left. He raised his arms and reached for it as sweat slowly poured down his head.

"How long until we're there?" asked Maria. "This baby carrier is hurting my chest."

"We should be there anytime now," answered Tim as he wiped the lenses in his binoculars.

"How do you know we're not lost?" asked Maria.

"As long as Lake Erie's to our left, we won't be lost," said Tim as he looked into his binoculars. "I think we're here! But something's wrong…"

Tim removed his binoculars and ran ahead.

"Wait!" exclaimed Maria. "What do you mean something's wrong! Tim!"

Tim stopped in the middle of the highway as he looked at the toll booths that stood in the New York-Pennsylvania Borderline. Maria caught up to him, panting.

"No, no, no!" gasped Tim. "There were supposed to be people here. Oh… no. Oh, Christ!"

"What? What do you mean there were supposed to be people here? Tim, what are you pointing at? What are you–!"

Maria became breathless as she faced the ground ahead of the broken traffic gates in the ground. Two corpses lied in the ground, though they were still alive, to a certain extent. The mangled undead bodies struggled to stand up as their heads were raised up, staring at the three survivors.

Tim walked up to the mangled living corpses and removed his throwing knives from his pockets. He aimed it at the roamers in the ground and raised them in front of his face before swinging them forwards and releasing them. The knives struck the skulls of Roamer Madison, then Roamer Kevin.

He crouched and grabbed his knives before turning the roamers' heads over. He found what he needed to know.

"Can you please tell me what anything's about?" pleaded Maria. "I am getting REALLY freaked out."

"These two were Piranhas," said Tim. "The Piranhas are a group–"

"Piranhas? I know who the Piranhas are," said Maria. "I heard about them in the news. I also treated a couple of them in the hospital I worked at. I know what you just did. You looked for the piranha tattoos in the back of their necks, right?"

"You know a lot more than I thought," said Tim. "Just not the kinds of stuff that I wanted you to know about. But here's something that you don't know. Their leader… Sherry… is Vonda's mother. And from now on, she will be our ally until you find your family. Then we'll go our separate ways."

"So these two were supposed to help us out?"

"They were… something terrible clearly happened to them."

Tim turned around and glanced at the high sun.

"Look, Maria. I need you to stay by my side for the next few weeks. I know you want to go home and see Roberto and Ronalda, but you need to stay with me. The road ahead of us will be extremely dangerous, dangerous to the point where you and your nephew won't be spared by the tip of a bullet. These people are very dangerous and there is nothing they won't do to ensure their own survival at this point."

"But my children? They're out there and you're saying this area is dangerous? Why would you involve your daughter with these people? What kind of father are you? You know how worried sick she must be?"

"I know the Piranhas are dangerous, but it's not just them. Look, there has been a plan to ensure the safety of the others through means that could've arguably taken many routes. It was a planned project, and by the time we see it, we will see the aftermath of it and–"

"Tim, Tim! Slow down. Good? Good. What are you talking about?"

"The Dust Zone. Remember when I told you that the KHAN would create an area called the Dust Zone? They did that… in Day 5."

Tim cleared his throat.

"They nuked the entire city of New York and decimated tens of thousands of people in the blink of an eye… before taking out millions more soon after. There were some of the strongest radio jammers in the city and very little hidden passageways to the safe-zones of New York… yet I could've infiltrated it like I did in Detroit. The military had nothing to do with it. They weren't rogue. I could've saved their lives along with the other civilians that were in the safe-zones just by warning them what was going to happen. But you know why I didn't choose to? Because I wanted to make sure I got to see Vonda as soon as possible… you know, alive. It will forever tear my conscience down. I don't know what kind of person that makes me… but I know what kind of father that makes me."

"I'm… sorry," said Maria. "Lead the way. You seem to know where you're going."

Tim placed his knives back in his holsters before walking ahead. Maria followed him, rubbing Carlitos' head as she stared ahead, glad that she and her family didn't go to any of the safe-zones in New York. If they had, their deaths would've been a statistic for the KHAN.

-Day 780-

"Great. Just what we needed," grumbled Lynn. "Another roadblock."

The cars in the intersection were totaled as surrounding cars were abandoned, leaving four more streets at a dead end. The dead traffic lights hung from a metal pole while the power lines swayed in a gentle manner against the hot air. Vanzilla was stuck once more, and as previous streets have shown in the city of Yonkers, there was no going back anywhere else.

Lori sighed.

"We're low on gas," she said. "Going back to that empty street we saw a mile back won't be an option. We have to find a way forward."

"How about this parking lot over here?" said Lincoln.

The entrance to the parking lot was narrow– just in between two large brick buildings. But upon a turn a left turn further out, the parking lot expands to a large square with a large area of grass and a sidewalk separating it from another street. This large square with abandoned vehicles wasn't visible to the group, so it was a risk that they were taking. A risk that gambled their fuel.

Lori turned the van and moved forward into the narrow entrance of the parking lot. She wiped the sweat off her forehead as she turned her steering wheel to the left. Sure enough, the large square began to reveal itself along with an empty street on the other side and a way out, but as she turned the van more, something else was revealed.

"Of course," mumbled Ronnie Anne. "Roamers."

Lori looked back at the intersection, realizing that there was going to be no way to pass through it. She quickly faced the roamers again and placed her hands on the gearshift, moving it forward completely.

"Fuck it. We can take them on," said Lori. "Grab your weapons, everyone!"

She stepped outside with her hatchet and her revolver in her holster. She left her assault rifle behind in the van, and walked ahead with the others. The metal door banged against the hinges in the building, but the group ignored it and marched on, seeing as it was secured by a metal pipe.

Lincoln held his knife point upwards and leaned forward at a roamer, shoving his knife through his skull. Ronnie Anne aimed her crossbow at a roamer and pressed the trigger, releasing the bolt and striking it through its scalp. Lynn jumped away from the falling corpse and smacked a roamer away with her bow before Luan thrusted her katana downwards, finishing off the roamer.

Instead of marching ahead, Lori remained in the back, watching her group take care of the roamers without her aid. She glared at Lynn, Ronnie Anne, Lincoln, and Luan as the roamers from the parking lot approached them.

As the roamers began to clump up into a small swarm, Lori prepared to order the group to diverge, but Lincoln was ahead of her.

"Guys, spread out!" exclaimed Lincoln, before thrusting his knife up a roamer's jaw.

Lori stayed back as Ronnie Anne and Lynn moved apart. Luan moved away from Lincoln, luring some of the roamers towards her behind some cars.

"Make some noise, Luan!" he continued to exclaim. "Now… shoot them, Ronnie and Lynn!"

Ronnie Anne and Lynn shot their arrows and bolts at the roamers who strayed out in the open of the parking lot as the other roamers limped towards the sound of a katana handle denting a car. Lincoln killed off the roamers that had their sights locked on him, hissing in pain with every slice.

"Okay, now make some noise, guys!" exclaimed Lincoln, rubbing his arms. "Luan, fight them off now!"

Lynn and Ronnie Anne hollered and shouted, attracting some of the roamers away from Luan, who sprung up from where she stood, slicing her dead attackers with a confident spirit and a blade. Luan finished off the remaining roamers.

The parking lot was now empty, leaving just the noise of the banging door. Lori smiled softly as she headed back to the van before hearing a distant rumbling.

"Did you strain yourself?" Lynn asked Lincoln. "Ah, look, your arm is bleeding. C'mon, you should be chilling in the seat, getting some rest."

"Yeah, I guess," panted Lincoln. "Lori? Are we going now?"

Lori hushed him and walked closer to Vanzilla. The engine continued to rumble in the van, but the noise was getting louder. It was coming closer and closer, and it was not coming from the van.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Go, go, go!" yelled Lori.

The noise came closer and closer until it roared throughout the parking lot entrance. A car then another pulled up in front of the parking lot entrance as the windows rolled down. A barrel slowly rolled out of the window before it fired into the group.

Lori shrieked as she jumped behind the curve of the building. Dust blew off the shot-off brick. A few of the marauders exited their cars and jogged to the parking lot. Lori quickly ran off, using Vanzilla as cover.

Lincoln jogged to the back end of the parking lot where a mesh fence prevented the group from going any further. Luan crouched behind a coupe while Ronnie Anne and Lynn hid behind a pickup truck.

"It's this damn van again," said Darius, the leader of the marauders. "We got you bastards this time! Ain't no escapin' us!"

Lori peeked from the van and fired off a few shots at the marauders. She quickly went back for cover as the attackers responded with bursts of fire. As Darius and the marauders walked along the van, she held her breath and fired a shot at the metal pipe in the banging door. The metal pipe flew off and the door slammed opened, with a couple roamers flooding out of the building. She quickly ran into them, before lowering herself and passing the roamers, this time putting an obstacle between her and the marauders.

Darius fired his UZI at the roamers, managing to hit a few them in their heads. A couple more bullets flew past Lori before she jumped over the trunk of a mid-size car and taking cover behind it.

"Persistent bitch," he muttered.

"Want me to get 'er?" asked Shawn, a bruise in his right eye.

"No, check the van. Take whatever guns and ammo you can find."

The marauders jogged to the mid-size car before being met with a couple pistol bullets. The marauders quickly took cover behind a small car as Ronnie Anne ducked behind the truck.

"Just lettin' you know, we're taking that pistol and that crossbow back!" yelled Darius. "Hide all you want! We're gonna get the big guns out soon anyways!"

The engine rumbled as a vehicle moved into the parking lot entrance.

"Look, it's here already! We were just gonna take your shit, but you killed our people! So now we kill you all."

The Humvee moved up the parking lot before pushing Vanzilla ahead.

Lincoln panted as he held his bleeding arm. His MP5 was inside the van. Lynn felt sweat drip down her face as she pulled back an arrow. She then stood up and released it, shooting at the Humvee. However, the arrow was unable to penetrate through the bulletproof window.

Darius pulled out his M1911 and shot at Lynn, though she quickly ducked down before the bullets hit her.

"I can't move any further! What do I do now?" asked Lydia.

"Keep pushing the damn van!" yelled Darius.

"I can't! The Humvee's stuck!"

"Alright, just get outta there! It's fine, we can get 'em from 'ere."

A marauder climbed onto the gunner seat and aimed it at the coupe. Behind him, was another engine that roared, though none of the marauders in the parking lot realized it. But the marauders who stayed back in the streets did. They aimed their weapons at the RV, before realizing that one of the doors was opened.

The RV slowed down and Becky popped out from the door, quickly firing an IWI ACE at the marauders. Benny then jumped out the RV as well, firing his M4A1 at the marauders that Becky missed. Hana then leaped out with body armor, holding her katana. She walked past the five bodies in the ground.

"This way!" exclaimed Becky.

With the machine gun aimed at the coupe, the marauder fired the gun, aiming at the wheels as he progressed throughout the car. Luan yelled as she crawled to the car behind the coupe.

"There's one!" yelled Darius. "Get 'er!"

The marauder moved the machine gun and aimed at the new car. He prepared to pull the trigger before two shots followed by a crack exploded the marauder's brains into the machine gun. Becky aimed down at the rest of the marauders and fired at them before taking cover behind the Humvee. Darius fired his M1911 at the Humvee before Benny shot the M1911 out of his hands. He jumped behind the car as Benny aimed his gun at his chest. He dodged the incoming fire, though his fellow marauders were not so lucky.

"Run!" Darius yelled at Shawn and Lydia. "We're outnumbered! Run! That's the rule!"

Shawn nodded before dropping Lori's AK-47. Both he and Lydia made a run for it, as Darius fired his UZI at the vehicles, covering the couple. They outside of the parking lot, the path that Lori's group would have taken with Vanzilla, using the building as cover now. Suddenly, Hana made herself known and swung her katana like a baseball bat, slashing Shawn's chest. His body flung forward as he fell backwards. Hana quickly turned the katana downwards and thrusted the tip into Shawn's skull before aiming the katana at Lydia.

Lydia ran back to the parking lot, not realizing that Darius was not covering her. This led to a burst of fire through her chest from an M4A1 before Benny and Becky moved forward. Then, Darius stood up with his UZIs pointing towards the pickup truck.

"Stop! Before you shoot, I gotta let you know that there are two girls hidin' behind the truck. Want 'em to get shot to hell? My fingers are in the trigger."

Becky and Benny panted as they continued to aim their weapons at the only marauder standing.

"Drop your guns," stated Darius.

Both Becky and Benny looked at each other before tossing their rifles to the ground.

"Kick it over 'ere," he said.

Both survivors kicked their rifles towards Darius, though friction stopped it in the middle of both opposing sides. Darius slowly walked towards the rifles before lowering himself.

"You two are very good at following rules," snickered Darius.

He looked back at the parking lot, realizing that he could still shoot up the pickup truck. Then, he started to wonder where Lori was, unaware that Becky was unholstering her sidearm. The hammer cocked, causing Darius to quickly look back before being met with a sudden flash of gunfire that splattered his brains into the pavement. His body dropped with the UZIs.

Benny took a deep breath and picked up his rifle before running past a bleeding Lydia, checking to see any surrounding marauders.

"Looks like there aren't anymore of them," said Benny as he turned around.

Becky walked forward with the Glock in her hand.

"But our people's gotta be close by," he said. "He mentioned that there were two girls behind the–"

Becky aimed her pistol at Lydia and fired a shot to her head. Benny gasped, watching as Becky continued moving forward to the parking lot.

"Guys!" yelled Becky. "We killed them all! You can come out now!"

Benny stared at Lydia's corpse before facing the parking lot. He slowly dropped his rifle as a soft smile grew on his face.

Luan stood up with a white shirt covered by smoke stains and her sweater tied around her waist. She opened up her arms with a wide smile as Benny ran up to her and hugged her, lifting her up a little.

"I can't imagine how much you went through," whispered Benny.

"Too much," whispered back Luan with tears forming around her eyes. "But you're here now!"

Luan sniffled and continued smiling as she then kissed Benny. Lori, Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, and Lynn then revealed themselves. Lynn ran up to Benny and gave him a bro hug as Lincoln gave him a thumbs up.

Lori and Becky walked up to each other and have each other an embracing hug, sharing the pain of the most recent loss of their lives. They released each other, with Lori now standing next to Ronnie Anne.

"Wait, that Humvee looks familiar," she said as she glanced at Lynn, who nodded back.

Both girls ran towards the Humvee, opening the door. They opened the glove department, and found David's M9 inside. Both girls lowered their heads in despair as they realized the loss of their beloved friend, Haley. Ronnie Anne took the M9 and placed it in her backpack, not removing her P220 from her holster.

She then heard a bark and turned towards the source. Her mouth opened softly as her eyes blinked rapidly before she placed her hands over it. And a smile grew from everyone in the group.

"Bobby!" she cried out.

Bobby opened up his arms as Kimi walked next to him, wagging her tail. Ronnie Anne placed her arms around him, smiling with her eyes closed.

"I almost died without saying goodbye to you," said Ronnie Anne in a low voice.

"I'm sorry for everything that you went through," said Bobby. "I'm just so glad you're safe."

Kimi ran ahead and leaped up to Luan, licking her face before running back to Hana. Ronnie Anne released Bobby and looked back, seeing Lori walk slowly towards the both with a somber expression. Bobby then began tearing up, as he walked up to her, giving her a reassuring hug as Lori closed her eyes.

"I can't imagine how much you have suffered these past weeks…" said Bobby, reassuring a mournful Lori. "It's okay. I'm here now. Everything's gonna be okay."

"It doesn't feel okay," said Lori, a pain with every swallow in her throat. "Did you see her? Did you see what… he did to her?"

"She's resting peacefully now," said Bobby as Becky approached them. "We made sure she had a proper burial."

"She didn't deserve it you know," said Lori. "Let's just go. We have to hole up somewhere before it gets dark."

Lori, Bobby, and Ronnie Anne walked back to Vanzilla. Luan and Benny followed them as Lynn and Lincoln prepared to return to the van.

"Who's she talkin' about?" asked Lynn.

"We'll talk about it later," said Lincoln. "Come on. Stitch my arm up in the van."

"I'll be with Hana," said Becky. "We'll follow you, Lori. Anywhere you go."

Lori nodded as she closed her door. Vanzilla and the modern RV headed out the parking lot through the sidewalk and into the road. A couple roamers strayed into the parking lot, dropped down to a couple corpses, and ripped out pieces of flesh before shoving it in their mouths.

The spotted stars were stuck in the night sky as Lynn looked out with wet eyes. The candles flickered in a table in the kitchen, away from the windows. The doors were barricaded with sofas and couches, and the curtains covered all of the windows except the one that Lynn looked out of.

Lincoln walked to Lynn and stood next to her, placing his elbows on the window stool.

"I know you probably want to be alone for a little, but if you want to talk, just know that we're all here."

"Lincoln… you know I'm not much of a talker about feelings. It just hurts. Hurts a lot."

"We're all sharing the same pain. Never feel alone, Lynn."

"At least that son of bitch got what he deserved!" hissed Lynn. "Tell me, who nicked off his limbs?"

"You found him?" asked Lincoln. "Did you–?"

"Finish him? The dead version of him? No, Santiago did. So, who finished the… alive version of him?"

Lincoln tilted his head towards Luan, who rested her head on Benny's arm. Lynn let a tear fall from her eyes.

"I'm jealous. She beat me to it," Lynn sniffled. "I would've made sure he suffered before shoving my arrow into that other eyehole of his."

Lincoln, knowing that it was not the right time to bother his sister about acting civilized, simply remained quiet, glancing at Lynn before staring at the night sky with her. Then, his eyes shifted downwards. The buildings in the distance were wrecked and only the steel structure of the remaining buildings stood. Lincoln then realized he was looking at New York. Looking at what remained of the city.

-Day 60-

Tim shut the door to the car along with Maria, who was holding Carlitos on her back. The breeze blew strands of hair from both adults as they looked onto the warehouse that stood next to the docks. Then, they began walking towards it.

"The plan was for my daughter and I to never find out about this place," said Tim. "But Sherry saw it as a necessity to tell me about her business when the first roamers were created. That was the moment she knew… all my 'conspiracy theories' weren't too far from the truth."

Tim walked passed stained blood in the pavement while Maria couldn't help but feel nervous as she got closer to the warehouse.

"She never shied away from the fact that she was involved in this roamer business herself, and that's exactly why she felt obligated to tell me. For her own safety. To make sure she wouldn't risk her life or risk her crime business."

Tim opened the door to the warehouse. Maria looked around the dark-red mess that was plastered on the floors and walls of the warehouse.

"Her partnership with Quirino gave her connections with the KHAN. And with those connections, she was able to acquire a roamer herself, months before the Global Infection Event. Now, I'm not exactly sure what she needed a roamer for, but it was very important that she had one. It helped with my own studies."

Both adults walked down a corridor before entering a door to their left.

"I don't know how, but the KHAN must have figured out that Sherry and I were working together. So they stopped sending her more of the infected. But she kept studying the roamers themselves. And she did study the one thing that no one else did, not even I, for I was too focused on the scientific stuff about the roamers. She studied their behaviors in regards to the passage of time. After all, she did have time. Lots of it."

Tim lowered himself by Sherry's table, reaching the bottom drawer before asking Maria for a hairpin. She gave him her hairpin, and moments later, the drawer was unlocked. Tim then lifted a small journal in the air.

"What is that?" asked Maria.

"Her studies. I wasn't too sure myself as she was very discreet about it. But one of the things I learned from her? The longer a roamer goes without their vision, the more they rely on their hearing. And vise-versa. Adaptation. Signs of evolution."

Maria placed her fingers on her temple and began massaging it.

"This is a lot to take in," said Maria.

"It is," said Tim. "People are crazy. Nature is crazier. I got what I needed. We can head out now. Find a place to hole up in. Think your neighborhood's safe?"

"I think so," said Maria. "Maybe it is safer now."

The furnitures were moved to block all the entrances and exits in the bodega. Then, the candles that belonged to Rosa flickered in the living room. Tim lied down in the living room couch and made himself comfortable before falling asleep. Maria placed Carlitos in his crib.

She looked around. There were candles in the dinner table. There were clothes that Maria wasn't familiar with. Towels of blood were scattered around the kitchen. Empty bottles of antibiotics and painkillers in the once-empty trash can. And no note.

She opened the door to Bobby's room. The bed was made. The clothes were in a nice stacked pile. Everything seemed unmoved.

Then, she opened the door to Ronnie Anne's room. The bed was unkempt. The clothes were scattered all over the place. Everything was messy.

With welling drops of liquids in her eyes, Maria sat down on the bed with a pen. She looked out the window, staring into the dark neighborhood, before writing into the sheet of paper. And she kept writing, unaware of the eerie quietness of the city.

 **III - Scorched Earth**

-Day 781-

The breeze in the shade under a train track eased the discomfort of the bus survivors, especially as the temperature climbed higher. The soft, cool air, along with the medicine that David and his group distributed among the survivors, gave them a sense of relaxation as they took a break from the occasional dry coughs and burning fluids.

The thin fair hair on top of the baby's head moved around softly as Carol placed her hand on her daughter's head. Zoey sniveled as her mother removed her hand from her warm forehead, and softly sneezed twice. Carol sighed as she walked inside Bus 1, grabbing a bulb syringe from her backpack while holding Zoey.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Clyde, his wet tank top being nothing compared to his sweaty face.

"No. I think Zoey's under the weather. Like the others."

"Oh no… that's terrible! What can I do to help?"

Carol slowly stuck the bulb syringe into Zoey's nostrils, sucking some of her infectious mucus out.

"Nothing much, just go out in the city when the others need you," she said.

"I can't. I feel like I'm going to mess things up. It's better for me here."

"Then you can hold Zoey. You know how to hold a baby, right?"

Clyde nodded.

"It's the babysitting that's the hard part," he said before holding Zoey. "Wow, she's lighter than I expected."

Carol stretched her arms around.

"Not when you're carrying her for hours. Oh, I'm so exhausted."

"Being a leader's harder than it looks, right?"

Carol continued to stretch out her arms before glancing at Clyde, nodding softly.

"Being a mother is harder," said Carol. "And to find out that she's got malaria… I just want to settle down somewhere other than a train station or a bus."

"We'll be in in the capital before you realize it," said Clyde. "You never know. That could be our permanent home. Think Zoey would like it if she grew up around doctors and non-rogue soldiers?"

"I hope so. Any place other than the outside would be better for Zoey."

Zoey opened up her eyes and looked at Clyde. He smiled at her, but her expression remained unmoved. Clyde then began to tickle her nose, causing her to laugh. And her smile remained as her laughter trailed off.

"Aww, she's so cute," said Clyde. "Look at those eyes! Definitely your eyes, Carol. Her nose? Yup, that's yours, Carol. And look how soft her hair is! That's gotta be your hair!"

"Or it could be her father's," whispered Carol, causing Clyde to lower his smile. "C'mon, Clyde. We can't pretend he never existed. Zoey's gonna be asking questions years from now. I don't wanna hide anything from her. Not from anyone close to me."

Carol grabbed Zoey before poking her nose. Laughter came from the baby's mouth again.

"Come outside, Clyde. The wind feels nice. And it'll clear up Zoey's sinuses more."

Clyde nodded and walked out the bus with Carol and her daughter. The buses continued to sit next to a train station further inside the Bronx.

Meanwhile, the RV parked in front of the 145th Street Bridge, which was in swing mode over the river that appeared to be still– the debris and rubble flooded the river, and clogged parts of it that allowed it to travel to the ocean. Sometimes, the river would flood over the debris. Not in this case. A giant pile of rubble, next to the 145th Street Bridge, that used to belong to certain apartment buildings made another bridge between the Bronx and Manhattan. Water would flow through large holes that were submerged in the river.

David and George stepped out of the RV and walked towards this pile of rubble.

"Goddamn, this can't be the only intact bridge left over," said George. "How did it survive a nuclear blast anyways?"

"It's pointing towards and away from what appears to be ground zero. The new ground zero. Maybe the angle of it helped."

David and George stood before the pile of rubble. David then looked at the middle island that held the split part of the bridge.

"Doesn't matter," he said. "We have to connect it back to the roads. And I'm betting that generator in the middle there got some juice."

"Watch our steps, right?" said George.

David nodded. He stepped on a wide, rigid steel beam among the base of the rubble pile. The steel beam did not budge. He took another step, then another, speeding up his pace as he walked along the beam.

After watching David step onto another steel beam, George placed his foot on the base of the rubble pile. He walked along the steel beam and then kept up to David's pace. They hesitated as they stepped onto a pile of shattered bricks, but it remained still. The rubble really was clogged in the river. They continued to walk among the rubble bridge.

"Hey, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about in private," said George. "Just us two here– no better timing than now."

"What is it?" muttered David.

"Now, I don't mean to bring up the past so much, especially conflicted events, but I couldn't but wonder, but back in Houlton, you wanted to make a decision concerning the rogue prisoner. Why? Why that decision?"

"He was a rogue. Plain and simple."

"But it wasn't that simple. He has a family. It wasn't gonna be the right thing."

"It wasn't," agreed David. "It was the safe choice."

"I just don't want us to lose the very idea of justice. Even in this world."

David stopped as he looked up the mountain of rubble that they would have to climb to reach the island below the middle of the bridge. Sharp rebars, metal pipes, traffic signs, and other pieces of debris stuck out in the mountain of rubble.

"This gotta be at least three stories high," said David. "Ever did rock climbing?"

"Yeah," said George. "It was a part of my training to be an agent."

David nodded. He placed his hand on a steel beam that stuck out before placing his feet on a flattened barrel above the rubble floor. He lifted himself up and placed his feet on a piece of brick wall. George grabbed onto a piece of brick from the rubble and began climbing up the mountain of rubble.

"Ever think about Richard?" asked George.

David remained silent, not pausing for a second climbing up the mountain.

"It crossed your mind before, right?" added George. "The way he did things to survive?"

"If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting… then let me just stop you there. His own rage consumed him… his choices were to ensure his own survival, not ours."

David placed his hands on top of a car trunk before climbing on top of it.

"I make the choices I make so that others don't have to… especially Lori. She may not see it sometimes… but she tries to compromise too often. Sometimes in this world, you can't compromise."

David climbed to the peak before George placed his hand on the wheel of a car stuck in the rubble pile.

"But you can," said George as he placed his foot on the trunk of the car. "Not saying it would be easy, but– shit!"

The wreckage of the car tilted downwards, causing George to fall to his knees. The car then shook, and the bricks surrounding it began to fall down the mountain. The peak of the rubble mountain began to shift as David tried to keep his balance. The car continued to tilt downwards, as George quickly leaped to the hood of the car, cracking the windshield as his shoes smashed against it.

Then, the car was pushed out of the rubble pile and rolled down along with bricks and debris. David fell to his knees and hung onto the steel beam at the peak. After regaining his balance, he coughed out the dust from his lungs and looked around. He looked down at the base of the rubble pile and found the wreckage of the car, but no George.

Meanwhile, in Bus 4, the passengers' illnesses began to vary in terms of strength, as some felt like they were weaker. But it was all the same symptoms. Dr. White and Lisa ruled out the possibility of different strains, and continued to work on treating the very ill.

Water splashed down into a beaker. Dr. White poured some of it into a paper cup. Then, a spoon scooped up some of the water and was placed into a patient's mouth. Dr. White removed the spoon and scooped up more water from the cup.

"That's what my mom said," said Vonda. "But what's an H-bomb?"

"It's a hydrogen bomb, more powerful than an atomic bomb," said Lisa. "But how? I'll measure the radiation in the area with a Geiger counter later, but based on my observations alone, it appears that the spread of fallout is minimal, if none. There was definitely some weapon of mass destruction applied to this former city… but if it was a nuclear weapon, why was the spread so low? Unless… it was airburst…"

Carol and Clyde walked inside the bus with surgical masks on, and a baby in need of medical attention. Lisa turned towards Dr. White.

"What do you surmise?" she asked.

After a few seconds of silence, Dr. White moved his lips.

"Airburst."

"C'mon, I thought you would know more about this," said Vonda. "None of the rogues ever mentioned anything of it?"

"Hey, think you can spare some medication for Zoey?" asked Carol. "Her illness seems to be getting worse."

"Now that I think about it, you should know something," said Jace. "Ain't no way in hell you hung around with those rogues and they haven't blabbered a single thing about NYC."

"Are you people trying to find out more about the Dust Zone?" questioned Clyde.

"Yeah, but we're not…" said Preston as his voice trailed off.

"Dr. White?" said Carol. "Are you okay? I asked you for medication for Zoey."

"Dude, are you okay?" asked Vonda.

Dr. White reached into his shirt pocket and took out a bottle of antibiotics. He took out a scalpel and cut a pill in half before handing it to Carol, along with a cup of water. Carol grabbed it, touching the damp sweat mark on the cup.

"You know something, don't you?" stated Lisa. "Well… we're all ready to listen."

Dr. White took off his glasses and wiped the sweat from his face. He then rubbed the lens on his button plaid shirt. Finally, he placed his glasses back on.

"The KHAN destroyed the city of New York with an airburst explosion of a hydrogen bomb," he revealed. "Not the U.S. military. Not any foreign governments. The KHAN."

Everyone in the bus stared at the doctor. Even Zoey noticed the sudden drop in noise in the bus. The doctor's voice was shaking.

"General Black provided nuclear warheads to the KHAN so that they could complete Operation Dust Zone. They have many more warheads in their disposal, but this event… it is the single most catastrophic attack in their history. The reason? Different than the others. They needed a fast and efficient way to bring down the military power of the nation. Considering that tens of thousands of soldiers were deployed at New York, this plan… it worked. And everyone else who died… they should've evacuated the city when they had the chance."

Coughs and heavy breathing were the only noises heard in the buses. Some of the passengers were looking at each other, not saying a word. Carol then stepped closer to the doctor.

"When did you find out?" she asked.

"When did I– I found out on the… a month before the Global Infection Event."

The passengers began to murmur among each other. Carol's mouth was left open as she looked back at Lisa, whose expression changed the least. Almost as if she knew as well.

"New York City wasn't nuked that early," said Carol.

"I know. The KHAN destroyed the city on Day 5."

"And you didn't think to warn the goddamn world?" yelled Frank Weber. "You just let millions die?"

"It's not that simple," said Dr. White.

"Ever heard of the internet?" remarked Jace. "Coulda' made a website, coulda' contacted the government, hell, you coulda' just sent out a damn tweet."

"You don't understand…"

Frank stood up and bumped Dr. White with his chest.

"What don't we understand? You were working with this… this evil organization! You are so close to them that they had to tell you a month before it happened, aren't ya? Why the hell are you still here? You're a danger to all of us! You're not saving lives! You're destroying lives!"

"YOU HAVE NO GODDAMN IDEA ABOUT ALL THE WORK I DID TO SAVE LIVES! NO IDEA!" he bursted out loud. "I tried to save humanity for God's sake! I'm trying to save your goddamn lives with medicine that you can't even pronounce! I'm the only person in the world who can find a cure to save my family!"

Dr. White was panting heavily. Everyone was shocked, even Lisa.

"Did you know… that the KHAN does not possess… a cure?" he said. "That's right. They have used something that they themselves don't have a solution for. Ever since the beginning, long before the KHAN came into the picture, I worked for a team in Halifax that tried to find a treatment for an earlier strain of necrosis influenza. Other nations possessed the strain, so we needed to find a way to prevent mass casualties in case they decided to use it for biological warfare. I spent years trying to look for something… but I came up short. Then, the KHAN decided to break into the lab that we were working on and stole all the strains. Later, they invited me to their headquarters where they showed me a new laboratory… with all state-of-the-art technology. And my team was there… working on a cure. At first, I didn't want to join, but as soon as I saw what they were doing– weaponizing the necrosis flu– I knew I had to pursue the cure more than ever before. And with this membership to the KHAN, I was able to learn more about their future plans and their philosophy of the new world they were making… and I was also able to secure the safety of my family. But as long as the dead keep on living… they will NEVER be safe."

Dr. White grabbed a paper cup and filled it with water. He sipped it and placed it down, before looking at the passengers again.

"I knew it wasn't an empty threat," he added. "Krissen, the leader herself, told me what time the nuclear bomb was supposed to detonate. She entrusted me… because she knew I cared too much about my family than to warn others and be dismissed as a lunatic. But I want to make one thing clear. Krissen killed all those people. Not me. I wasn't being a coward. I was just doing what any of you would have done."

As the silence continued, the passengers looked towards Carol. But all she did was walk away, leaving everyone in Bus 4 to reflect on the doctor's words.

The dust cleared up. David continued to look around the base of the rubble pile.

"George!" he yelled. "George, are you alright!"

A dry cough came from below David to the left. He turned around and knelt down, looking below a steel beam cliff. He found George lying on top of a tire on the edge of the rubble mountain.

"I'm fine…" groaned George. "Still alive. Heh."

David placed his hand on a metal rod, while reaching out to George with the other hand. George grabbed his arms and placed his feet on the wheel before jumping up. He quickly grabbed the steel beam and groaned as he lifted himself with David's assistance. After getting on top of the beam, he crawled his way to the peak.

"Hey, you alright?" asked David.

"Yeah, just a few cuts and scrapes, man. We got antibiotics back at the RV, right? Just in case I get an infection or something?"

David nodded. He then pointed at the middle island, which stood a few dozen meters away.

"It's just a slope down there," he said. "Just watch your step."

Both men stepped over piles of bricks and broken glass. They climbed over metal and cement blocks. Then, they finally descended to the middle island that controlled the swing bridge.

"There's the generator," said David. "Once we got it on, we'll turn on the motor for the bridge using that lever."

"How'd you know that?" asked George.

"I had some experience overseas. After you do that, we only have to climb that ladder. We won't climb that mountain again."

"Alright, sounds cool. We still have some daylight to kill. Let's get on with it."

The clouds washed over the sun as Lori and her group explored the remains of the city. As the group walked through Harlem, three survivors, Lynn, Becky, and Benny, decided to tell the group more about their experience of seeing the destroyed city for the first time.

"Think the rogues might've done this?" asked Benny.

"Maybe," said Lori. "They've done the same thing with other cities, except they used napalm. New York is a lot bigger. It could also be the normal military. We're just gonna have to keep exploring."

The sun was setting down. The group walked next to Columbia University, which found itself in ruins.

"Carol wanted to go here, right?" asked Becky.

"She considered all the Ivy League schools," replied Lori. "She deserved it too, you know?"

"I feel bad for everyone here," said Benny. "All the hard work that they went through… just gone like that."

"Yeah, I thought it sucked that I went to school for nothing," said Lincoln, "but these students had it worse. They actually wanted achieve something great. This world sucks."

"Agreed," said Luan. "Imagine going to school for more than twelve years only to find out that your education is put to a stop because of a darn nuke. I'd have a meltdown… no pun intended."

"Look over there," said Lynn, climbing on top of a rubble pile. "It's a big rectangle of nothing."

"We can't see what you're looking at! " exclaimed Ronnie Anne.

"I know exactly what she's talking about," said Lincoln.

After a few minutes, the group arrived at the large rectangular area with debris scattered all over. However, all the piles of rubbles were no taller than anyone in the group. It truly was an empty spot, compared to everywhere else.

"This was Central Park?" asked Bobby.

Lincoln nodded.

"There isn't anything left of the park in here," said Becky. "It's all… gone."

"Not how I imagine first time in New York," said Hana. "I miss out on a lot."

"There's still some stuff lying around," said Lori. "Let's look around. Could give us more information about what happened here."

Lori stepped on a small pile of bricks in the ground. She looked down and kicked away the bricks before lowering herself.

"Hey, I found something already," said Lori. "What's this?"

A loud shot cracked and fired a ball of light that nearly struck Lori in the face. She stumbled backwards and looked as the fireball lit up under the cloudy sky. Bobby quickly picked up Lori as the rest of the group stared at the glowing and sparkling light.

"I hope that doesn't become a problem," muttered Lori. "There aren't any roamers around to see that, right?"

Bobby shook his head. Lori grabbed the object from the ground, which came equipped with extra ammunition strapped to it.

"Flare gun? This might be useful," whispered Lori before turning back to the group. "I'm alright. Everything's okay. Just keep looking around. Try not to hurt yourself."

The group walked around the burnt and wrecked park. There were fences, ropes, and nets lying around in the ground. There were also a few dark-green crates hidden under piles of bricks. All it took was a couple swipes for the bricks to fall out of the crates.

Lynn found a crate on top of the wreckage of a bench. She looked around it, looking at the American flag marked on it, along with the U.S. Army logo, something she hasn't seen in a while. She opened it, finding small boxes of ammunition. With her backpack open, she shoved all the boxes of ammunition for sidearms in it.

Hana found a bone fragment in the ground, along with a dented dog tag. She picked it up and frowned, looking back at Kimi who sat in a shaded spot outside of Central Park, waiting for her companion's return. Hana shook her head and dropped the dog tag. She returned with the rest of the group.

Lori looked at a sheet of canvas fabric from a tent tied to two steel beams, slowly moving along the breeze. She squinted and felt uneasy as she observed the dark-red cross sign. She moved away the sheet and found another military crate. She cut off the tape with her hatchet and opened the lid.

"Oh my god."

She walked away from the crate, leaving behind two bones that were placed on top of each other to make an X.

"So, you found ammo, some guns, more ropes, water– we're not drinking that– and… clothing," listed Becky.

Lori joined the rest of the group.

"The military definitely didn't cause this," she said. "They're crates are all over the place. U.S. Army, Marines, National Guard, they wouldn't nuke their own people, would they?"

"I guess not," said Benny. "So it was rogues."

"Well, whoever it was, they failed to kill everyone in here. There were still people who survived the nuclear explosion. And they don't seem like good people. This place makes me feel uncomfortable now. I thought we were literally the only ones in the city. But it looks like there might still be people lurking around… maybe even watching us."

Becky reached into her holster and took out her sidearm. She aimed it at the wreckage of a tall building, walking closer and closer to the front. Lori took out her revolver, walking along with Becky as she heard the faint noise behind the building growing louder. The rest of the group took out their weapons, staying close together.

"It's close," said the deep voice. "I saw it around here."

"I don't even know where the hell I'm going," said the other male voice. "Think it was around– oh, hello."

Becky and Lori each gasped slowly. They lowered their guns as Lori slowly walked ahead. She smiled and ran up to David, wrapping her arms around him and placing her head on his chest. George smiled as he walked up to Becky, who gave him a fist-bump. The group walked closer to both survivors, chattering positive greetings.

"You made it," chuckled David.

"You made it too," smiled Lori. "How's everyone else?"

"Not too well… but we're still alive. That's good news in a post-apocalypse, right? They're all waiting back in the Bronx."

"Lead me to them," said Lori.

George looked at Lynn and smiled.

"Haley works some damn miracles sometimes," he said. "Staying alive is your best trait, right?"

Lynn nodded and punched George lightly.

"You know it. Though… she's not around anymore."

"But we found this," said Ronnie Anne, taking out an M9 from her bag. "For you, David."

David grabbed the gun and nodded.

"It's still in good condition," he said. "We have a lot to catch up on."

The atmosphere remained tense in the bus though the situation with the illness remained calm. A slight knock on the iron bars that were locked outside of the open windows alerted Jace, who heard it next to him.

"Down here!"

Jace placed his face on the iron bars and looked down.

"Lana? Hey, what's up?"

"I have Lizzy and Izzy! Look!"

Lana held up the two lizards, as Jace flinched away from them.

"Take care of them for me," said Jace. "I-I can't take 'em back. Not in this condition."

"Sure thing. How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling just fine. You're not supposed to be near me. I don't wanna get you sick."

"It's okay, I have a strong immune system. I can't get sick easily!"

"Oh, then, uh, I don't want my lizards to get sick!"

"Okay. I'll see you later then. Bye, Jace!"

Jace smiled as Lana walked away. He wiped the sweat of his face and looked down at his hands, his shivering hands. He placed his hands on his forehead, though the warmth was not able to cool his chills.

Lana returned to the train station, in search of more bugs to feed the lizards with. She climbed up the stairs that led to the platform of the train tracks, and found Simon Weber sitting in a bench, looking up at some distances away.

"Hey, Weber! Wanna have fun with my lizards?"

"No."

Lana allowed the two lizards to crawl around her shoulders. She looked at the boy puzzled.

"You sure? They're pretty fun and–"

"I am sure. I don't want to have fun with your lizards."

Lana rubbed her arm.

"Okay… what are you doing up here?" she asked.

"I'm trying to look for birds. My favorite thing to do is look at birds. But there aren't any birds around here. I don't know where they went. But I did see a sparkling light ball in the sky over there."

Lana looked up to where Weber pointed at, however, she didn't find anything. She then looked down at the street through handrails at the edge of the platform. She saw the return of the RV.

"More specifically, I'm looking for crows," continued Weber. "When I find one, I'm going to treat it nicely. You know they remember your face forever? They don't forget who you are. They must pay attention to detail. Kinda like me."

Lana gasped and sprinted away from the platform and down the stairs. Weber looked at her, then at the RV, before finding a couple people coming out of it. He remembered them, but he felt no longing for them. His expression remained unchanged.

"Lincoln! You're back!" Lana exclaimed as she ran up to her brother.

Lincoln dropped to one knee and hugged Lana. Lori lifted Lily upwards as she giggled. Then, the girls switched turns, hugging another sibling. Finally, both Lincoln and Lori knelt down and hugged Lisa. Bobby and Ronnie Anne came out of the RV, smiling at the kids while noticing some passengers coming out from the train station or a bus. They approached the group in the RV as more people came out. Hana, Kimi, and Becky came out next, with the redhead girl waving at the other survivors. Then, Benny and Luan came out of the RV, prompting both Lana and Lily to run up to her and give the girl her fair share of hugs. Lisa awaited her turn before giving her sister a warm hug as well. Clyde walked up to Lincoln and wrapped his arms around Lincoln, patting his back. He then gave Ronnie Anne a bro handshake before they hugged each other as well. Carol walked up to the group and was met with a hug from Lori, Bobby, and Becky, who were all careful not to squeeze Zoey.

All eyes turned towards the RV as one last member walked out. Clyde's eyes watered as the bus survivors were left speechless. Lynn wiped the sweat off her face and squinted as a smile grew on her face. Lily and Lana ran up to her, leaping onto her, causing her to stumble a bit, but her strength allowed her to hold them. Lisa walked up to her and hugged her legs.

"My goodness," said Lisa. "Miracles really do happen, right? I really thought we lost another sibling."

"Lost another sibling?" mumbled a puzzled Lana. "You died, Lynn?"

"A lil' bit," she replied, a frown forming on her face. "You guys did lose a sibling. It's just ain't me."

Lisa gulped. Lana and Lily looked up at Lynn with worried looks on their faces.

"I… I can't–" she stuttered.

"You don't have to," said Lori. "I'll tell them."

Lynn nodded as she walked over to Clyde, getting ready to hold him. The crowd stood around Lori as she walked to the center of the road. Her eyes became glossy and her eyelashes became wet.

"General Black took away the life of my sister Leni."

The crowd murmured among each other. Mrs. Anderson, who used to sew clothes with Leni, felt her heart grow heavy. Lisa closed her eyes and already began her denial stage. Lana was shocked, her eyes bubbling up and her mouth left wide open. Lily looked around, her mouth quivering as she tried to figure out the sudden drop in happiness.

Ronnie Anne took a step forward.

"He also killed Rusty and his father."

Lincoln covered his face, causing Lily to run up to him with tears in her eyes. They both held each other close as Clyde laid his head on Lynn's shoulder, taking off his glasses to rub his teary eyes.

"But one thing is clear. General Black is dead. I don't know who killed him… but I finished his ugly corpse."

Luan then stepped forward.

"I killed him."

Murmurs exploded as Ronnie Anne turned around. Dr. White removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes as he took a couple deep breaths of relief. Benny raised his eyes and couldn't believe what he heard.

"For what he did to my mom and dad, and Leni, and Dana, and… me."

Benny walked up to Luan and held her, comforting her as she began to sniffle. The murmurs died down as they looked at Luan, feeling sorry that a girl her age suffered so much loss that she had to resort to murder.

"It's okay," said Dr. White. "You all have been through a lot. Come inside with us. You all need the rest, and we have a lot to tell you people. And you're not going to like it. I'm sorry for your loss. I truly am. But I do have to tell you about our situation so we don't lose more people."

Lori nodded. She walked over to the train station with Dr. White, followed by her group, as the rest of the bus survivors stayed around the buses. A crow passed by the group and landed on top of Bus 3.

 **IV - We Find Each Other**

-Day 70-

The red coupe arrived in Diamond Point and parked in a lot in front of a five-story building, formerly a hotel, and formerly the safepoint of those who arrived. Tim rushed out of his vehicle, while Maria slowly stepped out of it, holding Carlitos close as she watched in shock.

"No, no, no!" gasped Tim.

Maria surveyed the area. She found bodies in the pavement, and lined up against the cars in the parking lot, many riddled with bullet holes. Empty cartridges were scattered across the parking lot, and weapons were all found near the bodies.

Tim ran to the hotel frantically, holding his gun and knife. Maria followed him, escaping the sight of the massacre.

"Stop!" yelled a female voice from above. "Stop running, I said!"

Tim looked up and saw a female survivor standing by the window, wearing jeans, a dark blue T-shirt, and a blue bandana around her neck, and pointing an HK45 at the two adults. Tim slowly raised his hands while Maria covered Carlitos.

"I'm only looking for my daughter and her mother!" exclaimed Tim. "Are they alive?"

"Holy shit. You're Sherry's ex-husband. Stay there. If you try something, I'll shoot you."

After a few minutes, the woman limped out of the front door, her gun in her holster.

"You're Tim Crowley, right?" asked the woman.

Tim nodded.

"I'm Bruna," she said before turning to Maria. "Are you like his new wife or…?"

"No, I'm just a friend. My name is Maria."

"Is Vonda here?" asked Tim.

"I haven't seen her or Sherry here," replied Bruna. "When I came here, it was already like this. This bloody mess you see out here… hell, it's the same thing inside the hotel. I'm the only one here."

"So you have no idea where Sherry or my daughter is at?"

"Maybe at Hudson. But it's been too long. They must be in the Dust Zone."

Tim sighed in relief.

"Jesus, what happened here?" he muttered.

"I have no idea. But this ain't the worst thing. Look out there by the lake."

Tim walked over to field of grass that led to Lake George. By the edge of the field, a couple bodies were impaled with a stick that held them up, each body missing all their limbs. The heads were stabbed, and their torsos were exposed. Maria covered Carlitos's eyes as she flinched away. Tim walked around the impaled bodies and found a knife stuck in the back of all the torsos. And behind all the impaled bodies was a flag waving no higher than Tim. It was a white flag with a blue Nordic cross and a blue Saint Andrew's cross.

"As much as I despise what you Piranhas stand for," said Tim, "it seems we have a common enemy. Want to come with us on our escape?"

Bruna nodded.

"Anywhere but here."

"Anywhere but where Quirino and the KHAN are at," said Tim. "I'll explain later. But we're not safe here. We have to go now."

-Present Day-

The small white car arrived at a Harlem neighborhood as the sun was nearing the horizon. They parked next to an empty RV and an empty van. Kotaro, Luna, and Sam exited their car and looked inside the van, finding nothing but backpacks and clothes. Then, they looked inside the RV, only finding Reiji the roamer, staring at the survivors blankly while tied to a half-closed closet.

"No one's here," said Sam.

"But these are definitely from our people," said Luna. "This is Hana's. And there's nothin' in the world like Vanzilla. They're definitely somewhere close by."

"We should check some of the houses around here," said Kotaro. "Which one would you hole up in?"

Luna pointed at a small yellow house that was in the best condition. The windows were barricaded and a tall, gated, locked fence surrounded the house.

"Can you unlock the fence?" asked Sam.

"No," said Luna. "Leni could've."

Kotaro slipped his hands inside the gate and tried unlocking the fence from the inside. But it was not that type of fence.

"Damn, how do you get through this?" groaned Sam. "Think we can climb this?"

Kotaro placed his foot on a metal bar that stood low in the fence.

"That could be the only way in," he said.

"Wait, dudes!" gasped Luna. "You hear that? A car's coming!"

Kotaro quickly hopped off the fence and ran behind the RV. Luna followed him and lowered herself as Sam grabbed her AR-15 and placed herself behind the edge of the RV. The vehicle turned around from the intersection and began driving slowly to the RV and Vanzilla. Sam peeked slowly.

"Another RV?" she whispered.

The older RV parked next to the two vehicles, as Sam backed herself behind the white car. She heard a door open followed by footsteps in the pavement of the road.

"That didn't work so well last time, babe, remember?" said a familiar young male voice.

"Didn't work for the both of us," said an older male voice.

"Yeah, maybe," said a familiar young female voice. "Still, there's nothing much I could do about it. But don't forget. We have a whole lotta people. She could lead the ones that she's been with, while I lead the original group, you know?"

Sam turned over to Luna, who stood up with a curious look in her face. Sam knew the voice sounded familiar, but Luna was confident enough to reveal herself from the RV without a weapon pointed at the strangers.

But it's because they weren't strangers.

Sam stared at the group as Luna ran towards Lori and Luan, all giving each other their best sisterly hugs. She also stared at Kotaro giving David a firm handshake while checking up on each other. Bobby and Benny then walked up to Sam, greeting her and patting her, as she continued to stare at the group blankly.

"Something wrong?" asked a smiling Luna.

Sam smiled and shook her head. She sighed in relief and walked up to the group as David walked to the driveway of the yellow house.

"How do you get inside there?" asked Sam.

"Back door," replied Benny.

"Ohh," chuckled Luna. "We shoulda' checked the back, right, Sam?"

Sam nodded and followed the group inside the house to gather all their belongings.

The sun dropped below the horizon, and the stars began to appear in the sky, floating next to the bright, waxing gibbous moon. The four vehicles arrived at the train station near the Harlem River. Simon Weber remained in the platform of the train station, with a can of apple juice next to him, observing the group members come outside their vehicle. One more reunion for him to observe, though he did not care at all. He was just bored from not finding any more crows.

As Luna hugged her siblings, she was caught speechless when she saw Lynn, sitting in a bench outside the train station. Lynn's face glowed as she began jogging towards Luna, who covered her face with her hands.

"Lynn… you're alive!" she exclaimed.

"Yup, alive enough to give you a noogie!" cackled Lynn as she leaped upwards to Luna and wrapped her arms around her neck.

"No, wait! How? I thought… I killed you! I shot you!"

"That was you?" gasped Lynn. "Shit hurted like a bitch, but guess what. My vest caught it! And my shoulder feels a lot better too."

Luna was at a loss for words again. She then lunged towards Lynn and hugged her, both of them falling to the ground while giggling. Sam held her rifle strap while chuckling softly. She then caught Weber looking at her, before he withdrew his head away from the guard rails. Slightly creeped out, Sam began to wonder about the fate of one other person.

"I have been pondering slightly," Lisa said to Kotaro, Luna, and Sam. "What occurred to the rest of the passengers that you were traveling with?"

"I have no idea what the hell happened," said Kotaro. "Almost all the passengers were sick, and we ran out of fuel for the bus. I went to get more fuel while the girls went to hunt for food. When we came back, we saw… blood and guts. All the passengers have turned… every, single, one. And we killed them all. And we abandoned the bus. We don't know how the hell they all turned so fast, but I'm guessing it has something to do with a new disease spreading around?"

"That's right," said Dr. White. "A malaria with some strain affected by our familiar plague. So far, it took the life of four of our own. It's spreading like Ebola. So that bus over there… it's quarantined."

"Is Jace in there?" asked Luna.

"Yeah, but–"

"You have to let me see him!" she exclaimed.

"It's too risky."

"I don't care, I have to see him!"

Dr. White glanced around the large group.

"Fine, but wear some non-latex gloves and a surgical mask. And try to avoid contact."

Luna nodded.

Moments after, the bus door opened, with the rocker girl taking a step inside. She saw Jace and Preston at the end of the bus. She ignored all the coughing and groaning ill passengers, and ran straight towards the end.

"Jace, you're– you're alive!" she sighed.

"Is that you, Luna?" groaned Jace as he opened up his eyes.

Luna pulled down his surgical mask and smiled at her best friend. Jace rubbed his eyes and smiled back before pulling Luna's mask up to cover the lower part of her face.

"So, how are you feeling?" she whispered.

"You got eyes, moonrock. Pretty ones too. But if you haven't noticed, I'm fucked up."

"You… moved on quicker than I thought."

"Well, Leni's a beautiful soul," whispered Jace. "You seem surprised."

"Yeah, it's just… it seems that the others still haven't moved on from what happened to Leni. And you were close to her. Just thought that– nevermind, just tell me how you moved on from her."

"Woah, woah, slow down," said Jace. "What are you saying?"

"Leni… passing away. What do you think I'm talking about now?"

Jace's mouth dropped.

"I thought you were talking about how I used to have a crush on you! Oh my– you're playing around right? This has to be a joke!"

Luna shook her head before lowering it.

"I'm sorry. I thought you knew. Didn't want you to find out like this."

"She… died? But… how? She was supposed to be safe. I told her to go with Carol and Haley. If she wasn't with Carol, then she was with Haley."

"Haley ain't here either," said Luna. "I saw the entire battle through the scope of my rifle. I saw Black… and he… just shot… it's hard telling you. But the General killed her. And Luan killed the General."

"Is anyone watching right now?"

"Huh?" wondered Luna.

Jace turned towards Luna, his eyes full of tears. He sniffled and turned back away.

"It's my fault," he said. "I should've gone with her. I should've kept her safe. Instead… I sent her out there. I sent her out there to get killed. Me."

"There's one person to blame."

"Me."

"No, it's General Black. And he's six feet under now. You did everything in your power to make sure she was safe. You don't deserve the blame you're giving yourself."

"Nothing you say is going to change my mind. If I hadn't said what I said, she still would be alive. It's simple. It's my fault. Now, just leave me alone."

Jace turned over and groaned while sniffling. Luna lowered her eyes and stood up before looking back at him.

"I promise…" she whispered, "I won't let you die. I won't let anyone else die. I'll save your life. Even if you don't want me to."

Luna walked away, leaving behind a sniffling Jace, covering his face out of shame. Luna took one last look through the metal bars in the window before walking away.

 **V - Ground Zero**

-One Week Later-

"Say cheese!" said Carol.

"Cheese!" smiled Bobby.

Lori's lips smiled as she leaned her head on Bobby's shoulders, while she had her arms wrapped around Bobby's waist. A small flash captured the couple standing in the South Ferry, with a damaged Statue of Liberty in the back amidst the floating pieces of rubble in the bay. Carol grabbed the small Polaroid film and placed it in her pocket, before placing the camera in her backpack. Lori held Bobby's hand and turned around, admiring the view of a partly-intact Jersey City in a clear day. She then looked at Lady Liberty again and found that the torch was missing, and the left face was burned away, leaving darkened spots.

"This is not how I pictured our trip to New York to be like," said Bobby.

Lori let out a soft chuckle.

"What, a destroyed city and a ruined statue ain't good enough for you? It's relationship goals!" giggled Lori. "But seriously, it's still nice being here with you. I love every second we have together."

"Once we make it to Washington, I promise we're gonna have a wedding!"

Bobby gave Lori a soft kiss before releasing his hands from Lori's.

"Have fun in Jersey City," said Bobby. "I'll be there once we figure out how to get past this city."

Lori watched as Bobby and Carol walked away, before she moved away in a different direction– towards the rubble in the bay. The Holland Tunnel was a little too far for Lori, and she had to test out the rubble to see if it was crossable. She tied her hair into a ponytail and prepared to step on the rubble.

Ash flew away from his rubbing fingers as George stood up from the burnt flat crater. There wasn't a real crater in a way that meteorites created, but the airburst nuclear bomb melted everything below it, turning all steel, iron, wood, bone, almost all materials into liquid or dust, The liquid steel has hardened, but a sea of dust was layered over it. A vast amount of buildings in Lower Manhattan were vaporized either completely or partly, causing dust to twirl around like sand. There was one skyscraper that still stood strong despite the damages that it suffered.

"There it is," said David. "Freedom Tower. A small victory in a land of defeat. Warms my heart to see it still stand."

"Seems far," said George.

"Eh, we'll get there fast. Not a lot of things in our way."

Luna, Sam, and Kotaro arrived at Rockefeller Center, finding most of the buildings damaged. There were guns lying around, though all the ones that they encountered were either torn apart or had missing parts. There were also ripped uniforms and boots lying around the sidewalks.

"Let's go to Radio City," said Luna, holding a map of New York City. "I wanna see how it looks like."

"It's not gonna look like the pics we found online," said Sam.

"Unless you want to see a broken down music hall, I suggest we don't look there," said Kotaro. "It's a waste of time."

"I only have one chance to be in this city, and it would be sinful to skip on Radio City!" exclaimed Luna.

"Since when did we care about being sinful?" scoffed Sam. "I don't want my memories of that place tarnished!"

"You don't have to go with me. I'll go on my own."

"Fine. But only because I don't want you to be lonely. You're coming too, Kotaro?"

Kotaro rolled his eyes and nodded. He walked with the girls towards the large music hall, walking past the debris in the sidewalk. All the rubble and debris became unnoticeable to him, even the M4 carbines that were set up in an X-formation by a cathedral.

The bright lights and large advertisements that Luan remembered seeing on pictures online failed to appear in front of her eyes. The empty, dark electronic billboards– some with holes in them– created a haunting atmosphere to a once-busy area.

"Times Square look ugly," said Hana.

"It kinda looks cool," said Becky. "I mean, really! It seems kinda quiet. Kinda… liberating. No one's around. You could do anything here!"

"Yeah, I guess," said Benny. "But I don't know what to do here. This city is depressing the hell outta me."

"I know what would cheer you up," said Luan. "We can visit a couple buildings and find out what Broadway plays there are. Hey, maybe we can star in our own play!"

"We have no time for that," said Hana. "We must find medicine."

"Fine. I have a better idea then. Let's take some of the costumes and scripts from a play. And I just got the perfect play in mind."

" _Hamilton_?" said Becky.

" _Chicago_?" said Benny.

"I don't watch plays," said Hana.

"Nope, nope, and you should," said Luan. " _The Book of Mormon_! Haha, I know Jeffrey and Preston are familiar with it. Imagine Benny wearing missionary clothing? Oh, how handsome!"

"I could see it," said Hana.

Benny rubbed his shoulders and chuckled.

"Well, then let's go look for the play."

Luan, Benny, Becky, and Hana followed the road in Broadway, seeking out posters that could indicate signs that the play they're seeking was being played before the outbreak. Some of the posters– both paper and electronic– were marked with large red X's, something that the small group took notice of.

Meanwhile, Lincoln, Lynn, Clyde, and Ronnie Anne were passing all the rundown buildings and piles of debris and trash in the sidewalk. They walked past the taxis in the road and all potential sources of gas with one goal in mind– a way through the city. As empty as the city was, with some even considering moving to the city after a cure was found, no one really wanted to take their time going to D.C.

Lynn then stopped on her tracks and found a familiar building– only familiar because the girl has seen it online somewhere.

"Madison Square Garden!" exclaimed Lynn. "Oh man, the home of the Knicks! Let's go inside! Let's see if we can find the basketball court! Maybe shoot a few baskets?"

Lincoln shook his head. Lynn frowned.

"Whatever. Doors are locked anyways."

The kids walked away from the arena. The doors began to jiggle shortly afterwards, as two black pipes in the form of an X locked them.

A lonely cloud hovered in the naked sky, watching over Lori wiping her forehead in an RV park in Jersey City. She unhooked a jerry can from her backpack and took out a siphoning tube. She walked around, looking for the biggest RV she could find, all while trying to endure the rising temperature. Sweat dripped from her face faster when she found a makeshift cross mark made out of scrap metal, with sharp edges and dark-red tips. She quickly shook away the sight of the cross mark and continued back with her goal. A blue RV with no wheels then became her primary candidate, as she opened the fuel tank. She placed the tube inside and sucked into it, but nothing came out.

"Hmm. Maybe there could be some parts we could use to replace the older ones," she sighed. "I would have to ask Lana, though."

Lori walked away from the blue RV, moving on to a gray RV next to it.

Meanwhile, back in New York City, the closest group to her arrived at a tunnel that connects the two states of New York and New Jersey.

"Lincoln Tunnel!" exclaimed Lynn. "What a dorky name."

"Haha. Very funny, Lynn."

"What did the 16th President ever do to you?" protested Clyde.

"Remind me how broke I was," snickered Lynn.

"Ugh, let's just get this over with," groaned Ronnie Anne.

The group walked inside the tunnel, turning their flashlights on. They hopped over the roadblocks and looked around. Ronnie Anne pushed Lynn out of her way, before she pushed back, causing her to bump into Clyde.

"Come on, guys, stop playing around," said Lincoln. "There's a lot of stuff you can hurt yourself with."

"He's right," said Clyde. "Look around."

The young teens scanned their surroundings. Empty cars with open doors stood in each lane as far as the light could reach. Flies scattered around the place, buzzing in front of Lynn's face until she swatted them away. A rotten smell filled the entire area, as if the group were in the sewers. There were corpses plastered against the wall, while partly-decayed skeletons lied in between the cars. Weapons and uniforms also filled the area, and empty cartridges began to appear in the road as the teens embarked further into the tunnel.

"Hey, you hear that?" gasped Lincoln.

"Sounds like shit," said Lynn. "Plop. Plop. Plop."

"That's fucking gross," said Ronnie Anne. "Hmm. But it does sound like something is… splashing. No, wait, it sounds like a waterfall."

"Like water flowing out of a faucet," said Clyde.

Suddenly, Lincoln felt a splash on his shoes. He looked down at the wet road, before looking ahead into the tunnel. A stream of water was flowing out of a small crack in the tunnel. Further into the tunnel, one lane was submerged in water, with some cars being barely visible.

"Dang," said Lincoln. "Looks like it's not so safe to cross this tunnel after all."

"Well, we're already this far," said Lynn. "Ain't quitting now."

Ronnie Anne nodded. She motioned Lincoln to continue leading the group ahead. He nodded and continued his trek through the tunnel.

The lonely cloud hovered above the tip of the Freedom Tower, as Carol and Bobby stared up at the towering skyscraper.

"If I had to conquer my fear of heights, then today would be the day, right?" said Carol, her lips quivering.

"If it gets too scary, then you could just hold my hand," said Bobby. "As long as you hold tight, you won't fall."

Carol looked down.

"Thanks, but no thanks," she said. "You're a married man. Almost."

She turned towards David.

"You have a strong grip, right?"

"Yes, but we're just going to take the stairs," said David as he walked inside the building. "Besides, if you fall, then trust me, we ALL fall."

Carol scratched her head as they began to take the stairs. The view of the destroyed city was much clearer and breathtaking. With each step going higher, Carol began to get nervous.

"When are we going to stop?" she asked. "We've been at this for ten minutes!"

David pulled out a sheet of paper that he pulled out from a uniform lying in the ground earlier. He looked at it.

"Floor 70. There's plenty of floors where they store their medicine, but this one is where they stored antiparasitics."

"Ugh, I forgot I was the one who told you that," sighed Carol. "Fine, let's keep walking."

The clear sky did not reflect the situation in the buses, which were now parked in the south section of Central Park. Mosquitoes swarmed the buses, though Lisa was able to use one of Leni's hairsprays to shoo them away.

"Dr. Feinstein requires immediate medical attention!" exclaimed Dr. White.

"What, at this instance?" shrieked Lisa. "I just lost another patient. I must contain him!"

"I'll treat the dentist myself!" said Dr. White. "Where's the rest of the antibiotics?"

"Medical supplies are depleted."

"What about the anesthesia?"

"Medical supplies are depleted! All out of stock!" yelled Lisa, whose voice was panicked. "How the heck did the malaria spread to Bus 1?"

Dr. White tied a seatbelt around Lisa's patient. He raised his shoulders while grabbing a scalpel and a wet towel. As he rushed out of the bus, a roamer tied to its seatbelt raised its arm and reached for the doctor. He gasped and thrusted his scalpel into the roamer's golden eye. Dr. White yelled and tossed the scalpel into the ground.

"No more rubbing alcohol, either," said Lisa. "I lack a single clue of when the medical groups will be back."

Vonda coughed repeatedly as she dragged herself to her seat. She quickly sat down, before finding a dying Frank Weber next to her seat.

"Come on. Don't die. Please, just… why don't you get a hold of yourself?"

Frank screamed.

"It's burning! It's fucking burning! I'm going to die!"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut. Up!"

Vonda looked into Frank's eyes. They were bloodshot. His face was pale. Blood began to pour out of his nose and mouth.

"Look at me. I snuck us some antibiotics. I usually don't share, but you have a son to look after. We've been on the road together, and I know how much you love him. You have to–"

Vonda turned away and coughed violently into her arms. She looked at it and found tiny splatters of blood before turning back to a whimpering Frank.

"You have to be there for him. But I need you to calm down. Can you do that?"

Frank shook his head and screamed as he began to grab his throat. A large growl echoed out of his voice before he began to vomit blood and bile onto his lap.

"Lisa!" shouted Vonda. "Lisa, over here!"

However, Lisa ran away to treat another dying patient in a different bus. Vonda looked at Frank and covered his mouth with his shirt, as he screamed and coughed.

"Kill… me…" growled Frank.

Suddenly, he grabbed Vonda's hair and pulled it back, causing her to yelp. He reached for an arrow in her backpack, and grabbed it as Vonda shoved him away. Frank thrusted it against himself, the arrow stabbing through his stomach. Blood seeped out of his mouth as he began to cough more violently. She grabbed her arrow back and began to cry softly as a seizure unfolded before her. She quickly lunged the arrow upwards through Frank's jaw, before pulling it out. His body fell against the window, leaving Vonda frightened.

"Hey, we have to get outta here," said Preston. "People are going to start turning in minutes."

Vonda nodded. She grabbed Preston's hand and her backpack before limping out of the bus.

Meanwhile, David and his small group opened the door to Floor 70. They observed the empty office room, only finding crates and a hole in the ceiling. They quickly moved to the crates and moved them around, trying to find the lid to open them.

"Shit, these are empty," said George. "All of them are!"

"No antiparasitics anywhere in this room?" groaned Carol.

A couple bumps in the ceiling alerted everyone in the room. David looked up, following the source of the noise.

"The fuck was that?" he said.

He then looked at the hole in the ceiling. A roamer collapsed down the hole, before slowly picking itself up, using its arms for help as well. The group stared at the roamer's golden eyes as it growled at them. Then, two more roamers fell down the hole. The first roamer moved its arms back and forth as it began to accelerate towards the group.

David thrusted his knife into the roamer's skull, easily going in. George and Bobby moved ahead and stabbed the two other roamers before they stood up.

"Mother of god," muttered David. "The fuck did I just witness?"

"The roamer… it was running like a human," said George.

More roamers began to fall down the ceiling. David and the others backed up as a banging was heard in the stairwell. Then, more roamers flooded the stairwells, eventually arriving at the 70th floor. And they all began to run after the group in the same formation.

David took out his pistol and began firing at the roamers. The others did the same; George fired his Glock 19, Carol fired her snub-nosed revolver, Bobby fired his Glock 17. The roamers were put down slowly, as many of the bullets flew past their speeding heads. A roamer lunged at George as he held the roamer's arms away. The roamer forced him back to the open window of the building, as George struggled to not fall off. He yelled as he turned around and kicked the roamer out of the window, before another roamer lunged towards him. George quickly leaped out of the way, causing the roamer to run out of the buildings and fall down seventy stories to its demise.

"You see the broken elevator?" exclaimed David. "The empty thing with the cables exposed? Run for it and grab the damn cable!"

George quickly leaped for the cable and began to climb up. Bobby followed him and David was behind him. They all held on to the cable and climbed upwards to the next floor. Carol fired her last bullet to her revolver before having a swarm of roamers chase her.

"These runners won't stop!" she shrieked.

"Jump and hold on to the cable!" shouted David.

Carol leaped forward and held the cable, though she felt herself slide down. George and Bobby leaped to the next floor, making sure that it was clear of roamers. They saw the hole in the floor and kept a lookout for more runners. David then leaped out of the elevator shaft and into the 71st floor.

Carol climbed up and held the cable with her arms and legs.

"Please, I don't want to jump. Please!"

"Jump! I'll catch you!" said David. "Just don't look down!"

Carol opened her eyes and looked down, finding the elevator to be dozens of floors down. She yelped and closed her eyes as she began to slide down slowly. The runners ran to the elevator shaft, each one plummeting down, as they attempted to grab Carol.

"Carol, just jump!" exclaimed Bobby.

Carol leaped out of the pole and towards the open shaft exit to the floor. She bumped her knee against the shaft wall and stumbled downwards, shrieking as she began to fall. Then, David grabbed her arm and pulled her upwards inside the room. Carol quickly crawled closer to the center of the room before standing up. She panted, moving her frizzled hair out of her face as her heart pounded against her chest.

"Jesus, that was close," said David.

"I think my heart stopped for a second there," panted Carol, before letting out a soft giggle. "I'm alive!"

David smiled and looked around the room. There were blood-stained clothing in the ground, and a large generator near the elevator shaft. David walked up to it and noticed that the switch has not been turned on yet. He flicked it on, causing the generator to rumble before making a constant humming noise. The buttons by the elevator shaft lit up and the elevator cable began to move upwards.

"At least we don't have to go down the stairs," sighed Bobby.

The group cheered softly as David walked close to the window. He took off his shades as his jaw dropped.

"What is it–" said George before looking at the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. "Goddamn."

A colossal size of a herd, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of roamers were at the edge of the boroughs. They were crossing the bridges from Brooklyn or Queens to Manhattan. It was only a matter of time before the groups would be overwhelmed by the herd.

The casual streaming of water pouring into the floor of the tunnel was the only noise that echoed in the tunnel. Then, a loud honk boomed throughout the tunnel.

"Did you know that honking is illegal in New York City, except in an emergency? Well, it was…" said Clyde.

"Don't worry, I could talk to the cops when they get here," said Lynn as she honked the school bus horn again. "Any of you know how to drive?"

"Clyde, you're the tallest one out of all of us," said Ronnie Anne. "Plus, you're not stupid. You should drive."

"Oh, fuck you too, Santiago," mocked Lynn as she moved out of the driver's seat.

Clyde sat on the driver's seat. He reached for the gas pedal and pressed it, though he could barely see the windshield.

"You know, driving at the age of 13 is also illegal," said Clyde. "Do I just turn the steering wheel to the right?"

Suddenly, a loud cracking came from below the bus. The bus was unable to move, prompting the teens to check it out.

"This isn't good. Not good at all," said Clyde.

"Something's cracking it," said Lincoln, "but I don't think it's the road. It sounds like it's coming from over–"

An explosion of water bursted into the tunnel, shoving the bus against the other side of the tunnel. The water flooded into the tunnel, causing it to tremble slightly as the teens were washed further into the tunnel. The tunnel went dark as the flashlights turned off, though the car alarms started to fill up the tunnel. The headlights turned on and off, revealing the confused and lost teens every second.

Then, rubble began to fill up the place, closing off the hole in the tunnel, leaving only source of flooding water. It was a matter of time before the tunnel would be too flooded to navigate through safely.

The car alarm continued to blare throughout the tunnel, masking Clyde's screams.

"Lincoln!" shouted Ronnie Anne. "Lynn! Clyde! Where are you guys! Clyde, where are you!"

"Right here!" he yelled. "Oh god, my leg!"

Ronnie Anne quickly splashed around the flooding water up to her ankle and found Clyde in the ground with his metallic leg crushed under the rubble of bricks and stone that closed off a section of the tunnel.

"Alright, we have to get outta here immediately," said Ronnie Anne. "Where's Lincoln and Lynn?"

Lincoln quickly picked himself up, wiping the water from his face as droplets continued to fall from his hair. He looked ahead of him, only finding a pitch-black world. He grabbed his flashlight and turned it on, finding a group of roamers in the distance, their golden eyes reflecting back the light. They began to run towards him.

Bubbles blew out of Lynn's mouth as she struggled to navigate through the dark, polluted river. Blood slowly flowed out of her left calf as she swam what felt upwards to her. She then bumped into the outside surface of the tunnel, leading her to tap on it for an opening. Her heart continued to pound as her lungs began to grasp for the remaining oxygen in her mouth. As she felt herself beginning to pass out, she suddenly felt an opening in the tunnel. She went inside, allowing the flow of the river push her into another section of the tunnel, as she gasped for air, coughing out whatever water entered her nostril.

"Lynn! Help!" yelled Lincoln.

Lynn quickly lifted herself up into the flooding road as she pulled out her M1 Garand. The roamers were running really fast.

Luna, Sam, and Kotaro zipped open their bags and began placing boxes of proguanil, chloroquine, primaquine, and even quinine inside their bags. The wreckage of a helicopter sat in the middle of the music hall, with crates containing medicine that has been flung everywhere.

"And you guys said Radio City was a waste of time," smirked Luna.

"Fine, we admit it," smiled Sam. "Radio City wasn't a waste of time."

"Alright, let's go back," said Kotaro. "Keep your bags light. We'll come back for more later."

Luna and Sam nodded in agreement. They closed their bags and walked out of the music hall.

The roamers in Bus 4 began to rise from their seats and bite all the remaining survivors inside. Mrs. Anderson quickly left in a hurry, running towards Bus 3, attempting to seek shelter there. She tipped her glasses up to her eyes and wrapped her brunette hair into a bun. She turned back and saw the roamers leaving Bus 4, stumbling towards her.

"Oh god! Doctor! Everything just went crazy!"

A bunch of survivors limped out of Bus 3, all screaming and crying.

"What? What's going on?" she exclaimed.

A roamer walked down from the bus entrance and grabbed her sundress and her hair, pulling her back. She screamed as a zombified Dr. Feinstein sunk its teeth into the back of her head, as she struggled to remove it from her. Blood squirted onto her sundress, as another roamer grabbed her, dragging her back into the bus. She flailed her legs, crying for help as her body was consumed by even more roamers. Seconds after, her cries died out and her legs stopped twitching.

The fleeing survivors were caught by the Bus 4 roamers, some dragged down to the ground as they were being consumed while others were being eaten as they stood upright, only collapsing after they passed out from the pain. Jace and Reggie quickly dodged the roamers and made their way to Bus 1, being the only survivors from Bus 3 to make it alive.

"Close the door, close the door!" yelled Reggie.

Jeffrey leaped to the driver's seat and closed the bus doors, before the roamers surrounded the bus.

"Jesus Christ," muttered Jace as he stared at the dead survivors in the ground.

"Hey, come on now," said Preston. "Jesus ain't have nothing to do with this."

Jace lied on the ground and took a deep sigh as he panted heavily.

"Where's Lisa?" he asked.

Dr. White looked at Jeffrey nervously.

"She ran off with Zoey. You know, as a precaution."

"Precaution for what?"

"Just in case the roamers kill us all," sighed Vonda. "She's got the last remaining medicine. Ain't that right, doc?"

Dr. White looked at Jeffrey, Preston, Vonda, Jace, Reggie, Lana, Lily, Simon Weber, and two other sick passengers.

"That's right. She's got the NIRT cure prototype as well," he revealed. "It was the closest we came to coming with a solution to the infection of the dead. But if it's used to save an infant, then so be it."

"You wouldn't have done it, right?" asked Vonda.

"Me? I'm not the good guy, Vonda. I'm just a man trying to save humanity. And there needs to be sacrifices to be made in order to make that happen. Lucky for Carol, it's not me out there."

The bus became silent as the roamers banged against it. The test tube rack that contained the NIRT cure prototype was empty. And so was the bag of quinine.

-Day 74-

The red coupe drove along the polluted Hudson River. Tim gulped as he looked around the city, finding it worse than he imagined. But for Maria, it was petrifying. The sight of all the buildings with destroyed roofs or rubble in the ground, an empty city with corpses lying around everywhere, this was something that she never thought she would see. This was the true sight of a post-apocalyptic world.

"Mankind has really screwed themselves, haven't they?" said Bruna, lighting up a cigar.

Tim parked the car and looked outside. Upon finding a specific sight, he dropped to his knee and began to tear up. Bruna dropped her cigar and trembled as she looked down at the corpse. Maria and Carlitos couldn't take their eyes off of the destruction that laid before them.

"This is definitely the last thing she wore," said Bruna. "That's her. I can't believe it. That's her!"

Tim closed his eyes and let out a few tears as he reached into his pockets. He took out a tape recorder.

"Vonda, my baby girl, I don't know where you are, but I believe you're still alive. I know that you're going to feel lonely at times, but just know… I'll be home, waiting for you. This world is dangerous, but I know you can adapt to it. And the roamers… they adapt to the world as well, so it'll get harder the longer you live, but you've never been the type to back down from a challenge, right? I'll be home. I'll be waiting for you. I'm very sorry I couldn't find you."

Tim stopped the recording and tossed his device into the pile of debris in the river. He walked back into his car with Bruna, all while Maria and Carlitos looked around the dead city with a somber expression. She then walked back to the car.

"Wanna go back to Royal Woods?" she suggested.

"Out of all places we could stay… why Royal Woods?" asked Tim.

"There are people there," she replied. "People we can trust. People I knew. Some of the people wanted to be part of a community there. They're thinking about putting up barriers, cleaning up the streets, arming some guards… they want us there. And you never know. Maybe one day, your daughter and my children will return to Royal Woods. I wrote a note. You should write one in your house too. Let your daughter know that you'll be in a community."

Tim nodded. He sighed and lied his head on his fingers, before receiving a warm hug of reassurance from Maria. He looked at a lonely cloud that hovered above the city.

 **VI - City of Millions**

-Present Day-

The lonely cloud hovered miles away from the horror that unfolded before the survivors in New York.

"How far did we park?" exclaimed Luan as she ran past the abandoned yellow taxis.

"Must be two blocks away! Or maybe eight?" panted Becky, holding her machete.

"You don't know?" Benny yelled nervously.

"I don't know, I've never been to New York before!"

"And the map?" said Luan, huffing and puffing as she ran away from the roamers behind her.

"Dropped it!" said Hana sharply, Kimi running beside her. " _Gomen_."

Becky turned around and swung her machete sideways, chopping off one of the roamers' head. Benny leaped over a flipped car, causing the roamer to run into it, before he thrusted his katana into its skull.

"How are these roamers so fast?" yelled Benny.

"There's more coming!" exclaimed Luan. "We have to get in our vehicles soon or else they're going to overwhelm us!"

"Take a left!" exclaimed Becky. "I remember now. I parked it by a Dunkin' Donuts. Go left!"

Luan, Benny, Hana, and Becky ran towards their vehicles. The running roamers were chasing them in packs, bumping into cars, shoving and clawing each other away. The group turned left at an intersection and found Vanzilla and Hana's RV in the distance. The group ran even faster as the running roamers reached the intersection.

"Wait, what about Luna?" gasped Luan. "We have to go back for her!"

"We can't," said Becky. "They're in the other direction. The roamers are in the way. They're gonna have to find their own way out. I'm sorry, Luan!"

Luan let out a frustrated yell as she entered Vanzilla with Becky and Benny. Hana ran into her own RV, closing the door as soon as Kimi leaped inside. The roamers were nearing the vehicles, but the engines grumbled and began to move away from them.

Lori removed the binoculars from her eyes and ran towards Liberty State Park. With her hands on the flare gun, and a plan to distract the roamers, she ran with all her might and speed to the park. Watching over the flowing river, she lifted the flare gun and fired a burning light into the sky, a ball glimmering bright enough for the herd– now in Manhattan– to run after. She coughed as smoke and other particles blew out of the gun. After the flare died out, she fired another flare, keeping the herd distracted as the group struggled to escape the city. But the truth was that they still haven't found a way out. The situation was very dire, and their challenge seemed impossible to conquer.

Lisa ran inside the rundown Hearst Tower, the skeleton of its steel beams pointing upwards. The concrete walls were shattered and piles of bricks lied in most of the entrances. The lack of a roof, however, gave way to light in the center of the demolished ground floor. The corners were dark and the floor was scattered with concrete dust.

Lisa looked down at the sobbing baby in her hands, crying out of the agonizing pain she felt throughout her body. Lisa covered the infant's mouth as she coughed. She looked at her own hands and saw spots of blood on her palm. She reached into her fanny pack and grabbed a syringe, the bottle of quinine, and the vial of the unfinished NIRT cure prototype. There wasn't enough quinine in the bottle alone to save the baby, but if the genius girl was able to replicate the quinine in the NIRT solution and then extract it, then there was a chance that it would save Zoey's life.

"Okay, Dr. Loud. You can do this. Just… pour the the quinine into the vial and extract it. You installed a 400x magnifying glass in your eyewear for a reason. Like Nike says. Just do it."

The baby began to gurgle and cough even more violently as her bloodshot eyes began to glow softly against the light of the roof. Her pale face revealed the veins in her face. Upon placing her fingers on Zoey's neck, Lisa noticed that her pulse was slowing down dramatically. The baby began to whimper and cry out desperately, though the noise came out weak as if her throat was inflamed.

Lisa looked at her vial again, before closing it in her palm. She then dug deeper into her pack, taking out a tube of poneratoxin. But something else caught her attention. Something less painful. She took out a tube of potassium chloride and opened her palm, revealing the vial of the NIRT cure.

The dying baby received one last look from Lisa.

"Oh no. Please, god no," quivered Lisa as she placed the poneratoxin and the NIRT vial back into her pack. "I'm sorry, Zoey. I'm sorry, Carol. It's too late. I can't save you."

Lisa placed the potassium chloride into the syringe, weeping her eyes out. She then grabbed a scalpel from her bag and held it close to her. Her hands trembled as she finally accepted her failure.

The roamers grabbed onto the bars of the window and growled at the passengers. Jace yelled as he moved away from the seats, while Preston took out his pocket knife and thrusted it through the bars, stabbing a zombified-Feinstein. Lana grabbed her heavy wrench and began bludgeoning the roamers' hands into the bars, crushing them against the steel. Dr. White held onto one of the bus seats as the roamers' hands grasped through the bars. Lily lowered herself in between the seats.

"Where are all these roamers coming from?" shouted Jace.

One of the roamers reached his hands inside the bus and clawed a piece of skin off from a passenger's shoulder. He quickly shoved the hand away and leaped to the floor in the center of the bus.

"Son of a bitch!" he yelled. "Alright, a scratch ain't a big of a deal, right?"

Jace lowered himself, checking on the man's scratch mark on his shoulder. He raised his shoulders as he panted heavily.

"You gotta drive the bus now!" said Reggie. "Like now!"

Jeffrey nodded. He pressed the gas pedal and began driving the bus away from Central Park. He looked at one of the rearview mirrors and noticed a large herd coming from the left side.

"Oh, Lord, lend us your mercy," he whispered.

The bus sped up, running over a couple roamers, crushing their skulls, limbs, bones. The bus began moving southwards to Rockefeller Center where David's RV was parked at.

Suddenly, a roamer lunged towards the floor, causing Jace to leap out of the way. The roamer– a passenger who was dead for minutes– began chewing on the face of the screaming scratched man. Jace was paralyzed in fear as the man reached his arms out for help. Vonda shoved Jace away and kicked the roamer away from the man. She then grabbed her arrow from her seat and shoved it down at the roamer's skull.

The man choked on his own blood as parts of his face was ripped off. His eyes stared upwards as the bus began to sway uncontrollably.

"The roamers are putting too much weight in the back!" yelled Dr. White.

"What do we do then?" exclaimed Reggie.

"We got guns–" said Lana.

Vonda opened the emergency back door and kicked the roamer corpse into the herd, causing a couple roamers to fall down. She then dragged the man's corpse to the back of the bus and slid him out the bus, causing a large number of roamers to let go of the bus and feed on to the man.

"Jesus," muttered Jace.

The bus moved much faster as Vonda struggled to move to a seat. As she grabbed onto a seat, her hands slipped, causing her to fall to the floor and hit her head. She slid towards the open emergency door, though Preston grabbed her arms. He groaned as he lifted her unconscious body up, placing her into her seat. He buckled the seat and looked out the back door, watching the roads pass by at a fast speed.

"You hear that?" whimpered Clyde.

"Yeah, we gotta get you outta here real quick," said Ronnie Anne.

Gunshots were fired from inside the rubble. The car alarm continued to blare, eventually lighting up a few figures running in the distance from behind the group. Sweat broke out of the girl's face as she tried pulling out Clyde's from the rubble. The runners got closer and closer, until the flooding water slowed them down. Some fell into the ground, in which they began crawling, splashing their claws against the water.

Ronnie Anne took out her pistol and fired it at the closest roamer causing the gunshot to boom across the tunnel.

"Cover your ears, Clyde!" she yelled.

She aimed the gun at his metallic leg and fired a burst of bullets. Clyde kept his ears closed until she pulled on his arm.

"This might hurt a lot," said Ronnie Anne.

She stepped on the metallic leg and pulled Clyde up as he screamed. Blood dripped from the scratches in his stump, but Clyde quickly recovered and began limping away from the roamers, with Ronnie Anne assisting him.

Lynn fired round after around from her rifle, hitting a couple runners. As one lunged towards her, she quickly whacked it to the ground and crushed it with the butt of her rifle. She continued to thrust the rifle at the runners, quickly taking out their rotten skulls. Lincoln continued stabbing the runners until the two siblings were clear to move ahead.

Lincoln kept his flashlight on as he ran ahead with Lynn, who dropped her rifle. The two eventually met with Ronnie Anne and Clyde. Lynn looked behind at the blaring car alarms, and found the runners crawling at a rapid speed. She grabbed Clyde and placed him on her back before running ahead.

Ronnie Anne turned around and pulled the trigger to her pistol, lighting up the tunnel for a quick second. More runners dropped dead, and the teens continued to run out of the tunnel, speeding up when they saw sunlight peeking through the end.

Luna, Sam, and Kotaro carried their bags out of Radio City, the two girls holding each other's hand.

"That was definitely a rockin' discovery," said Luna. "We have to hurry back before Jace gets more ill, though."

"Hey!" yelled David in the distance. "Run for the RV! Go!"

Sweat poured out of George's long hair,dripping straight down from his ears. Bobby's shirt was drenched in sweat and his face seemed oily. Carol's face was red from the heat and exhaustion of running a few miles. They were all running, though Carol lagged behind.

Sam raised her AR-15 and shot a couple runners behind Carol. She was panting and gasping for air as she jogged closer and closer to Radio City. Behind her were groups of roamers, and before they knew it, Luna's group were staring at a herd, all lined up in the horizon.

"Yup, we're going," said Luna.

Luna, Sam, and Kotaro led the others a block ahead to the RV, before they found it overrun by roamers.

"Oh god, we can't get into the RV!" yelled Sam.

David, George, Bobby, and Carol ran past Radio City and saw the swarm of runners engulfing the RV.

"We have to run further ahead into Central Park," said Kotaro. "Take the other buses."

"No!" cried out Carol, desperate to catch her breath.

Two honks from the bus horn blared as Jeffrey ran over the roamers surrounding the right side of the RV. The bus slowed down to a stop, before a burst of gunfire popped out of the back of the bus. The runners were dodging bullets, though the closer they got to the bus, the more they were struck.

"Keep firin'!" exclaimed Lana as she reloaded her AKS-74u.

"That's all of them!" said Reggie, releasing the magazine from his M16.

The group ran for the RV, now cleared of roamers. Before David entered his vehicle, he took one last look of the driver. Jeffrey took out an MP5K with his left hand and began firing it wildly at the runners approaching the group. David gave him a thumbs up to which Jeffrey responded with a nod. He entered the RV and closed the door, pressing the gas pedal.

Jeffrey drove ahead and began to run over more roamers as he navigated through the cracks and obstacles in the road. David followed the bus, escaping from the pursuit of the herd.

The lonely sky was gone.

Vanzilla and Hana's RV cruised along the road, with the runners on pursuit. Fortunately, the vehicles moved much faster, especially since Hana was tempted to drive sixty miles per hour. Realizing that Central Park and Radio City was a lost cause, they switched directions to drive west into the Hudson River, away from the herd. Once they got there, they had no clue what they would have to do.

Suddenly, they found a wandering survivor outside of the Hearst Tower.

"Stop! That's Lisa!" exclaimed Luan.

Becky honked the van and braked it. Hana stopped the RV too, before rolling down her window.

"Hurry!" she hissed.

Luan opened the passenger door and came out of the van. She ran over to Lisa, whose expression seemed exhausted as she rubbed her eyes with her glasses in her hands. The loud humming thunder of the herd could be heard down the street.

"Lisa, we have to go!" exclaimed Luan as she grabbed her hand.

Lisa nodded and ran to Vanzilla with Luan. She looked back and found a herd of runners crossing block by block every dozen seconds. Her heart began to pound against her chest again.

Suddenly, the bus and David's RV swerved from the intersection as more runners were on their trail. The herd overwhelmed the north and east part of Manhattan.

Luan grabbed the walkie-talkie in the glove department and turned it on.

"David, where do we go?"

"Just take a left and drive south!" he replied back.

"You guys found a road out the city?" asked Benny.

"No. There's… there's nowhere to go," said David.

Becky continued to press the gas pedal as sweat dripped from her face. The herd already overwhelmed the southern tip of Manhattan. The herd were filling the north and the east part, and were nearing west. A solution that have been sought for over a week now needed to come in the next few minutes.

"The Holland Tunnel," panted Carol. "The only reason Lori didn't go… was that it was too far. But it's not like the Lincoln Tunnel."

"Oh, that's right," said Bobby.

"What? It's clogged with traffic!" said David. "It always is!"

"Not this time," said Bobby. "I don't know what the nuke did, but it must've blown half of the tunnel off! And I mean like a hot dog slice half! And it's floating like one!"

David nodded and looked into the river in the distance. He gulped and spoke into the walkie-talkie.

"I got an idea," he said. "In the river– you see that long bridge looking road? Yeah, that wasn't a bridge. It is now though."

"You're shitting me," said Becky.

"I shit you not. I need you to hit top speed and drive over the rubble bridge into Jersey City."

"Won't our cars be too heavy?" shivered Benny.

"I don't know what else to do!" yelled David.

Another signal in the two-way transmitter crackled.

"I know what he's talking about," said Lori. "The rubble is very sturdy. It's tons and tons of steel and concrete and other materials, you know."

"We can abandon our vehicles then!" said Becky.

"We can't," said Luan. "The runners already reached the bridge. They'll catch up to us."

"Just drive through the bridge," said Lori. "Run them over and just drive with all your speed."

"That's fucking insane! We'll fucking drown!"

"It's the only option!" yelled Lori. "It's either that or staying back and dying! There are more than a hundred thousand roamers on your ass! Maybe even millions!"

David's RV drove ahead of Hana and Becky. It made a turn towards the docks by the Hudson River.

"Becky! Becky!" yelled Lori. "I trust you with my family! You're my friend! Everything we've been through– I know you can do this! Do you trust me? Please, do you trust me?"

Becky took a few deep breaths as she turned the van towards the polluted river. She nodded.

"Yes, Lori. I trust you."

Becky pressed the gas pedal and followed behind David's RV. The RV drove over the dented gates of the docks and drove along the padded trash that lied on top of the hardened rubble submerged into the river. Then, the RV made it to the floating road of the Holland Tunnel– the lower half of it. Vanzilla followed behind, rocking left and right as the road struggled to remain stable. David's RV then drove off the end of the road and into a road of bricks and concrete, popping the back wheels, as it grinded against the materials.

Vanzilla followed shortly after, the bricks damaging the undercarriage. Then, the two vehicles made it to the roads of Jersey City, taking a hard left.

Hana's RV quickly sped across the road as a couple runners ran after the RV. The brick and concrete road only damaged the outside frame of the RV, but the wheels and the undercarriage were intact. The brick and concrete road became more unstable, however.

Finally, Bus 1, the only surviving prison bus, drove across the road of the Holland Tunnel. The runners surrounded the bus, though Jeffrey continued to press against the gas pedal. Reggie and Lana continued firing their guns at the back of the bus as the roamers leaped inside it. Then, the bus was freed and accelerated to top speed as it reached closer and closer to the brick and concrete road.

"Brace yourselves!" yelled Jeffrey. "AHH!"

All the passengers held on to a seat as the bus landed on the road. A couple bricks were sent flying while the blood of the runners splattered into the cracked windshield. The back of the bus hovered over the road, as the front wheels were stuck to the bricks.

Suddenly, the concrete began to crack, and the bricks began to disperse. Tiny streams of water flowed to the surface as the front of the bus lowered.

"We have to haul ass!" yelled Jace. "Now!"

Jace, Preston, and Reggie grabbed each other's shoulders and limped out of the bus. Lana held Lily's hands as she watched the runners approach the collapsing road. Jeffrey prepared to run out of the bus, before running back to a seat and unbuckling Vonda's seatbelt. Dr. White followed behind him.

"Where is everyone going?" asked Weber, still in the bus.

Dr. White turned around and saw the runners reaching the collapsing road. He face Weber.

"Danger is approaching us. Any second now– the dead will catch up to us, and we'll get bitten."

"But those things aren't really dangerous, are they?"

"Yes, yes they are. Your father is waiting for you in the other side. He doesn't want you to be in danger."

"But what about your medical stuff?"

"They don't matter. What matters is that you get out of there, now. I need you out of the bus."

Weber nodded. He leaped out of the bus and jogged across the collapsing road, following the doctor. Sweat covered his face, though it was almost entirely due to the heat. Any other sweatdrop would be the effect of anxiety from witnessing the panic unfold before him.

Moments passed. And Weber hopped to the docks of Jersey City. He quickly ran towards Hana's RV that awaited him and Dr. White. He did not look back as the runners struggled to keep up with the survivors.

The weight of the herd caused the Holland Tunnel road to be submerged into the water, eventually freeing up all the rubble before it. A huge flood of water washed over the concrete and brick road as it broke apart, scattering everywhere in the river. The herd continued to run and fall to the flowing river, washed away into the bay. The bus and the remaining medical supplies that assisted with creating the NIRT cure prototype sunk into the river, along with everything on top of the debris. Even the tape recorder, and the blue clothes, and the skeletons, and the other X-signs, all of it sunk into the river, washed away into the unknown waters of the ocean.

Lori sighed and placed her hand against her head. She placed down the jerry cans and struggled to catch her breath. Her vision became a little disoriented from the sight of the herd being washed away. Then, from the distance was David's RV. Next, Vanzilla. Finally, Hana's RV.

Lori smiled as she saw Lincoln, Ronnie Anne, Clyde, and Lynn come out of Vanzilla. They walked towards Lori as Luan and Benny joined them. Some of the siblings hugged Lori as she faced Becky, giving her a wink. Becky leaned against the van, sweat stuck to her face, her pupils contracted. But she smiled.

All the passengers stepped out of their vehicles and stepped foot on the small patches of grass growing among burnt grass in Liberty State Park.

"We lost a lotta people, didn't we?" said Lynn. "Is Vonda gonna be okay?"

"If we don't get any anti-malarial medication soon… then she won't be okay," said Dr. White. "Same goes for Mr. Taylor, Mr. Salas, Mister– Reggie Harrison, and anyone recently bit by a mosquito."

"Every little thing's gonna be alright," said Luna as she took out a bottle of chloroquine from her bag. "I told you I was going to save your life, Jace."

Jace's lips smiled before his eyes turned towards Carol.

"Where's Zoey?" she nervously asked. "This can't be everyone, right?"

Lisa began to breathe heavily.

"The lamented Zoey is no longer with us," she stated. "She's deceased."

Carol was at a loss for words. Bobby and Becky both grabbed her shoulders, rubbing her arms as they held her. Her lips quivered as her eyes began to weep.

"Wha– how did this happen?" whispered Dr. White.

Lisa held a small yellow pacifier. The flashbacks attacked her mind.

"I believed by getting the infant away from the pandemic in the buses, a chance to save her would have been probable. I had– have the quinine and the syringe… and the cure to replicate it. But it was too late. She already died in my hands before I arrived at the Hearst Tower."

Lisa held the infant in her hands while holding her syringe. She knew that the quinine was the best chance to save the infant. But she didn't want to risk losing the proto-cure and bring all the side effects that came with the quinine.

"I checked her pulse. Nonexistent. All her vitals. Her breathing. Everything. But she was gone."

Lisa placed the pacifier in Zoey's mouth as she closed her bloodshot eyes. She then stuck the syringe inside Zoey's arm. The baby didn't cry any louder– her agony came mostly from the malaria.

"So, what I did… was I opened up the bottle of Vulcan's Gel. And I wrapped her with a blanket before applying the gel on the surface of the blanket."

Her hands rubbed Zoey's hair as she settled down. Eventually, her cries and moans disappeared. Lisa swallowed hard as she held her scalpel and turned the infant over. Her heart throbbed with pain.

"Cremation. Prevention of reanimation. I know you wouldn't have wanted Zoey to come back as… a roamer."

Lisa dropped the stained scalpel. She took out her tube of potassium chloride, opened it, and held it above her mouth. But nothing poured out. She sobbed as she tossed the tube down, watching the remains of the dirty work she did.

"Here are her ashes," said Lisa. "You might not want to possess it. But maybe, maybe it will help with the grieving process."

Lisa grabbed the ashes from the ground. She looked for ashes that weren't tainted by the concrete dust. She then took one last look at the corpse covered by the small blanket. She grabbed the yellow pacifier from the ground and closed the lid to the tube.

She handed the tube of ash and the yellow pacifier to Carol. Lisa then walked away, placing her fanny pack into the back of Vanzilla. Carol fell to her knees and broke down as she held the tube of ash close to her.

A mockingbird flew across the sky, landing on a small patch of fresh grass. Weber smiled as it flew away before looking at Lori.

Lori felt her stomach gurgle. She vomited into an empty trash can in the park, before going into a coughing fit. Bobby ran up to her, but failed to catch her as she collapsed to the grass. Carol continued crying and Bobby shook Lori's unconscious body and cried for help, all as the mockingbird flew away. The heat continued its relentless punishment.

-Day 10-

A broken king piece lied on the floor of the deli market in the Bronx.

"Let go of me, you motherfuckers!" yelled Calvin.

The long-haired raider with a handlebar mustache chuckled as he continued wrapping his arms around Calvin's neck, not tight enough to ensure a chokehold, but enough to ensure no escape.

"Help me, daddy!" sobbed Sierra. "Help, please!"

"Keep screaming daddy," snickered another long-haired raider. "Makes this SO much more fun."

"I swear to god, I will kill all of you fuckers!" screamed Calvin.

"No, stop! Please!" sobbed Teresa, as another raider held her face against the floor. "Stop…"

The raiders violated Calvin's daughter and wife in front of his eyes. Their screams didn't make them slow down. Their blood didn't make them stop. Their tears didn't make them feel sorry.

"Shut up, bitch!" yelled one of the raiders as he smashed Teresa's face to the ground over and over.

"I'll fuck you up!" yelled Calvin. "I'll gouge your goddamn eyes out! I will kill you! I will kill you!"

"I had enough of this," said the fat, bald raider. "The kid's cries are hurting my fucking ears."

The raider aimed his pistol at the little girl and pressed the trigger. He then aimed it down at his victim. He shot the wife.

Calvin screamed at the top of his lungs as he flailed his head and legs.

"Jesus Christ!" laughed the raider holding him. "He is completely losing his shit! Go for the other woman and–"

Blood squirted out of his forehead as a bullet flew out of his head. Calvin flinched and freed himself from his corpse as he grabbed the raider's pistol. The two other raiders, holding Beatrice, were quickly shot by bullets bursting from outside the store. Calvin aimed his pistol at the raiders above the corpses of his dead family and shot them both.

He then ran towards their squirming bodies and grabbed a cleaver. He swung it down at the bald raider, chopping him apart.

The curly-haired Latino who shot the raiders bursted inside the store.

"Guillermo!" exclaimed Beatrice. "Thank god! Perfect fucking timing."

"Yeah, just glad I saw you two– Jesus."

Both Guillermo and Beatrice faced Calvin. He continued chopping down at the raider's face. And it went on for minutes. Both survivors were tired, and sat on the blood-soaked floor.

"Stop, before you tire yourself out," said Guillermo. "I'm awfully sorry about what happened to your family. Believe me, I'd be acting like this too, but–"

Calvin stood up and tossed his cleaver to the ground. He then grabbed a sharp knife.

"Hungry?" he asked.

Both survivors nodded softly. Calvin licked his lips and cut into the man's stomach. He went diagonally left. Then diagonally right. He marked an X in his stomach before dropping him. He looked at the two survivors and pointed his knife at the human corpse in the ground.

"Start cutting. We'll need to eat soon."

* * *

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **.**_

 _ **A lot of characters (mostly unnamed and nobodies) lost. Disease is cruel.**_

 _ **P.S. Credits to Moon5555 with helping me out with the chapter and ideas for down the road.**_


	24. South

**_You know what's one thing I'm grateful about? The patience that you guys have. You shouldn't have waited this long for a new chapter... yet you did... and I'm sorry for that. I can't blame anyone but myself, and not for the fact that I made you guys wait a while, but because I didn't have a way to give you guys a heads up. But enough of the guilt-tripping, right? Some things in life, we cannot control. So let me just blame life and promise to do better! 'Cause I'm gonna need the motivation instead of guilt to speed things up for the next chapter (which I'm so pumped for)! Wait, why am I talking about the next chapter? And why am I rambling so much? Ah, I'm just going to shut up and let y'all enjoy the chapter._**

 ** _Oh, and also, even more credits to Moon5555! With his contributions to the story using the nodes in his brain, I could definitely speed things up now!_**

* * *

The sound of a shotgun blast followed by a thud to the floor awakened Sam. As she rose from her bed, Sam saw that her parents were already up, busily scrambling about the small room they've been staying for the past two to three days. Sam tiredly rubbed her baby blue eyes before they open widely when the gunfire from earlier suddenly resounded. The building, formerly a 5-star-hotel, converted by Canadian soldiers into a shelter for refugees, now had the unmistakable din of rifles and shotguns being fired, the noises traveling down the hallway corridors, accompanied by yells and thuds of people being gunned down, left and right.

"Amanda, we need to leave," Mr. Sharp panted, "It's too dangerous– the soldiers can't hold out for long. 'Sides, we weren't planning on staying here for long."

"Dad?" Sam exclaimed. "What's going on? Why are they shooting?"

"It's not zombies, is it?" asked Simon, his eyes widening with fear.

"No, it's not zombies," their father replied. "It's people. Bad people who are trying to hurt us. We need to leave before the soldiers are overrun."

"Erik," Mrs. Sharp said, visibly worried. "What do we do? Where do we go?"

"I know a way out. I did some construction here a while back. I know this place better than anyone, even the soldiers. Stay close. We're going home."

Sam put on her boots, grabbed her bags, and left the room with her family, her dad taking the lead, and her mom carrying Simon in a protective embrace. Erik, tall and muscular, ran ahead, using his knowledge of the building's schematics to navigate through the best route, as well as using his strength to clear a path when necessary. Meanwhile, tremors could be felt from the explosions outside, as the lights dimmed on and off, with refugees continuing to scramble in terror.

Just as the Sharps made their way to the lobby, a bunch of armed gunmen, sporting uniforms with emblems labeled 'K.H.A.N.' sewn onto their chests, burst through the front entrance, the Sharps narrowly managing to avoid running straight into their line-of-sight. Some of the Canadian soldiers managed to gun down a few of the attackers, before suddenly, a few more gunmen burst through the windows, catching the soldiers by surprise. Erik redirected his family into a hallway that lead to an alternate route. Screams could be heard from the lobby as the gunmen proceeded to mercilessly slaughter all the refugees they came across.

Meanwhile, a group of gunmen outside, armed with grenade launchers, fired a volley targeting specific areas of the building, including the hall the Sharps were currently running across.

The damage from the volley caused a part of the roof to cave in, sending a considerable pile of rubble hurtling straight towards Amanda. Spotting the falling debris, Amanda instinctively tossed her seven-year-old son out of harm's way, just before the rubble from the ceiling fell on top of her, burying the lower half of her midsection.

"AMANDA!" Erik screamed, as he quickly dashed over, making sure his son was okay, before proceeding to check on his wife. "Amanda! Amanda, no! Oh, oh my God!"

"E-Erik...? Erik, honey, I… I can't feel my legs."

Immediately Erik went to work on doing what he could to unearth the rubble that currently had his wife pinned. Sam ran towards her mom, kneeling down to her level as the alarms continued to blare outside. Sam panted quickly as tears began to bubble in her eyes. All Simon could do was simply stand by in shock.

"Mom, don't move!" Sam cried, as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Dad and I are gonna get you outta there!"

Suppressing the urge to cry out in pain, Amanda steadily extended her arm out to her only daughter, with whom she shared a striking familial resemblance with, in all but the color of their eyes.

"Sammy... don't. Even if you get me out... my legs are crushed... and my spinal cord is completely fractured... Not even a nurse such as myself would be able to patch that up alone."

Erik, still doing everything he could to free his beloved wife, suddenly heard the approaching gunfire, getting closer and closer, and realized he had to make the difficult decision; one that'd torment him to the end of his days.

Amanda moaned in agony, as a puddle of blood slowly seeped beneath her, forcing Sam to take a cautionary step back, while still clasping tightly onto her mother's hand. So many thoughts began racing through Sam's mind. Every passing second approached her mother's last; there were so many thoughts Sam had wanted to share with her, so many secrets she harbored. When she failed a math test that one time. Or when she snuck out of the house to go to a concert with Luna Loud. The fact she had a crush on Luna Loud! Sam was so scared back then, to come out to her parents, to tell them how attractive girls seemed to her over bland boys. Even now, she couldn't find it in herself to come clean. But soon, it wouldn't matter.

"Just go," said Amanda. "I love you both. I'll be watching over you…"

Erik, realizing what had to be done, gently held his wife's hand, the two sharing a knowing gaze.

"I love you, Erik… please, look out for our babies…. Samantha… Simon… don't give your father too much trouble, okay?"

Sam nodded softly before looking up, her tear dropping to the floor. Erik wiped his tears away as he let go of his wife's hand. The gunfire grew louder, so he quickly stood up and grabbed Sam.

"We need to go," he said. "I love her too, Sam. But please let her go. The others are coming."

More explosions and gunfire erupted throughout the shelter. Bodies lay on the floor as the Sharps continued to navigate through the back exit. However, the back exit was revealed to be a deathtrap as the dead began to flood through it. Erik punched one of the roamers against the wall, causing it to fall down. He then punched another infected away from his kids, before stomping it to the ground. His knuckles bled as he slammed his arms against the door, struggling to keep the dead ones from entering the building. The fire outside began to rage closer to the building, already burning the ceiling.

"Sam, come over here!" groaned Erik.

Sam quickly ran towards her father, flinching at the aggressive slams against the door.

"Go run the hallway to my left and go out through the restricted halls! Code is 2433!" groaned Erik. "Me and the guys laid some bricks in the ceiling when were constructing this building so watch your head!"

"What about you?" panted Sam. "I can't lose you too."

"You won't…" said Erik. "Please, Sam. I need you to do what I said. And when you do… don't look back. Now, GO!"

Sam proceeded to grab her brother and run down the halls, but Simon didn't want to leave his father. Erik groaned and demanded that he follow Sam, but he was frozen. The roamers pushed against the door harder and harder, prompting Erik to release it and fight them off. He kept them away from his children, punching the roamers and tackling them and shoving them away. Sam grabbed Simon and lifted him up, much to his protest.

"Let me go!" yelled Simon. "Dad! Please don't leave us!"

"Your big sister is here for you, Simon!" groaned Erik, as a smile visibly formed. "Please, don't… don't give her much trouble…!"

The roamers began to sink their teeth into his flesh, though Erik struggled to hold his screams. But the bites were too painful. He screamed, as Simon cried out for him. His screams echoed throughout the hallway, as Sam continued to carry his little brother across, squeezing her eyes shut and refusing to look back. The fire, the gunfire all continued to rage.

A couple birds squawked as they flew across the bright daylight sky. Sam wandered across the highway with her backpack in front of her while holding hands with her only living relative. Suddenly, Simon gasped and fell to his knees before Sam caught him– his face mere inches away from the hot pavement. He huffed and puffed as he closed his eyes, sweat pouring over his red cheeks from his light blonde hair.

Sam lifted him and placed him over her back, his legs sitting comfortably over her backpack. Simon was exhaling deeply as the heat removed their energy slowly. Sam looked ahead and sniffled, continuing her path ahead as there were no buildings in sight. Just miles of recluse homes and trees.

After a day or two, the two arrived at their destination, though it appeared abandoned.

"C'mon, Sammy! We're almost there!" Simon said, as the two made their way through the roamer-infested streets of Detroit, the safe-zone still many blocks away.

The younger Sharp was doing everything he could to support his big sister, whose ankle was badly twisted from during an earlier encounter with roamers in a convenience store. It was taking Sam all of her willpower to avoid collapsing right on the spot, wincing and hissing with every step she took.

Sam and Simon watched the swarm of roamers approaching ahead in the street. He quickly moved Sam to the closest car and placed her inside, closing the door.

"What… what are you doing?" groaned Sam.

"I don't know," said Simon. "I already lost Mom… and Dad… and I can't lose you too!"

Simon ran away, leading the swarm of roamers into an alleyway. Sam groaned as she tried to open the door, though her wrist prevented her from getting a good grip on the door handle. She then heard her little brother scream. The scream faded before Sam screamed inside the car, tears flowing out her eyes.

A burst of lightning thundered across the sky. Sam woke up and panted heavily as her eyes remained dry. Then, they began to water softly as she looked out the hospital window, realizing the storm hasn't let up.

"...a dream?" she murmured to herself.

"You talk in your sleep," said a voice, causing Sam to grasp her chest as she flinched back with a gasp. "You kept saying my name."

Sam found Weber standing by the door to the dark hospital room, his eyes fixated on her. She rubbed her hands over her hair and sighed, closing her eyes.

"N-No… it's… it's my brother's name. God, I can't believe I'm still thinking about my family..."

"At least no one is telling you to get over them," said Weber as he closed the door.

"I… I thought I got over them…" said Sam. "I thought I did."

Sam covered her eyes as she began to tear up. Weber reminded Sam of someone she thought she got over. Unfortunately, it would be the first of the many troubles he would unintentionally cause.

 **Chapter 24: South**

 **I- Fallout**

-Present Day-

Mist clouded the barren wasteland of ash and dust. A night sky darkened near the horizon, though light was still present, as if the mist gave off some sort of luminous power.

Lori's eyes were fixated on the empty and foggy horizon, though, in a sudden flash, she became aware of her own consciousness. The ash blew past her blue slip-ons and the mist surrounded her arms uncovered by her blue tank top. Then, a sudden chill caused Lori to cover her arms as she heard her name being whispered by the mist. The voice seemed to be getting louder as the young woman focused her hearing in the location of the darkness.

"Lori! Behind you," called the voice.

Lori quickly turned, her low-cut hair swishing around. She gasped and flinched away from the source of the voice.

"Hey, Lori. You look lost."

Lori mustered the strength to say something.

"W... Where am I, Leni? What are you doing here?"

"I don't know actually. Lucy told me there was a way to talk to you. You know, in person, not over the phone. Look, here she is!"

Leni tugged her hand as Lucy appeared out of the mist. She smiled and waved at Lori, though remaining eerily silent. Lori placed her hands over head, whispering to herself, pleading to herself.

"I know this looks kinda creepy, but apparently, there isn't anywhere else we can talk right now. And I really just wanted to see you again."

"Me too, Leni… but I don't know what this is."

"Right… you never really understood how Lucy talked to the dead, right? It's okay, I don't think anyone did. Only Linky did, and Lucy did try to get through with him, but… he doesn't seem to have accepted her death. Lucky for me, you accepted mine's!"

Lori remained speechless. Leni walked closer to her and opened her arms, to which Lori responded by opening her own arms as well. Leni wrapped her arms around Lori and lay her head down on her shoulders.

"I miss you," whispered Leni.

"I miss you too. But, Leni… I–"

Lori looked around. The mist, the light and the darkness, Lucy, it all felt real to her. But she knew it wasn't, and a realization hit her.

"I'm… I'm dying, aren't I?" whispered Lori.

The ash blew over her black hiker boots and the mist surrounded her arms uncovered by her cargo vest over her gray T-shirt with blood stains near the waist. A storm thundered above the sisters.

Leni pulled herself away, tugging Lori's oily hair down to her chest. Leni moved behind her and began to tie her older sister's hair into a ponytail.

"It's not as bad as it sounds."

Leni walked in front of Lori and faced her, placing her hand on her shoulder.

"You shouldn't worry about it," whispered Leni.

A loud flash of thunder struck across the misty darkness and in a sudden flash, everyone disappeared.

"Lori! Stay with me!" shrieked Lisa.

Thunder rumbled across the sky as Becky raced Vanzilla to the closest hospital. Lisa hopped away from Lori and grabbed a manual ventilator. She ran back and placed it in her sister's mouth.

"Oh, my god," whimpered Bobby. "She stopped breathing?"

Lori lied on the car seats with her eyes closed and her body tied with seatbelts. A few of her siblings surrounded her, including Lincoln, Luan, and Lynn, who all held their breath and on the verge of breaking down.

"Her pulse is still active," said Lisa. "I don't know for how much longer, though."

She then turned to Lori.

"Please, eldest sister. Stay with me."

A quick glance at Lori was enough to distract Dr. White from his patient. He quickly regained his focus, though, and went back to treating Vonda.

A bolt of lightning flew across the overcast sky as raindrops began to pour on the survivors in the abandoned RV park. The mega-herd continued to crowd the streets of Manhattan, but it was out of sight, and therefore, out of mind.

George shoveled the muddy dirt below the makeshift crossed windmill spun in the direction of the wind. David and Lana were salvaging whatever materials and parts they could from the abandoned RVs in order to repair the vehicles of their own. Hana patrolled the perimeters, her hands on the handle of her bladed katana as her pet companion barked from inside her RV in response to the thundering noise in the distance.

"What the hell are you doing?" shouted out David.

"Me?" huffed George. "This place here doesn't feel right. They got all these… X's. The blood… it's not even gone!"

"I think you're pushing yourself too hard," said David. "Look, we're all tired and we all need to be distracted from everything that just happened, especially you– you know, with what happened to Vonda. But you gotta chill out and focus your energy in trying to get the wheels fixed so we can head to the hospital."

A clunk caught David's attention. Kotaro wiped the mud and grime into his pants and rubbed his eyes against his arms as he walked towards the makeshift windmill. Sam stood up and walked away from an abandoned sudan.

"Just as I suspected," said George. "We always found a roamer or a body part around the goddamn X's. Look, hole wasn't too deep."

David approached the dug area and found a skull with traces of skin, stained by the slush of wet mud. George thrust the black shovel into the dirt and knelt down. He pulled a fragment of the skull out of the dirt and washed it away with rainwater.

"Mr. David?" called out Lana. "The wheels are in. We're ready to go."

David gave her a thumbs up and faced George. George tossed the bone fragment and grabbed the shovel.

"We're gonna talk about this very soon," he said. "Alright, let's go. I gotta make sure Vee's safe."

The thunder softened as the two RVs arrived at a hospital in Newark, close to an airport. The parking lot was abandoned, with the exception of Vanzilla, where its doors were open while the entrance doors to the hospital were closed. Some of the windows were cracked while others were open, with the rails above the glass pane reaching the top frames. Puddles of water hung around the weeds that grew in the small gardens outside the hospital. Moss grew in the corners of the roof.

David grabbed his walkie-talkie.

"We're here. Where do we go?"

"Second floor," replied Becky. "Careful, there's roamers in the halls!"

"What's that banging?"

"Roamers on the other side of the door. We're trapped in this room. I mean, I got my weapons and everything but I can't do everything you know."

"Hang in there. We're coming."

David placed the walkie-talkie back on his belt and grabbed his knife and his flashlight, and led the group towards the entrance door of the hospital. Some of the other survivors in the group grabbed their weapons, while Jeffrey helped Preston and Reggie limp towards the hospital. Hana helped Jace on his feet as Kotaro held Carol's arms and moved her towards the abandoned building.

David and George slowly opened the entrance doors to the hospital and beamed up the waiting room with their flashlights. Papers were shuffled across the floor, chairs were toppled over one another, dust accumulated on the desks and tables. The two men walked in further inside the hospital with the other survivors behind them.

"The stairs… over there," whispered George, pointing his flashlight at a corner of the waiting room.

"Everyone, stay tight," ordered David. "You see anything– kill it or warn us. No running away."

After the group agreed to David's orders, they made their way up the stairs and lit up the halls of the second floor, as equally cluttered and dusty as the first floor, if not more. David moved forward and walked along the hall, which curved to the right. A distinct noise and smell warned the group of what was to come, but after the hall stopped curving, the group were met with roamers banging a door a couple meters away from them.

"Take the right," David told George.

The roamers growled, their golden eyes reflecting the light. Then, one of them roared as it moved one foot after the other at a quick pace.

"A runner," muttered Luna.

George lunged his knife forward and stopped the running roamer on its track, before pulling it out of its eyes. David sliced the other runners' nose off its face then stabbed his knife through its skull. Sam moved forward and thrusted her ice pick towards a runner's neck, and as it struggled to recover its speed, she slammed the pick down and killed the roamer. Luna then moved ahead of her and smacked the remaining runner with her crowbar, splattering its brain against the wall.

"Their noggin's softer than I thought," said Luna.

David nodded as he walked up to the door, knocking on it.

"Becky, you can open up now."

The door slowly opened up as Becky pointed her pistol at it.

"How's the girl?" asked David.

"Which one?" Becky replied, lowering her gun down.

"My girl," said George, walking inside the dark room, barely lit up by the light outside the windows.

"And Lori," said David.

Becky allowed the group to enter the room as she pointed towards Vonda.

"She's a tough girl, you know. Vonda was just unconscious, and she was close to dying from the disease, but the medicine that you guys found– it helped."

Becky then glared at the bed by the corner of the room.

"Lori on the other hand… Lisa fears she slipped into a coma. She says that Lori's experiencing symptoms kinda like radiation sickness, but… the fact that it's affecting only her is the question."

"Must've been something she came in contact with in Jersey City," said Dr. White. "It's possible radiation could've been magnified in some areas, taking the fallout longer to decay."

"It would be of great use if we had access to electricity," said Lisa. "For the benefit of this patient."

"She's gonna die without power," said Becky.

"Okay," exhaled David. "Where's the generator?"

"We don't know," said Lincoln. "But I'll help you guys find it."

Luan stood up.

"Lincoln, don't…"

"I have to do this," he said. "Lori needs me now."

"Fine. Count me in too."

"Count me out," said Kotaro. "I can't feel my legs."

"I can't feel my arms either," said George.

Some of the group members agreed.

"Sure thing. But what about you guys? Don't you guys feel tired?"

"Hella tired," said Luna. "But we gotta save our sister."

David nodded. He gathered around Lincoln, Luan, Luna, and Lynn, and not Lisa, Lana, and Lily as they were too young for the mission.

"You follow my orders, got it? Anything goes wrong, and I'll have to be the one to break your sister's heart with the news."

"Sure thing. You're our leader for now, after all," said Lincoln.

"Whatever you say. The rest of you, get some rest. We'll be back!"

David then pointed at Jeffrey.

"And you… thank you for saving your nephew, Jace, and Reggie, Elder.

Jeffrey smiled as David and the Louds headed out the room, with Becky closing the door. Becky walked up to Carol and hugged her.

"It's going to be okay, Carol," she whispered.

David and the other Loud children walked around the first floor.

"It would make sense to keep the generators in the basement, right?" said Lincoln. "But it looks like this place doesn't have a basement."

"It could be outside," said David. "The noise is bound to attract the roamers, so we gotta find some way to secure this hospital."

"The chains are probably in the janitor's room, dudes," said Luna. "We get 'em and we lock the fences outside."

"I got an idea then," said Lincoln.

The group ran through the emergency room as the roamers were chasing after them. Lynn turned around and whacked one of the roamers with her bow, smacking its jaw off, though it was still alive and hungry.

"Shit, shit, run faster y'all!" yelled Lynn.

"Shut your bloody mouth!" exclaimed Luna. "You want every dead person in this city to hear us?"

"Well, Lincoln somehow managed to do that by dropping everything in the janitor's room looking for the chains!" shouted Luan. "Look at what your chain reaction did! No pun intended!"

"At least I have the chains!" exclaimed Lincoln.

"Guys, quiet and run faster!" yelled David.

Lynn bursted out the emergency room and into a parking lot adjacent to the one by the entrance. She held the door open, until all the members ran out the building. She then slammed the door shut, though that did not stop the roamers from bursting through. One of the roamers tackled Lynn to the ground and grabbed her shoes. She yelled as it scratched her soles, and just as the roamer aimed for her legs, David shot it with his M9. He aimed at the other roamers and shot them all dead.

"I so owe you one," sighed Lynn.

"You can start by giving me a hand with this. There's a generator here. Pull the cord."

David stood above a generator while Lynn walked to another one next to it. Lynn began pulling the cord, activating the generator.

"Kids. Close the fences and lock 'em up with the fences."

Lincoln, Luan, and Luna ran past their vehicles in an effort to lock the fences before the roamers arrived at the parking lot. David pulled the cord towards him then released it slowly, before pulling it with greater force again. Suddenly, the groaning of the power sources rumbled smoothly, followed by David flicking the switches on.

Luan and Luna each pulled a fence closer together as a couple roamers jogged in the streets, approaching the hospital closer with each limping step. Next, Lincoln placed the chains through the holes in the mesh fence and pulled it out through another hole, wrapping the chains together. He then placed a padlock through the chains and closed it, locking the fences and securing the parking lot.

David opened the emergency doors and turned the locks on the doorknobs before closing the doors. The roamers inside the emergency room banged against the door, though they were unable to escape now.

"We're going through the entrance and locking the other side of the room," said David. "Can't have these bastards walking around where we're sleeping."

David walked to the entrance doors with the Louds following him. They entered the hospital, though they refused to turn on the lights until they really needed it.

"The flashlights will do for now," said David.

"So, who's fast enough to run in and out of the ER?" brought up Luan.

"I think–" said Luna before being interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah, me," said Lynn. "That's who you were gonna say, right, Lunes? Lynn Loud?"

"You ran for fun before!" Luna exclaimed. "Of course I was gonna say you! Cunt."

"Wanna say that louder?"

"Alright, just lock the damn door and get in before the door closes!" urged David.

"No time to act like children, you know," said Lincoln.

Lynn reluctantly nodded. She stood outside the door and was ready to fly inside.

"Remember, run like there are zombies behind you," whispered Luan.

Lynn snickered before punching Luan lightly. She then ran into the emergency room and turned around, flipping the lock in the doorknob. The roamers growled and ran towards her, but she already dashed out of the room.

"The door!" yelled Lincoln. "Close it!"

The survivors screamed as Lynn grabbed the doorknob and pulled it. The roamer lunged towards the survivors, only to slam the door shut, followed by other roamers smacking against the closed doors.

"That's it. We're done," said David. "Let's go upstairs and check up on your sister."

The door opened, with David, Lincoln, Luan, Luna, and Lynn walking inside. An automatic ventilator kept Lori breathing while a heart monitor showed her active pulse. Lisa looked at them.

"Radiotrophic fungi," she said. "I prevented the fungi from progressing any further than her lungs using small amounts of our stock of antiparasitic medicine. I'll have to configure the manual ventilator to get the fungi out, and then that's it. She should be okay afterwards."

"Oh, thank goodness," said Lincoln.

The Loud kids hugged Lisa. Vonda remained unconscious in bed while Jace, Preston, and Reggie each lay in a bed, coughing and drinking water. Carol simply looked out the window, holding the yellow pacifier as the storm returned.

The storm raged on for hours. Rain splashed against the pavement of the water, wind rocked the mesh fences back and forth, lightning lit up the rooms for split seconds where the survivors slept.

The roar of thunder awakened Lana, as she opted to sleep by the windows earlier. The other Loud children were asleep, with the exception of Lisa, whose bed was empty as she was working tirelessly to treat Lori. She grabbed a flashlight and decided it was the best time to check on Lori and Jace's condition.

She switched the flashlight on and stepped out of the room as softly as she could, taking light and wide steps. She opened the door just narrowly enough for her to fit, before she closed it– though, not completely.

The room was upstairs, which meant she would have to walk down the halls of the first floor, and pass around the emergency room into the waiting room and stairwell. She continued her silent stride, though her steps moved along the floor quicker.

The emergency room was to her left, and the waiting room was to her right. She turned right, until a mumble caught her attention. The flashing light followed by a crackle of thunder drowned the mumble out, though her curiosity has already been piqued.

She turned around and shined her flashlight at the door. Weber sat against it, holding a mouse in his left palm while feeding it food with the other palm.

"Weber?" whispered Lana. "What are you doing? Go back to sleep!"

"I can't, Lana. I keep thinking about my dad. He's really gone."

"So is mine. Get over it."

Weber sniffled and turned around. Lana took a deep gulp as she immediately regretted what she said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that. I... can't go to sleep either. I'm scared that my oldest sister is going to die."

"She's going to be fine," said Weber. "That's what Lisa said. And everyone else is going to be fine because she will be okay. Because she's the only person people care about."

Thunder rumbled again in the distance. Lana raised her eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" she whispered.

Weber rubbed her fingers softly against the mouse's back. The mouse continued to eat the cracker crumbs from his palm.

"Why has no one asked how I've been feeling?" he said. "I'm sad. I'm alone. I can't sleep without my father being around. But no one cares about him. Everyone just wants to worry whether your sister Lori lives to make bad decisions for another day."

"You know that's not true, Weber."

"You're either stupid or lying to me," he remarked. "I don't feel good about those choices."

Weber cleared his throat.

"Pay attention, won't ya?" he said. "No one cares about how I'm feeling. And don't pretend like you do."

"People do care… don't you see it in their faces? Don't you hear it in their voices? In my voice?"

"Don't lie to me. I can't read emotions too well… but I can tell you're trying to act like you care."

"But I do–"

"Just go," said Weber, facing Lana again. "Go check on your sister. I'm going to feel better on my own. I thought expressing my feelings to this mouse would help… but it doesn't care either."

Lana gulped and began to step away. Weber grabbed the mouse's tail and refused to budge until Lana walked away. The thunder crackles and the lightning lit up the hallway. And before Lana headed to the waiting room where the stairwell was located, she saw Weber opening the door to the emergency room with a key. He then tossed the mouse into the room and slammed the door shut, mimicking the sound of thunder, before locking it. The roamers banged against the door as they growled, before the sounds of teeth chomping against a meal replaced the banging noise.

The lightning lit up the hallway again, and Lana saw Weber glaring at her. Spooked, she quickly moved to the waiting room and headed for the stairwell, with Weber gone from her sight.

Lana burst into the room where the wounded and sick were kept. Lisa, holding the manual ventilator plugged to a strange device, turned towards her.

"Why are you missing your nightly-required rest?" asked Lisa. "Are you insomniac? Worried about our eldest sister?"

"Yeah," whispered Lana. "What are you going to do?"

"Use attraction and suction to drive all of the radiotrophic fungi out of our eldest sister's respiratory organs. Gases and vacuum. Not my first time."

Lisa removed the automatic ventilator out of Lori's mouth and nose and placed the manual ventilator over Lori's lower face as she sprayed a gas solution inside her. She squeezed the ventilator, as the transparent surface began to get foggy, with residue forming on it. Gagging, followed by subconscious exhales were triggered by Lori's body. Even Lana was grossed out by it. After a minute, Lori no longer coughed any residue, which prompted Lisa to place back the automatic ventilator over her lower face. Her pulse was normal. Her breathing returned to normal.

"That's it," said Lisa. "She'll breathe on her own later… then she'll wake up."

"Oh my gosh!" exclaimed Lana, struggling to contain the volume of her voice. "You're amazing, Lisa! You saved Lori! You're a lifesaver!"

Lana hugged Lisa, who formed an almost-realistic smile, though one look at the yellow pacifier by the window destroyed her smile.

"I suppose I am," gulped Lisa.

With the arrival of morning, the storm has settled down, leaving only heavy rain to drown out any hopeful mood among the survivors. With busloads of food and supplies gone, some survivors were forced to loot the rundown city. Due to its approximate location near New York, and the fact that the city seemed to be overwhelmed by roamers with no signs of napalm bombing or nuclear disaster, the looting group decided to take on the large, empty airport first.

Abandoned helicopters, tanks, armored vehicles, even military planes were scattered across the wet runway. Drenched bodies were also scattered.

"This is good," said Kotaro. "All these supplies could last us quite a while."

"Yeah, that's weird," said Lincoln. "You would think you would find weapons and ammo, but no, we're finding food and water… almost as if people preferred weapons before."

David dropped a plastic packet in the ground, splashing into a puddle.

"Heh. Some of them even took their drugs with them. Morphine. Oxycontin."

Lincoln picked up a bag of crystalized rocks with the color of water.

"What's this?"

"Stay away from that, kid," said David. "That's methamphetamine."

Lincoln gulped and continued walking along the runway, the awkward silence drowned out by the splashing of raindrops shooting down at the pavement. The group continued to walk closer to the terminal, taking whatever bags of edible supplies they could get their hands on. Lincoln found bottles of water. Kotaro had his hands on canned food. David carried MREs with him. George held canisters. The other looters held a variety of wet supplies.

"We already have enough supplies," said Ronnie Anne. "Think we can just go and– ah, shit!"

She flinched back, catching the group's attention. David stepped forward and looked at one of the doors to the terminal, flinching slightly.

"Jesus," he muttered.

The group were left speechless as they looked at the hanging skull in the air by the terminal doors. A rusty shark hook held by a chain tied to the ceiling held the skull in the air, its tip piercing through the top cranium of the skull, and through the right eye socket. The survivors then moved their eyes from the skull to the large X plastered in the ground below it, where bones and muscle tissues lay stacked on top of each other.

"A whole lotta crazy people in this world, right?" said Lynn.

"As always," said Lincoln.

Sam rubbed her arms as she raised her eyebrows in pity.

"This is just cruel. I hope we don't meet the people who did this."

"Wherever these people are, they covered a lot of ground," said George. "These X's mean something. If we don't try to learn more about the freaks who are doing this, then we might be getting ourselves into some unwanted trouble."

"Or they're all dead," said David. "This person rotted to bones. Time passed. Maybe the people who did this passed as well."

"So, we're not in trouble?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"I didn't say that," said David. "We should take these supplies back, inform everyone. People need to know we're tryin' to find out more."

George nodded. He and David walked away from the skull hanging above the X, the group following them. Some took a couple glances back at the sight. Others refused to look back.

The windows in the hospital were spotted with raindrops, to which Carol was looking out of while holding the yellow pacifier. Dr. White grabbed a foldable chair and sat down next to Carol, wearing a gray shirt that did not hide his slightly overweight stomach. His hair was tied back into a short ponytail and his stubble was growing unevenly. But his burden of guilt was nothing compared to the burden of grief felt by Carol.

"I brought you some water," said Dr. White. "I also got a granola bar from one of the vending machines. It's not expired yet."

"I'm not hungry," Carol replied in a soft voice. "Not thirsty either."

"You haven't eaten since yesterday morning. And yesterday was a hell of a day for the nutrition in your body."

"Just a hell of a day in general."

Dr. White stood up and placed the glass of water and the granola bar by the window.

"For whenever you're ready to eat."

Carol did not turn her eyes away from the windows.

"I'd rather die," she said. "Thank you anyways."

Dr. White closed his eyes tightly and tried to recollect himself as he walked away. He walked over to Lisa, who was sitting by Lori, holding a flare gun.

"Doctor?" called out Lisa. "Are we going to resume our conversation?"

"Yeah, just… keep your voice down."

"My apologies," whispered Lisa, opening the canister of the flare gun with her bare hands. "So, this is what caused ill to Lori. The radiotrophic fungi inside the canister– which I decontaminated with a gas mixture and water– had grown as a result of the fallout from the nuclear disaster that occurred some time in the past. When she fired the flare, the fungi particles must have become airborne, causing Lori to ingest it through her lungs, causing this malady. I am almost certain that's what happened. All the evidence matches up."

Dr. White nodded. Lisa then placed the flare gun inside a drawer.

"Do you believe the roamers have been affected by the radiotrophic fungi as well?" asked Lisa. "The radiation must have mutated them, resulting in more powerful members of the deceased."

"Or perhaps they're evolving," said Dr. White. "Or rather, the parasitic virus inside the roamers are strengthening the roamers."

"Maybe…"

Lori groaned as she swayed her head slowly, opening her eyelids. She then lifted her arms, noticing the IV needles on it. She gulped and saw Dr. White and Lisa watching her wake up.

"How are you feeling?" asked Lisa.

Lori turned her head towards the other patients in the room, finding Vonda, Jace, Preston, and Reggie all asleep. She then saw Carol looking out the window, holding the yellow pacifier.

"Exhausted. Living should be making me happy… but it's not."

Lori then turned towards Dr. White and Lisa.

"How many of us remain?" she asked in a low voice.

"Twenty-six of us," said Lisa, "including you."

Lori sighed and sniffled. The dust zone was essentially a deathtrap with the vast amount of losses the group suffered in there. How many more were going to die on the journey to D.C.?

 **II - Trenton Makes, The World Takes**

-Two Weeks Later-

The clear skies allowed the sun rays to burn the survivors slowly. The heat was tormenting, leaving Bobby in a white tank top, David with a gray shirt with ripped sleeves, and almost everyone in shorts. A lot of exposed skin ran a higher risk of getting bit or scratched.

Luna slammed her crowbar down at a roamer stuck under a wrecked car. Clyde walked to the other side of the car and stepped on a roamer's hand with his repaired metallic leg. He then lifted his baseball bat and swung it down, splattering the roamer's brain with its fractured skull. The two survivors returned with the group as they continued walking down the street. Then, they stopped at the side of the road to observe the bridge in the distance. The dark neon signs that created Trenton's motto stared at the group.

"Regroup everyone," said Lori in David's walkie-talkie. "I got four armed survivors over here."

The gun barrel was dark inside, though the metallic surface reflected the sunlight. A finger was ready to press against the trigger. A couple bandages were stuck to the skin of the arm that held the revolver. The shoulder that the arm belonged to was wrapped with a tan vest and was covered by oily golden hair.

"Relax," said the survivor that the revolver aimed at. "We really don't mean harm– 'less you're one of the dead fuckers."

The young brunette with slicked back bob hair, which went no lower than her neck, held her arms up, with her UMP45 hanging around her red sleeveless shirt, which covered the top part of her leggings. She had a heart tattoo with the name 'JULIO' on her right arm, and a tattooed wrist on her left arm. Next to her was a tan woman around the same age, old enough to drink, with a yellow bandana wrapped around her forehead, where her hair dropped from the side of her head to the back of her crop top.

Becky held her Glock 17 in front of the woman with the yellow bandana, who wielded dual TEC-9s in her belt. Behind the young woman were two more young women, each with black hair, though one was curly and was tied in a ponytail, while the other went straight down to her back. They each wore tank tops and held CBJ-MS guns.

"Take your guns and drop them on the ground," said Lori.

"I get the hostility," said the woman facing the barrel of the Python. "I really do. We don't trust everyone either. Can't drop my only form of protection from people I never met. Can't risk it, ya know."

Lori pulled the hammer back and aimed the Python closer. The group that were looting a block away arrived at the street.

"Me either," she said.

"Okay, then let's getta' know each other. Name's Talia. Talia Bradshaw. Girl with the yellow bandana?"

"Sonora," she said. "My name's Sonora."

"I'm Haleema."

"Makara here."

"What brings you to Trenton?" asked Talia.

"Just looking for some things," said Lori, noticing that the girls were completely surrounded. "What are you all doing here? Looting too, I suppose?"

"Yeah. Looting. Moving from place to place. Next goal is Philly. Lower the gun, won't ya? Makin' me nervous as hell."

Lori looked at David and raised three fingers up. He nodded.

"How many roamers have you killed?" asked David. "Each of you."

"What, the dead sacks of shit?" chuckled Talia.

She took out a butterfly knife and opened the blade.

"Plenty," she said as she looked at the rest of her crew.

"We all killed a lot," said Sonora. "We have no trouble dealing with the _muertos_."

"How many people have you killed?" asked David.

"I'm not gonna lie. I killed people," said Talia. "Four people."

"Uhh, I haven't," said Sonora before pointing at Haleema and Makar. "Neither have they. We didn't need a reason to."

"I had my reasons," said Talia.

"Why?" asked David.

"What, why I killed the four? They were men trying to take advantage of us. I ain't a weak bitch. I did what I had to do, you know?"

"And you three?" asked David.

"What us?" asked Sonora. "Talia's a tough bitch. She took them on for us. We didn't have to do anything."

Lori lowered her gun. Talia looked back and shrugged as she wiped the sweat away from her face. The girls nodded as Talia faced Lori again.

"This may be askin' for too much, but mind if we ride with y'all? We ain't getting to Philly anytime soon with the damn weather beatin' on us."

"Deadass," said Haleema. "Water runs out fast too."

"Yeah. Anyways, that's where y'all headed, right? Philly?"

"Yeah. But you're finding your own food and water," said Lori. "We don't accept any dead weight."

Talia nodded and raised her hands, looking down as she walked towards the vehicles.

"We're anything but dead weight," said Talia. "Which car we ridin' on?"

The wheels on the vehicles moved along the pavement as grass began to grow in between cracks in the road. The girl crew all sat together in the floor in the back of Hana's RV as Luan and Benny turned around from the passenger seats.

"Ya know there's empty seats in the couch, right?" said Luan.

"Uh huh," said Haleema. "But it's so damn close to the undead fucker in the closet."

"Watch mouth," said Hana.

"How you feel so comfortable sleepin' under the same roof as the dead? It's waiting any moment to bite or scratch you."

"It doesn't have hands or teeth," said Becky. "It's domesticated."

"Domes–? I can't with that bullshit. If I were you, I would kill it!"

"Leema, chill," said Talia. "It's their car. Their rules."

Hana looked at the rearview mirror and saw Talia smiling and winking at her. She looked back at the road with an unchanged expression.

The evening sun shone on the group as they parked near a creek. Lisa placed her glasses back on before dropping a couple shards with unknown chemicals.

"There," said Lisa. "Smokeless fire."

The group held their canned food above the fire, with some of the group members standing and some of the others sat down. Talia stood up and placed her gun down. She then tapped David and pointed at a Ruger 10/22 in the ground.

"Think I can borrow it?" she asked. "I gotta look for my own food, right? I can hunt. But the little beast I have won't do shit long-range."

"Sure, take it," said David.

George grabbed his Mossberg 590 and grabbed a small bag with his shotgun ammo. He stood up and walked behind Talia, looking back at Lori, who gave him a nod.

"I'm going with her," he said. "Vee, don't take a bite of my food."

Vonda blew on her spoon of canned beef and gave him a thumbs up. Talia looked at George from head to toe and smiled.

"Not bad," she said. "I hope you got my back."

Carol and Becky stayed inside Hana's RV with the windows open, watching Kimi. Becky hoped that the dog would raise Carol's spirits, but her hopes were gone as Carol decided to stare out the open window instead, looking at George and Talia disappearing into the trees by the creek.

The windows to David's RV were open, though the curtains were closed. The door to the RV remained open as well, though a passing Lana walked by, determined to close it. She moved her hands to the door before pausing. To cure her hesitation, she peeked inside the RV, wondering who may have left the door open.

"Weber?" she called out.

Weber turned around as Lana walked inside the RV, turning the lights on. Weber stood by the closet with his hands behind his back. Lana cleared his throat and walked closer to Weber.

"What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," said Weber, scratching his nose. "What are you hiding?"

"I asked you first! You're not a good liar, ya know."

"It's just something to protect myself with," said Weber. "The roamers are bad, right?"

Weber revealed the Bowie knife in his hand, scratching his nose again.

"I won't hurt you. I promise."

Lana shook her head and walked away from the RV. Weber refused to change his deadpan expression. He turned back towards the closet and opened the closet, revealing stacks of ammo before setting his eyes on the M1911 that sat on the top part.

"Hey, Weber, is it?" asked Makara, slowly walking inside the RV.

Weber's deadpan expression refused to budge. After a few seconds, he nodded slowly.

"It looks like you have a lotta bullets," smiled Makara. "You do, right?"

"Yes. But just bullets in this car. The guns are in the other recreational vehicle."

"Oh, word? What kinda guns?"

"Big ones. Strong guns," said Weber before looking at the reflection in his knife. "Let's go. I'm getting a little hungry."

Makara nodded as she followed Weber out of the RV. She closed the door before looking at Hana's RV. Weber headed back near the group around the campfire, sitting next to Sam, which made her feel very uncomfortable. Haleema then approached Makara.

"Managed to jack anything?" asked Haleema.

"Nah. But I got something better for you. Their best guns?" said Makara before pointing at Hana's RV. "It's in there."

"It's where that katana bitch hangs out," said Haleema. "I really just wanna shoot her face. She has such a bitch face."

Haleema and Makara walked away from David's RV and headed back to the campfire. Meanwhile, Lana ran up to Lincoln, who was conversing with Clyde and Ronnie Anne, and pulled his shirt.

"Hey, what's going on, Lana?" asked Lincoln.

"Weber's a threat," said Lana.

"What, the kid with that mental condition?" said Ronnie Anne.

"We all have mental conditions at this point," said Clyde.

"If you mean being crazy, then yes!" exclaimed Lana.

Lincoln grabbed Lana's shoulder and walked her away from his friends. He then knelt on the grass and looked at Lana's eyes.

"Simon Weber is not crazy," said Lincoln. "He just lost his father. We all need to leave him alone. That includes you, Lana."

"I can't. I keep finding him doing weird stuff everywhere. Right now, he grabbed a knife! A very big one! He says it's to protect himself and all that crud, but do you really believe him?"

"Look at the world we live in. It seems to be getting more dangerous. He's just a kid. He's still learning to adapt, and we all need to understand that. I think he might be a little misunderstood, but he is certainly not crazy."

"What's his mental condition?" asked Lana as Lincoln stood up.

"I don't know. Ask someone else."

Lincoln headed back with his friends, leaving Lana alone to observe Weber from the distance. She gulped and walked towards Lori.

"Oh my God! Hahaha!" laughed Sonora as she touched Bobby's shoulders. "That's so true!"

"Ha… ha. It really wasn't that funny," said Lori, staring at Sonora's hands.

"It's a Latino thing," smiled Bobby. "It's okay if you don't get it, babe. She can explain it to you!"

"Me?" gasped Sonora, moving her hair to the side. "Oh, Bobby, she just won't get the joke. She's not like us."

Sonora then looked at Lori.

"I can see why you put a ring on him," she said, moving her hands down to Bobby's biceps. "I bet he's your savior. Handsome guy looking out for you."

"I can save my own skin, thanks," said Lori as she stood up. "I need some fresh air away from the fire."

"But it's smokeless," said Bobby.

The birds chirped softly as the leaves rocked back and forth as gentle as a slow rocking chair. Talia shot her rifle and hit the water near the creek, frightening the brown rabbit away. She lowered her rifle and sighed.

"Sorry, I think the heat's gettin' to me."

George nodded and looked ahead for more possible sources of food. He then turned towards Talia, before finding her sitting on the grass, looking up at him.

"A lil' break," she said.

George sighed and sat down next to Talia, rubbing his palms against his legs. He wiped the sweat from his face before looking ahead at the creek. Both survivors stared at the glittering reflection as Talia laid her head on George's shoulders.

"It's beautiful, ain't it?" said Talia. "This world is not all that bad. The freedom that I get from this world– it's something nice that I didn't really have in the old world."

"It's something," nodded George.

He then noticed Talia placing her hands over his. He flinched his hands away, causing Talia to gasp softly, though she quickly grabbed his hands back.

"It's been years since I've last been with a man," she said as she moved her hands over George's chest. "You haven't been with a woman in a while either, have you?"

Talia then wrapped her arm around George and leaned close to his face, kissing him as she placed her legs over his lap. George kept his eyes open, observing her young and smooth skin.

"Talia… I can't. This is all too sudden."

"Come on," she whispered. "It's just gonna be this one time. It'll be quick, I promise."

Talia removed her sleeveless shirt, and smiled at George as she began to unhook her red bra. George gulped as Talia rocked slowly against his lap, placing her head over her shoulders as she kissed his neck. He looked at her flawless skin in her back before moving Talia away from his neck.

"I'm sorry," said George as he moved Talia off his lap. "I can't do this. You know I used to be an FBI agent, right?"

"Hot," smiled Talia as she leaned closer to George.

George stood up.

"I used to bust people like you. You were in a gang, right? Julio, you got that name tattooed on your arm, that was your boyfriend or something?"

"That was in the old world," said Talia.

"Latin Queen tattoo on your back? You were associated with the Latin Kings, weren't you?"

"Old world," she said.

"What about those prison tattoos? You were going to stay in prison for a while, but you don't look that old. You look about twenty."

"I'm twenty-four," said Talia. "I'm changed now. This new world is my new chance at life."

"What did you go to prison for?" asked George before remembering the questions that she and her crew answered. "You killed people before all this, didn't you?"

"They deserved it," said Talia.

George looked towards the creek. Talia turned around, before quickly covering her breasts. Lori held her revolver in one hand and a hatchet on the other.

"How much did you hear?" asked Talia.

"I heard enough," said Lori. "George, bring her back with the others."

The campfire crackled as cans were tossed to the ground. Bobby nervously moved Sonora away from his arms and stood up, rubbing his head as he looked into the wooded creek with worried eyes. He then smiled softly as his fiancée walked out of the woods.

"Lori… I'm sorry if we made you feel a little uncomfortable," said Bobby.

"It's not your fault for being naive," said Lori. "Sonora, stand up."

She remained on the ground as she saw George and Talia walking out of the wooded creek. George held the rifle and his own shotgun, as Talia covered her bra with her sleeveless shirt.

"You two, come here," Lori told Haleema and Makara. "Sonora, stand up!"

The girls gathered across Hana's RV and placed their hands on the vehicles. Lori pulled up each of their shirts, exposing their backs as George identified all types of prison tattoos and markings that revealed their former life in gangs.

"Nobody gets these if they're in prison for a few months," said George. "I think you all murdered people before."

"Who hasn't by now?" hissed Talia.

The evening sun peered through the wooded creek. The group members were in their respective vehicles as Lori tossed out the girls' bags out of Hana's RV. She then walked to Vanzilla and closed the door.

"This ain't right," said Talia. "We're in the middle of nowhere. You're just gonna leave us to die out here?"

"Yeah," replied Lori. "Sorry. We don't trust you. If you had done anything, I woulda' killed you all. Consider yourself lucky."

The vehicles drove away as the four women stepped into the road. Talia sighed as Haleema nudged her.

"The fuck do we do now?" she said.

"There's only one road," said Talia. "We're gettin' to where we're goin'."

The women then walked ahead in the road, leaving the cans and burnt logs behind.

The stars lit up the night sky while a sliver of the moon remained almost hidden from sight. The owls hooted across the park where the group found a house at. The massive oak trees covered the house, weeds grew over the pavement in the park, and the benches were covered in animal waste and leaves. The lamps were off, making the park too dark for the roamers to see through. Then, a beam of light pointed at one of the benches.

"Weber?" called out Lincoln, holding a flashlight. "What are you doing out here?"

"Leaving people alone," Weber answered, observing the moving leaves in the trees.

"Don't you wanna come inside? It's comfy inside."

"It's never going to be comfortable anywhere," said Weber. "Not without my dad."

"I know how hard it is to live without your father anymore, especially if he was someone you trusted so much," whispered Lincoln as he sat down next to Weber. "It's even harder when you haven't had the chance to say goodbye to him. This world really is uncomfortable, but not all the time. I know I may sound crazy right now but… you will feel better with time. Especially if you talk with people you can trust."

Weber looked at Lincoln.

"You don't think I'm crazy?" asked Weber.

"Having a big knife doesn't make you crazy," said Lincoln.

"Lana told you about that? I know she thinks I'm weird and crazy. I even think she's scared of me. I'm just trying to do things in secret so I don't scare anyone."

"Well, you certainly scare me, with your… fierce skills!" chuckled Lincoln.

"Sorry," said Weber.

"No, no, I'm sorry," said Lincoln. "That was sarcasm. I know you don't quite understand it completely, but I wasn't being serious. The only people that should be scared of you are the roamers. You don't scare me but I wouldn't want to mess with you."

Weber smiled.

"I kinda wanna be like you," said Weber. "Someone people trust."

Lincoln smiled before looking into the distance. He peered through the darkness that surrounded the park, and found movement among the low-hanging leaves in the trees that stood along the bike track. He then looked on top of the RV, finding the lawn chair unfolded, but empty.

"Go inside," said Lincoln. "It's dark out here. Which means it's dangerous. Please go back inside."

Lincoln then stood up from the bench and passed the RV and the entrance to the house, heading towards the bike track. Weber remained seated on the bench before standing up.

Few spots of starlight were able to pass through the abundance of trees in the park. Flowers blew softly against the breeze of the summer night. Next to a tree was a blue port-a-potty. Lori quickly closed the door after getting a quick whiff of the smell inside. She then walked near a large tree, taking a deep breath.

The air felt cool and relaxing as Lori unzipped her shorts, tossing her revolver and her hatchet to the ground beside her. She then squatted down and relieved herself of all the liquid she consumed– though it wasn't a lot– while hearing the hooting of an owl. It wasn't difficult to urinate in the darkness as fear began to overtake Lori. After a few seconds, she pulled her cargo shorts up and proceeded to zip them, observing the spot she just urinated at.

Suddenly, Lori was tackled against the tree, her temple bleeding after her face smacked against the tree. A hand shoved the side of her face against the bark of the tree as one of her wrists was being gripped to the point of losing blood circulation.

"You asked me why I killed my victims?" hissed the voice in the darkness. "Because they pissed me off."

"I knew I couldn't… trust you," groaned Lori as she struggled to lift her face off the tree. "Talia… stop!"

Lori backkicked Talia's groin before freeing her face from the tree. She turned around but was quickly grabbed by Talia and tossed to the ground away from the tree. Talia sat on top of Lori's lap as she held both of her wrists above her head with one hand, her muscles gained during prison time giving her the strength to do so. She then pressed her other hand on top of Lori's mouth as she struggled to scream.

"Scream all you want," hissed Talia. "Your friends won't hear ya. You're only making this more enjoyable for me. I like it when you fight back, you know."

Talia released her hand from Lori's mouth, allowing her to scream in protest as she struggled to set herself free. Talia unzipped her shorts as she pulled Lori's down.

"Let me go you freak!" yelled Lori.

"Keep talkin' dirty to me," snickered Talia as she pulled Lori's shirt upwards. "Keep squirming, bitch."

Lori shrieked as Talia pulled her undergarments away from her crotch. She flailed her legs and her body as she struggled to shove Talia away from her body. But she responded with a punch across her jaw and more rough foreplay.

"You're the best one I had yet," chuckled Talia. "After I'm done with you, I will–"

The flash of a gunshot lit up the area for a split second as Talia gagged and slowly fell out of Lori's lap. Blood poured out of the side of her neck as she wrapped her hands around it, gagging before becoming unresponsive, her eyes staring into the night sky. Lori pulled her shirt down as she panted, squinting her eyes at the tree. She then gasped softly.

"I'm not losing anyone else anymore," said Lincoln as he knelt down with a knife, stabbing Talia's skull.

Lori quickly pulled her shorts up and zipped them as she crawled towards Lincoln. He handed the Python back to Lori, to which she responded with a hug.

"You killed my friend, you _putos_!" yelled Sonora, who held both of her Tec-9's against Weber's face. "Get up! Go back to the house or I swear to _dios_ I will shoot this kid's skull!"

Lincoln and Lori quickly stood up, Lori grabbing her hatchet and revolver and placing it on her belt as she lifted her hands up. Lincoln dropped his knife to the ground and held his hands up, walking on the bike trail back to the house.

"What the hell's going on out there?" muttered David, holding his M9 as he walked out of the house.

Haleema and Makara fired their CBJ-MS at the entrance to the house, causing David to flinch back and jump to the ground. They stood by Hana's RV with a crate of weapons, firing rifles and other submachine guns at the house. They shattered the windows, shot through the doors, blew the wood off the roof.

"Basement, now!" yelled David as a few bullets flew across the house.

The survivors yelped and shrieked as they ran down to the basement, avoiding all the bullets that were penetrating through the walls. David slowly crawled to the back door as Hana ran to the attic.

"I'm gonna finish the zombie fucker inside the RV," said Haleema.

"Ima' just keep my distance," said Makara.

Sonora laughed as she pointed one of her dual SMGs at Lori and Lincoln, walking within site of the house.

"Your friends are gonna die now," said Sonora. "Shouldn't have pissed Talia off by exiling us."

Weber looked at Sonora, noticing that she was distracted with both Lori and Lincoln. He grabbed her left wrist and chomped his teeth on it, causing her to drop one of her SMGs.

"Ahh, _mierda_! Little _pendejo_!" she yelled as she aimed her CBJ at Weber.

Lori quickly lifted her revolver and let off two shots to her chest. She groaned as she collapsed to the ground as Lori quickly ran over to her, aiming her revolver at her head.

"You're right," said Lori. "I shouldn't have exiled you all. I should've killed you all."

Lori then pressed the revolver before grabbing Weber's wrist and running away from the bike trail. Lincoln stared at Sonora's corpse before following Lori, having trouble catching his breath.

Haleema turned the lights on to Hana's RV and fired her CBJ at the closet door, causing the closet to burst open. Reiji growled as it stared at Haleema. She lifted her gun before hearing a footstep behind her. She turned before being stabbed across her stomach, the blade going in her left side and out her right side. Hana quickly pulled out her katana and sliced Haleema's head off her body. Hana looked down and grabbed the head, tossing it out of her RV.

Makara yelled as she fired her SMG at the entrance of the house. She then ran away from the RV, trying to find run away into the darkness of the park. Suddenly, David popped out from the driveway, shooting Makara in her legs. She fell down and rolled, groaning at the wound in her thigh. David walked towards Makara as she slowly crawled back. She then felt the barrel of a revolver behind her head.

"Going somewhere?" asked Lori.

"I was just a hitchhiker," she whispered. "I'll go anywhere but–"

Lori shot her revolver before running towards the house.

"We have to leave now," she said. "Roamers are gonna be here any second."

David nodded. Lincoln stared at Makara's corpse in the ground and had difficulty swallowing. He then shook his head quickly and ran towards the house with Weber, gathering everyone to the vehicles. The roamers slowly made their way to the park, though by the time they approached the bodies near the house, the vehicles have already made their way out of the park.

 **III - Rabid Dog**

-Four Days Later-

A pair of circular sunglasses was placed down in a table on a room on the second floor of an apartment building in the city of Philadelphia. The sunlight peered through the white curtains and reflected off of the sunglasses.

Preston sat down on a couch as he looked at the glasses. He then folded his arms by his chest and closed his eyes as he softly prayed.

In the next room was a darker room, with Jace lying down on a couch. Luna walked inside, untying her tiny tail of hair behind her head. She lifted Jace's head up and sat where it lied before releasing it, placing his head on her lap.

"I know who you're thinking about," said Luna. "It's not your fault she died. And don't say anything because I know you're gonna say I'm wrong. But just hear me out."

Jace looked up at Luna as she stared at the dark curtains.

"You told me countless times that Leni shoulda' went with you rather than sending her off with Carol and Haley alone. You said if you hadn't, she wouldn't have died. And that's true."

Luna's voice lowered and softened.

"Leni went to save the rogue prisoner. Oliver Jett, in case you forgot his name."

"I haven't," said Jace.

"Haley went to rescue my sister Lynn. So, Leni was safe with Carol, Dr. White, Lisa, Clyde, and some others. But she chose not to go with them. Not after she found the rogue prisoner. And what she wanted to do was do the last good thing she would ever attempt in her life."

Luna sniffled.

"To save a bloody rogue who probably woulda' spit at her the moment he was freed. But Leni still wanted to free him. She didn't care if she died for him. In fact, she stayed even when she knew the buses would leave."

Luna let a tear fall from her eyes.

"Maybe she woulda' lived if she went with you. Maybe not. But you are not at fault, Jace. She chose to stay behind… even when she had the chance to escape."

Luna wiped the tear from her cheek.

"What I'm telling you is that she was gonna pull something like that eventually. If it wasn't then, it would probably be later. She was too good for this world and there's nothing you coulda' done about that."

Jace stood up as Luna sniffled once more.

"I miss her but I also miss you, Jace. You disappear too much on your own. Leni wouldn't want this. I don't want this."

Jace hugged Luna. He closed his eyes and sniffled. From the door, Sam watched the two hug each other in reassurance. She struggled to smile and walked away into the next room.

She gasped as Preston opened his eyes and unfolded his arms.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt…" she stammered.

"It's okay. I just finished praying."

Preston picked up Leni's glasses and placed them in a case.

"Wanna try?" asked Preston.

"Never been a big fan," said Sam. "I always thought God has already damned me to the inferno. I don't think he would wanna hear a lesbian get all straight with him."

"Don't be silly."

"The church's words. Not mine."

"The Lord loves you, Sam. Have a seat. I'll help you out."

Sam sat. She folded her arms as per Preston's instructions. She closed her eyes, even though she felt humiliated doing this. But she would take any chance to move past the loss of her family.

Candy wrappers and tin cans rolled around the streets as a few roamers wandered around the streets. Some moved faster than others, though those that did seemed to look more decayed, with the exception of one roamer, who seemed to have hard fruiting bodies growing in its head, like hard mushrooms.

Lori and David approached from the corner of the alleyway with the group hiding in the shadows, finding a few roamers more than a dozen yards away from them as they peeked at the streets.

"We have to be as quiet as possible," said Lori. "If we want to reach the grocery store at the intersection, we gotta sneak past the roamers."

"What? We can totally take them out," said Becky.

"Don't tell me you've grown scared of them just because they run fast," said Lynn.

"It's not just that," she said. "We're in a city with possibly millions of roamers. Last thing we want is firing a gun and letting the entire city know we're here."

"I see your point," Lynn whispered. "Lead the way."

Lori waited until all the roamers faced away from the alleyway before she crawled across the sidewalk. David, Becky, Bobby, Lynn, and Kotaro followed her, each taking cover behind the wreckage of a car in the middle of the street. They quickly crawled to a parked car next to a fire hydrant. Then, Lori crawled behind a police car, placing each foot in front of the other as softly as she could as she kept her back lowered. David sprinted to the car, though her footsteps were as light as feathers. Next, Bobby moved slowly across the sidewalk as Lynn quickly passed him with quieter steps. Kotaro attempted to cross to the back of the police car, but one of the roamers turned around. It growled, limping down the street away from the intersection.

Kotaro looked at Lori as she held her hand up, peeking through the windows of the police car, noticing the roamer walk towards the parked car. He sat still with his back placed on the side of the car, as the roamer walked to the front of the car.

Lori grabbed her hatchet, squatted, and walked towards the car. But the roamer growled once more, and moved away from the parked car, heading into an alley. After more than a couple seconds, Kotaro quickly moved behind the police car.

"That was close," he mouthed.

Lori nodded as she led her group across the intersection. She arrived in front of the door and noticed the lack of roamers.

"Quick, get inside," she whispered.

Kotaro, however, placed his arms in front of Lori and stopped her from opening the door. He pointed at the top of the transparent door. There was a bell on top of the door.

"Good eyes," she whispered. "Quick, to the parking lot."

The group moved to the parking lot behind the grocery store, now gone from sight of the roamers in the street.

The clock in the living room remained frozen as the batteries were long dead. Lincoln sat on the couch, staring at his own reflection in a small TV. He sighed and grabbed his backpack, rummaging for anything that could take his mind off the worry he had for his group.

"Linky?" called out a voice from the stairs.

Lincoln looked at the stairs and smiled.

"Hey, Lily. Feeling a little thirsty?"

"A little," said Lily as she grabbed a tiny canister. "You look sad. Are you sad?"

"A little," said Lincoln. "We lost a lotta people lately. But I'm mostly worried."

"Are you always sad? Even before this world?"

"What do you mean before this world?"

Lily sat next to Lincoln with the canister in her hands.

"Before the monsters," she said. "When dead people are not monsters."

"There were always monsters," said Lincoln, looking away from Lily. "This is how life is, you know."

"Nuh uh," said Lily. "Leni said there are no monsters before. You're not being right."

"You mean, I'm not telling the truth?" said Lincoln. "Leni… was right. There used to be a world without roamers. I only lied because I didn't want you to be jealous of not knowing how the old world used to be like."

"Jealous? What's that?" asked Lily.

"It's when you're angry or upset about something that you don't or can't have."

"I not feel jealous. I like what I have."

Lincoln looked at Lily and nodded. He grabbed Lily and placed her on his shoulders, reflecting on what she just said.

A flashlight lit up the cabinets in the kitchen. Lana walked away from the kitchen and passed the living room, going upstairs into the hallway.

"Izzy? Lizzy? Where did you girls go?" she called out.

She looked at the end of the hallway and found that the door was opened, revealing stairs that led to the attic. She approached the stairs and sighed.

"I guess I gotta ask Weber," she muttered to herself.

Lana walked up the stairs, lighting up her flashlight. She turned it off as light passed through the circular window to the attic. She saw Weber, who was frozen in place where he stood, holding two living creatures in his hands.

"Weber? What are you doing with Jace's lizards?"

Weber's eyes remained fixated on something past the attic window. The two lizards squirmed around in his hands.

"Hey, man, I asked you a question," said Lana. "What are you looking– AHH!"

Lana's shriek spooked Weber as he gulped. Lana cried out in panic, as she looked at the hanging body in the corner of the attic. The blonde hair covered her neck, though the dark line of the rope could be seen even in the shadow.

"Guys, help! Help!" yelled Lana. "Someone help Carol!"

Weber looked away and dashed out of the attic, bumping into Luan and Benny as they ran up the attic. Lana grew tears in her eyes as her heart began to beat fast. Carol's eyes were shut and drool leaked out of her mouth as her skin began to shift colors as her sneakers hovered above the ground.

"Lana, go!" exclaimed Benny.

Lana ran out the attic as Luan unsheathed her katana. She quickly swung the sword sideways, slicing the rope, and causing Carol's body to drop to the floor. Dr. White walked inside the attic with a gasp as Carol's body thudded against the floor.

"Weber!" yelled Lana.

She ran across the street and made a turn. The roamers from the next street were misled by the sound of her yells as they all headed in different directions.

"Where'd you go?" panted Lana.

Lana looked behind cars, at driveways, passed by lawns, hopped across fences. Then, she heard the barking of a dog.

"You got some explaining to do!" she said as she walked to an alley. "Weber!"

A stray pit bull growled and barked at Weber as he stood against a fence. Lana's presence did not faze the dog as it continued to approach Weber. Weber then tossed one of the lizards in his hands at the dog, causing it to let out a large bark before it chomped on the green reptile.

"No! Why'd you do that!" yelled Lana.

"I'm sorry, the dog scared me!" exclaimed Weber.

Lana shook her head as she saw Lizzy being ripped to pieces by the dog's teeth. She grew angry at Weber and walked closer to him and the dog.

"You're killing a bunch of animals– kinda sick, but are you going to move to humans too?" hissed Lana.

"I didn't hang Carol," said Weber. "She did that herself."

"You left her there to die! Do you understand?" yelled Lana. "She could be dead right now!"

"That would hurt the group a lot, right? Not my dad's death but her death?"

Weber looked at the lizard he held in his hand.

"No one cares about my dad. Not even… this… stupid… reptile!"

Weber then tossed the other lizard in his hand at the stray dog. The dog panted and leaped towards the other lizard, sinking its teeth and ripping its flesh apart. Lana shrieked as the dog munched on Izzy. Her face reddened as she ran towards Weber.

"YOU PSYCHO!"

Lana shoved Weber against the fence and punched his head. She then shoved him in the ground and began to kick him.

"Stop! Please!" yelled Weber.

"Why are you like this?" cried Lana. "You killed Jace's lizards! You're so messed up in the head!"

Weber kicked Lana's shin and pulled her hair to the ground. She yelped as Weber began to slap her over and over. She then punched him in the stomach before he tried to crawl away.

"Come back here!" she spat.

Weber then pulled out his large Bowie knife from his belt and pointed it at Lana. She gasped and slowly crawled back.

"It works," said Weber. "I told you. I only needed this to protect myself."

"You killed Lizzy and Izzy…" sniffled Lana. "Why…"

Weber realized how troubled Lana felt from the deaths of the lizards. He walked towards the dog and thrust his knife up the dog's throat. The dog yelped as it leaped towards Weber, trying to chomp him, but Weber turned it around and continued stabbing the dog in its stomach.

"NO!" cried Lana. "Why would you do that!"

Tears ran down Lana's cheeks as she continued to cry out at Weber.

"I hate you, you stupid idiot!"

Weber dropped the dog's bloody carcass in the ground and frowned, rubbing his nose as he looked away from Lana. She began to sob softly as Weber wiped his knife on the dog's gray fur.

Sweat dripped from Lori's face as she placed her back against the wall of the grocery store where garbage piled up. The group looked at the backdoor and found the bloody mark that they encountered many times since their arrival at the dust zone.

"Another damn X," sighed David. "Something tells me we're going to find the fuckers that are leaving these X's all over the damn place."

"I bet there's a dead body behind the door," said Kotaro.

"Only one way to find out," said Lynn.

Bobby placed his hands on the door handle while David aimed his pistol at the door. Bobby backed away and pulled open the door, hearing a small clutter of noises by an abandoned car as a string tied to the door was pulled as well.

Then, the car alarms went off and multiple roamers stood up from where they were hiding– behind the abandoned cars in the parking lot and inside the grocery store. David fired one shot at a roamer inside the grocery store before lowering his gun.

"Shit," he muttered. "It's a fucking trap!"

Becky released a couple shots from her sidearm before grabbing her machete, the group backing away from the parking lot and into the sidewalks. The group looked at the intersection and saw roamers crawling out of alleyways, limping down the streets, revealing themselves from inside other buildings.

Luan and Benny stopped jogging in the middle of the road as they looked around, hearing the car alarms from blocks away. They both grabbed their swords and continued jogging in the streets.

"Go around this block," said Benny. "Lana and the boy have to be close."

Luan nodded as she ran off in the other direction.

George walked outside apartment building and looked at the direction of the car alarm. Vonda walked out with him, though he held her back.

"Something wrong happened," said Vonda.

"I can tell," said George. "It's coming from where the others said they were gonna go."

His walkie-talkie crackled as David's voice spoke.

"Put all your stuff back into the vehicles!" he exclaimed. "We're leaving the city! Hurry!"

Vonda gasped as she ran inside the house.

"Everyone, we have to leave!" she yelled.

Lincoln and Lily looked at each other with worry in their eyes as Dr. White kept applying chest compressions to Carol. Lisa manually kept Carol ventilated as Reggie whimpered in sickly worry. Luna, Sam, Jace, and Preston walked downstairs, finding Carol in the couch. They all gasped and ran towards her, though Vonda insisted that they pack up their things. Jeffrey ran into the living room with a canister, pouring some water on a rag before placing it on top of Carol's head.

"Roamers are coming, you know," said Vonda.

"They heard," said Hana as she walked out of the apartment building with Kimi.

The car alarm continued to blare throughout the area, causing Lana and Weber to look at the direction opposite of the fence. A roamer growled as it tried to crawl its way through the fence, though Weber and Lana were on the floor on the opposite side. Then, Luan peeked at the alleyway and ran inside, using her katana to stab the roamer through the fence.

"What the heck happened here?" asked Luan, causing Lana to stutter. "On second thought, you can tell me later. We have to go, you can't be running off like that."

Weber placed his knife back in his holster in his belt and held Luan's hand while Lana held her other hand.

Luan and Benny ran back to the vehicles, Lana and Weber with them. They found the group members running inside the vehicles, including the ones that were on the supply-run.

"What happened to Carol?" exclaimed Lori.

"She hanged herself… but she's still alive," said Dr. White. "Breathing at least, her pulse is normal, but we don't know how long her body has been deprived of oxygen."

Becky and Bobby carried Carol inside Hana's RV. Dr. White walked over to the RV before turning towards Lori.

"She's very lucky to be alive. But it's possible she suffered brain damage. We don't know if she'll ever be the same again when she wakes up."

"She won't," said Lori.

Dr. White walked inside Hana's RV and closed the door as Lori ran to her seat in Vanzilla. She entered her keys in the ignition switch and started the car, pressing her foot on the gas pedal. The cars behind her followed her as they drove away from the car alarms.

"Wait!" yelled a voice from the sidewalk. "Take me with you!"

Lori looked at the middle-aged man carrying a backpack and a rifle with him though her open window. She grabbed a walkie-talkie and spoke into it.

"Don't stop for him."

The vehicles continued driving past the survivor as he cried out for help. He ran after the vehicles before falling to the ground, cutting his knee. He groaned as a few running roamers that were chasing after the vehicle began to lunge towards him. He yelled as the roamers piled on top of him, diving their teeth into his flesh.

Lori sighed and turned the steering wheel, leading all the vehicles away from the city. The day has yet to be finished, but the group were all out of energy and morale.

 **IV - In The Middle Of It All**

-Four Days Later-

The evening sun warned of the dusk that would soon fall on the city of Wilmington. "In the Middle of it All" by Irma Thomas played in the stereo in David's RV as the vehicles parked in front of a small cabin in Alapocas Run State Park. The group members took shelter inside the cabin as the groups brought their bags of canned food and buckets of meat. A fire was set in the logs of the fireplace as the survivors heated up their food by it.

Carol laid on a bed in one of the rooms, staring at the curtains covering the windows. Dr. White and Lisa attempted to talk to her to no avail. Becky held Carol's snub-nosed revolver on a table in the corner of the room where she sat, drinking a bottle of liquor as she set her hair loose into her shoulders. She placed her hands on her chin as she gazed into the fireplace, taking another sip.

Dr. White and Lisa walked out of the quiet room, giving Lori the cue to walk inside. She opened the door and closed it, as she quietly approached Carol.

"Hey, girlfriend," said Lori, struggling to smile. "We haven't had a talk in a minute."

"It's okay," whispered Carol. "I don't wanna talk."

"Okay… I'll do the talking then. And don't worry. I'm not gonna judge you or scold you for anything. You're a really strong woman, Carol. I can't imagine anyone who would have held on as long as you did… but I don't wanna see my friend go. I really don't. I'm here for you. I'm sorry if it didn't feel like I was but I promise you now… I'm here for you."

The door opened, catching Lori's attention. Lana peeked her head through as she looked around the room.

"Sorry. I've just been wondering if you seen my gun."

Lori pulled out a gun from below her chair and lifted the AKS-74U. Lana's eyes lifted up as she walked inside the room.

"I've heard what you did to Simon Weber," said Lori. "I also heard about the things you told Lincoln. Tell me this, Lana– what are you going to do with the gun?"

"I-I just need it to feel safe," muttered Lana. "Can I have it or not?"

Lori placed the gun down before looking at Carol, who kept her eyes fixated on the curtains. She picked up the gun again and walked out of the room with Lana and into the hallway away from the living room.

"I can't give you the gun. You don't need it now."

"But Weber gets to run around with a knife?" groaned Lana. "Weber is crazy, doesn't anyone see it? He killed Izzy and Lizzy, and then he killed a dog right after! He pulled a knife on me."

"I'll handle it later," said Lori.

"Handle it how?"

Lori sighed and knelt to meet Lana's eye level.

"I don't want you to do anything," Lori said.

"Then, can you do it instead? Put him down or something! Kick him out if you need to!"

"No, we're not going to kill him!"

"Why not?" exclaimed Lana. "You killed threats before! Don't you know that Weber's a threat! He's not right in the head. Next thing you know, he's gonna grab a gun and kill a person instead of our pets!"

"It's not the same thing," said Lori.

"It is the same thing! I'm not just going to sit around and wait until he kills someone! We have to stop him! You have to stop him!"

"Enough!" hissed Lori. "I don't want you to ask me to kill someone ever again! And leave the boy alone! Mom raised you better than this!"

"Well, Mom ain't here! And you sure as HELL ain't Mom!" yelled Lana as she stormed away from the door and out the hallway.

Weber, who hid away from the entrance of the hallway, backed away, whimpering softly as he looked at the living room. Some gazed at him while others looked into the hallway. Weber then quickly walked away into the back room as Bobby stood up from his seat at the table by the hallway. Bobby backed up as Lana stormed away from the hallway, and to the table where Bobby sat. He then walked into the hall and placed his arms around Lori's shoulder.

"Well, that was… shocking," said Bobby.

"How much did you hear?" asked Lori.

"The others didn't really hear you guys until Lana screamed that part. But I did."

"I'm afraid that I'm not being a good role model for her," said Lori. "I don't think I'm someone she can look up to."

"You only do some things so that she doesn't have to," said Bobby. "You're a good role model. But she has to understand that there are some things that are your decisions and your decisions only."

Lori nodded. Bobby opened the door to Carol's resting room, and motioned Lori to go inside with him. She gave him a soft kiss and walked inside.

Weber ran downstairs into the basement, flicked a lantern on, and paced back and forth. He rubbed his nose and placed his hands over his head.

"Hello," said a voice behind Weber. "You look scared."

"Lily Loud," sighed Weber. "I am scared of your sister, Lana. I'm scared that she's going to kill me… and no one in the group is going to care."

"Is Lana a monster?" asked Lily, becoming worried.

"Y-Yes. She's bad. We have to run away now. Leave the group… find safety on our own. You're going to die with these people. Ever since my dad died, more than half of our group have been killed off. These people are stupid and they're going to get us killed. We have to go now! Oh, I wish we could take Lincoln…"

Lana climbed down into the basement.

"You're not going anywhere with Lily," she hissed. "You're going away… on your own! Or better yet, I kill you myself!"

Weber shook his head as Lana approached him.

"You wanted Carol to die… that's why you left her hanging there, right? You were going to kill us all one by one… starting with me!"

Weber punched Lana in her jaw and grabbed Lily's hand as they both ran to the entrance. Lana quickly grabbed Weber's leg and pulled him back as she elbowed his lower leg. Weber cried out and pulled out his knife. Lana then pulled out a snub-nosed revolver– the same one that Becky was supposed to guard in her sober state so that Carol wouldn't shoot herself– and aimed it at Weber.

Weber then turned the knife inwards and held the blade against Lily's neck as she shrieked.

"No, don't!" yelled Lana.

"Stay away from me!" yelled Weber. "Lily and I are going to head out that door… and we're never going to come back. We'll survive longer than you and everyone in your group."

Weber climbed up the basement, holding Lily with a knife by her throat. He closed the basement door and ran out the back door of the cabin, holding Lily's hand as they both ran into the wooded trees in the park, following the creek.

Lana grabbed the lantern and ran up the basement stairs, slamming the door open, causing Lincoln to stumble back after he tried approaching the basement. Lana ran out the back door and into the wooded trees, causing Lincoln to shout after her.

Ronnie Anne opened the door to the back room of the cabin, finding Lincoln grabbing his flashlight.

"Tell the group to look for Lana, Simon Weber, and me in the woods," he said. "Hurry!"

Lincoln ran off towards the trees that surrounded the cabin, following a particular creek. Twilight approached as the sun set over the horizon, the danger heightening in the shadows of the trees.

The beam of light traveled across the woods as Lincoln ran, leaped, crouched. Twigs in the ground caused him to stumble, branches smacked him in the face, bugs caused him to scratch his arms. An owl hooted in the distance as Lincoln tripped on a rock in the ground. He groaned as he lifted himself up, rough leaves on his arm. He smacked the dirt off his hair and looked around with his flashlight.

"Oh man," he sighed. "Lana! Where are you!"

No response. He quickly picked himself up, and continued to press his shoes against the dirt as he ran off into the woods.

Lana continued to follow the creek while holding the lantern up with her free hand and the revolver with her shooting arm. No footsteps ahead of her. She turned away from the creek and jogged deeper into the woods.

The night grew darker as members of the group navigated through the woods. Lynn aimed the flashlight in the dirt, following a trail of footsteps with Preston next to her, both studying the tracks that the children left behind. Vonda looked out for any other tracks while Lori followed them, leading the group behind her. Kotaro moved the branches away from him as he carried his Remington 700 through the woods. Reggie strayed a bit away from the group before returning, then strayed away as he repeated this.

"Think we can split up?" suggested Benny. "We can cover more ground like that."

"Yeah, that'd be a great idea," said Lori.

"Wait, hold on," said David. "Look, the trees."

"Great, more X's," said George.

Lori looked at a particular oak tree and placed her hands on the scratched bark, moving her fingers along the diagonal lines. She then looked down on the dirt. There were spots of blood that lay on the grass. She turned around and shook her head.

"No splitting up," she said.

"Hey, Lori," called out Lynn. "There're hella prints here. All different shoes, and some are even footprints. I don't think we're following the right tracks."

Lynn looked at a pile of leaves in the ground.

"Wait, I think I found something," she said.

She yelped as a rope net quickly pulled her upwards, wrapping her body as she struggled to move.

"I'm being held like a piñata!" yelled Lynn. "Help me!"

Lori and the rest of the group ran to huddle around the net which hung at eye level with David. Then a quick shuffle of leaves followed by a large snap caused Reggie to yell his most excruciating screams. He quickly dropped to the ground as a metallic bear trap mauled through his ankles.

"Oh my god!" yelled Jace.

A few growls lurked in the woods. The group moved their flashlights in all directions, revealing golden eyes peering at them. Lynn yelled as a roamer stumbled towards her before a blade quickly slashed through the roamers' skull. Luan then turned around and swung her katana at the noose that held the rope net, causing Lynn to drop down. David then knelt down and cut open the net, freeing Lynn.

Preston grabbed the bear trap and tried opening it, but it remained shut. Reggie continued screaming as blood squirted out of his ripped arteries. Lori used her rifle to smack the roamers away from Reggie before slamming it against their skull. Preston grabbed his pocket knife and stabbed a roamer that tried to bite a vulnerable Reggie.

"What do we do?" panted Preston.

Lori shook her head as she grabbed her hatchet. The rest of the group continued fighting off the roamers.

Lana panted as she placed her lantern down. She raised the revolver in her hands and pointed it at Weber, who found himself trapped by a cliff by the creek. The moon shone on the empty cliffside.

"Let go of her!" yelled Lana.

"You come any closer and I… I will cut her throat!"

Lily whimpered as she held Weber's arms, struggling to be set free. Lana took a deep breath and shook her head as her mouth trembled.

"Okay, fine, okay," exclaimed Lana, raising her arms up. "I'm not coming any closer."

"You need to leave now," said Weber. "Just leave me alone."

"Not without Lily," said Lana. "Look at yourself, Weber. This isn't you."

"I know it's not!" he yelled, his voice breaking down. "I'm kinda like you guys in a way. I would do anything to live– but I refuse to be a monster like you guys!"

A few leaves ruffled as Lincoln approached the cliffside from the side. He was ready to call out Lana when he found her speaking in a nervous yet low voice.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'd do anything to survive too, but I'm not a monster. I'm sorry if I made you feel that way."

"It's too late. You already want to kill me," said Weber. "Go ahead. Try to tell me I'm wrong."

"Don't you see yourself, Weber? You're turning into a monster yourself. You're gonna kill my baby sister, the girl that you say you're gonna protect. You think this is what your dad wants?"

"You don't know what my dad wants! But I know what I want! I just wanted people to care! I didn't want them to avoid me 'cause I was some freak!"

"That's just me," said Lana. "I wanted to avoid you because I think you're dangerous. But the others don't think so. Like Lincoln here… he thinks you're not a danger to be around with. Believe me, Weber."

Weber moved the knife away from Lily's throat as Lincoln waved at him, trying his best to form a smile.

"I do believe you… but then what about you? I'm going to let Lily go… but what are you going to do to me? You still want to kill me!"

"I don't," said Lana. "You hear those birds?"

"They're owls," muttered Weber.

"Yeah, I just want to see the birds with you."

"I don't. They're _owls_."

"I see crows," said Lana. "Behind you, there are a bunch of crows."

"A murder of crows?" gasped Weber, slowly moving his knife away from Lily.

"Yeah, a murder."

"I don't believe you, how are you seeing them?"

"They look blacker than the night sky itself. If you don't believe me, go look for yourself."

Weber lowered his knife and allowed Lily to walk away. Lincoln smiled as Lana's voice turned smoother.

"I kinda believe you," he said as he turned around. "Where are the crows?"

Weber quickly turned back at Lana.

"Over there… by the building in the distance," Lana said. "Look closely, they're there."

An owl hooted as Weber squinted his eyes, looking closely at a building beyond the park. The moon hovered above the building, but he couldn't see anything. Lily slowly walked away as Lana continued to stare at Weber.

"I think I see the birds, Lana!"

Lana quickly lowered her arms as Lincoln gasped, ready to cry out for his sister to stop. But it was too late.

A shot was fired.

Lily shrieked as a couple drops of blood splattered on her skirt. Lincoln felt his heart drop as he was left speechless. Lana lowered her revolver as tiny fumes of smoke puffed out of the barrel, letting out a deep sigh, one that did not indicate relief.

Weber's body lied by the cliffside as blood leaked from his nose, falling into the creek below the cliff. His eyes stared at the running water as blood slowly seeped out of the back of his head and into his scalp.

"No…" sniffled Lincoln. "My god, Lana. What'd you do?"

"I-I saved us… right?"

The owl continued hooting in the distance as the moon shone on the empty building in the distance.

A gunshot roared in the distance as the group in the woods continued fighting off the roamers.

"We have to amputate," said Lori.

"No, no, please!" screamed Reggie.

"It's the only way," said Preston. "Make it quick, Lori. Please."

Reggie cried out in protest as Lori lifted her hatchet. Suddenly, a man with a dirt-stained hockey face mask leaped out from a tree behind Reggie and wrapped his arms around his neck. He then lunged his knife back at Reggie's chest causing him to scream as blood squirted out his mouth.

"Holy…!" yelled Preston.

The man pointed out the bloody knife at Lori before stabbing Reggie again, drowning out his screams with blood. He pulled him back, tearing his ankles as it ripped away from the bear trap.

"You're all next," the man hissed.

A gunshot was followed by a bullet to the man's head. He dropped to the ground as Lori noticed a large X scar across his chest. Smoke came out of David's M9 as he held it, looking around his surroundings.

A couple bullets flew across the air and hit the trees with the X on their bark. The group all fired their guns back at the shadows of the trees as they scrambled away back to the direction of the cabin. Lori held Preston's hand and lifted him up as they both ran with the group. A couple men and women wearing similar masks with eye holes in them propped up from the bushes and trees and fired their guns near the survivors. They all held a torch as they followed the group.

Lori panted as she and the group approached the cabin. Then, she noticed a circle of torches all surrounding the cabin. Then, a group of men and women came out of the trees with rifles, pistols, knives, all sorts of weapons in their hands. Some wore shirts. Some wore shorts.

"There are people in there, right?" said one man who stood in front of the cabin.

The man wore a hockey mask that only covered his jaws, his dark brown eyes staring at Lori. His gray hair hung around his forehead and back down to his neck. He swung around two butterfly knives and squinted.

"We marked X's here for a reason," taunted the man. "Here's the spot. And we just found a whole lotta treasure."

* * *

 ** _..._**

 ** _..._**

 ** _..._**

 ** _I guess you can say things went... south._**

 ** _If you enjoyed this chapter and want to be updated on the next chapter, then follow this story. If you really enjoy this story overall, then favorite it! 'Till the next time!_**


	25. X

_**Chapter 1 has been updated immensely! That's all I have to say for now. Enjoy the chapter. Author's notes at the end.**_

* * *

-27 Months Ago-

A tray of greasy pizza with a carton of milk was placed on a rectangular table where a chatter of noise and laughter filled the seats in the cafeteria. A young 17-year-old blonde with bangs, almost eighteen in a few months, with a blue tank-top and cargo shorts sat in her seat as she slid the tray across the table to her friend Joey.

"Thanks, Lori, but you can have it," he said.

"And break out with ugly zits in my face?" scoffed Lori. "No, thank you, I wouldn't touch this greasy crap if I were starving. That's why I got my…"

Lori pulled out a small bag from her backpack.

"Low-cal bean chips!"

"Fine. Chaz, you can take it," said Joey, taking out his phone. "I got something crazy to show y'all."

"I'm on a diet, man," said Chaz.

"If it's a video of you cosplaying as that superhero dude with your moose knuckles showing, then man, don't anyone wanna see that," chuckled Tad, "...'cept Becky, of course."

Laughter erupted from a few of the teens, prompting Becky to laugh sarcastically while shoving her middle finger at Tad's face.

"At least his would be bigger than yours," said Becky as she closed her fingers with a smile.

Some of the other teens laughed as Tad chuckled nervously. Dana stood up and walked over to Joey before placing her hands over Tad's shoulder.

"Can't say you didn't see that coming, dude," said Dana.

Leni bit into an apple and looked up as she chewed on it. Then, she swallowed and looked at her friends.

"I don't get it," she said with a bright smile.

"It's nothing- Joey, what did you wanna show us?" said Becky.

Joey turned his phone horizontally and looked above him, Becky smiling at him as a couple other teens stood behind him.

"It's some vid that's been going around on Twitter," said Joey, looking down at his phone as he played the video. "It's just… damn."

"Oh yeah, that vid with the guy eating- eww, I've seen this before," said Dana. "Don't need to see it again."

Lori, curious as to what the video was going to show, stood up and walked over to Joey, joining the other teens. Leni stood up, prompting Joey to stop her.

"You should stay there," said Joey. "This vid… is not for you. Keep enjoying your apple."

Leni nodded and chomped on the apple, smiling the day away. Lori looked into the phone, the video showing a man with blood in its mouth. He was moving erratically, and headed for another man in scrubs. The man screamed at the attacker to stop in an African language that the teens didn't understand before the attacker leaped towards him, scratching the fabric off of the man's clothing. Then, Lori gasped as she saw the attacker scratch the flesh off of the man, splattering blood in his clothes.

"Oh, damn!" exclaimed Tad.

"That's gotta hurt, yo," said Chaz.

"See, this is why I never take drugs," said Joey. "I don't wanna get fucked up like him."

Lori sat back in her seat and squeezed her eyes together as she pressed against her stomach. She sighed as Becky placed her hands over Lori.

"Hey, are you alright?" asked Becky.

"That was gross," said Lori. "Oh, god. Want my chips?"

"No… aren't you hungry?"

"Not anymore. Just take 'em."

Lori walked away from the table as some of the teens clamored at Joey to share the video to them. Becky then took a chip and chewed it, as she sat back in her seat, next to Leni.

"Lower that shit!" said Becky. "Leni and I can hear it from here…"

-Present Day-

The fires raged in the torches. Guns were aimed at the group. Screams from a little girl could be heard as Lori looked into the flames.

She raised her hands up, one holding the grip of her revolver and the other holding the wooden handle of the hatchet.

Reggie's screams could be heard. Flashing images of blood squirting out of his chest repeated in her mind. The never-ending crackle of gunfire caused her to slowly look around.

This was all too familiar to her.

 **Chapter 25: X**

 **I - Marked Spot**

Running water rushed and flowed over the rocks below the cliffside. Brisk air glided over the skin of the children's arms. A peace lily flower was plucked from the ground by the young girl with drops of blood on her lavender skirt before being placed on the back of the boy's corpse in the cliffside.

Lincoln shook his head slowly as Lily moved her hands away from Weber's body. She then picked up the knife and rubbed her arms as she walked towards Lincoln, handing her the knife as her breaths shivered and her nostrils flared up. She wrapped her arms around his older brother's legs while she took deep breaths.

Lana stared at her youngest sister before looking down at the snub-nosed revolver that she held in her hand. She gulped and then glanced at her victim.

"Give me the revolver," said Lincoln with a gentle yet firm voice.

"W-Wha- I'm not in trouble, am I?" Lana blurted out. "I hope you know I did the right thing, Lincoln."

"Just give me the revolver," repeated Lincoln, placing the knife in his pocket.

For what? I can give it back to Carol- I mean, Becky- I forgot Carol wasn't supposed to have this either."

"Neither are you," said Lincoln. "Give me the gun!"

"Like I said, I can give her the gun back myself!"

"So they can find out that you killed Simon Weber? Group's going through enough trouble as it is with Carol, and now they have to deal with what you did too?"

"I have my reasons you know… he was going to kill Lily!"

"I understand but that wouldn't have happened if you didn't provoke him in the first place!"

Lily tugged on Lincoln's jeans as she looked up.

"Is he coming back?" asked Lily.

Lincoln looked at Weber's body with a growing disgruntled look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Lily," he whispered, "he won't come back. He's… dead."

"You know he was going to kill me, right?" exclaimed Lana. "He had a knife to kill me! I told Lori about it… and she didn't want to do a dang thing!"

"Weber overheard you! That's how you provoked him, Lana!" scolded Lincoln. "He wasn't going to do anything if you just listened to what I said! You have to understand that this kid just lost his father! And whatever medical issues he was dealing with before- they only became worse. So we just needed to give him space like Lisa said! Weren't you paying attention?"

"So what was I supposed to do now? Not shoot him?"

"Exactly! He already let Lily go… and he had his back turned on you… he trusted you slowly and slowly… and you…"

Lincoln sighed as his voice lowered.

"...and you killed him."

Lana swallowed hard again and looked at Lily. Lincoln held Lily's shoulder.

"You got blood on her clothes, Lana. She's going to remember this moment, you know? She lost her innocence."

"I'm sorry," whispered Lana. "Are you scared of me, Lily?"

"Scared of that," said Lily, pointing at the gun that Lana held before looking at Lincoln. "Is Lana a monster?"

"No," said Lincoln. "She just made a big mistake. Big mistakes don't make monsters."

"The boy made big mistake," said Lily. "He not wanna hurt me."

Lincoln knelt down and hugged Lily as Lana looked at her revolver again.

"Give me the gun," said Lincoln.

Lana frowned and walked over to Lincoln, handing the revolver to the boy. Suddenly, a couple gunshots roared in the distance. The gunshots moved along the park, closer and closer to the direction of the cabin.

"Our group's in trouble," said Lana.

"We have to be careful," said Lincoln.

"What about him?" asked Lana, avoiding eye contact with the body.

"We'll say he got lost. Then, we're coming back here and we're going to give him the proper burial he needs. Understand, Lana?"

Lana nodded as Lincoln placed the revolver inside his pocket. He grabbed Lily's hands and lowered himself as the children lurked back into the woods of the park, heading towards the gunfire.

* * *

The flames of the torches emitted into the interior of the cabin, its orange-red light frightening the survivors inside.

"What the hell is going on out there?" asked Becky, walking over to the windows.

"I don't know but there are people holding our people at gunpoint!" exclaimed Bobby. " _Dios mio_."

"They look like fucking cavemen, these people," said Becky, walking back to her table where she held her ACE 23. "We gotta help our people."

"We're surrounded! You're gonna get shot dead- look how many people are out there!"

"Well.. I gotta- they… our people!" slurred Becky.

"I got an idea," said Lisa, moving through her suitcase. "Kotaro. You have the most accurate throw with the highest chance to throw the farthest in regards with the people in this cabin. I need you to do something for me."

"Sure, sure," said Kotaro, rubbing his arms. "It's getting hot in here."

The men and women wearing masks, most of them hockey masks, continued to stand around the cabin and the group, holding their torches high. The leader of the masked people observed the group members while whispering to a fellow masked survivor with dreads tied behind her head. He moved his fingers, occasionally pointing at certain people as the mask covered his moving jaws. His dark brown eyes had no empathy has it reflected the light from the torches. The masked survivors with dreads held a couple ropes over her shoulder while holding rolls of tripwire around her belt.

"We can hang the scrawny one," whispered the leader. "Mark an X, place a trap or two, call it a night. And as for the others-"

"Who are you people?" asked Lori.

The leader looked dead into Lori's eyes without moving a muscle. Then, his jaw mask moved.

"We are the X. We have no names. But I bet y'all have names."

"What are you monsters going to do to us?" asked George.

"You'll soon find out."

The masked leader looked at the cabin. Some members of the masked group began to march around the cabin.

"They're not getting out," he said. "We'll force them out. The more that we get, the better."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?" growled David.

Some of the masked survivors tossed their torches at the roof of the cabin, while some of the others threw it across the porch. The flames from the torches slowly spread throughout the walls and roof of the cabin, causing the entrance door to be completely engulfed in flames.

"Sucks to lose this fast, right?" said the leader.

"Fuck you," said Lori.

"Right. Listen, what we're doing right now- it's not personal. But what we're going to do to you- tie your neck with a noose and hang you in that tree over there- that's personal."

"Me?" asked Lori as a couple masked survivors walked up to her, grabbing her arms. "Hey, get the fuck off of me!"

Kotaro opened up a window as he peered out the window. The group members shouted as one of the masked survivors tossed a noose over a branch, while other masked survivors began to shove Lori closer to the tree.

"Why the hell are you doing this?" exclaimed Jace. "Who even are you people?"

Kotaro pulled his arms back before tossing a liquor bottle filled with Vulcan's Gel at a couple masked survivors behind the group. The bottle cracked upon impact, causing a fireball to explode in front of a masked enemy, spreading the fire to the survivors holding a torch. As they screamed, Becky pulled out her ACE 23 and fired at the enemies, being careful to not shoot at the group members.

The group members and the masked survivors looked at the incoming vehicle heading towards the cabin as it honked. Its headlights reflected off of a few masks as Hana drove her RV towards the middle of the circle of enemies. A couple bodies were ran over and slammed into trees, as the group took cover from the masked survivors. They looked behind them and saw the burning corpses in the ground before grabbing their own firearms.

The two masked survivors that held Lori released her and grabbed their melee weapons, one a switchblade with a blade in the tip of each handle, and the other with a push dagger made from wood. The masked enemy with the double-bladed switchblade swung her knife around, though Lori kept dodging the swings. She then sliced the enemy's hand with her hatchet, causing her to grab her wrist in pain. The enemy with the push dagger pulled his hands back, though Lori elbowed him in the face, causing him to groan. Lori then hissed in pain as the enemy with the switchblade cut her thigh, holding the handle with one hand, while the other covered her bleeding wrist. She back kicked her groin, causing her to shriek as Lori turned around, shooting her in the stomach. Lori quickly turned around, glanced at the enemy with the push dagger, and swung her hatchet at his face, causing the mask to rip in half.

With both enemies in the ground, Lori limped back to the group hiding behind the RV, though David chose to walk closer to the enemies. He aimed his M9 at the enemy with the dagger and shot him in the head. Then, he aimed at the enemy with the switchblade and shot her in the head too.

"David!" shouted Lori. "Behind you!"

A gunshot struck David. He yelled as he knelt to the ground, holding his right leg, blood seeping from his hip.

"No!" yelled George.

George ran towards David, aiming his shotgun at a masked survivor and firing it at his arms. The pellets struck his arms and chest, causing him to collapse to the ground.

"Leave them!" yelled the masked leader. "Let's go!"

The leader of the X retreated away from the burning cabin along with the rest of his group. The group inside the cabin fled through the backdoor with their backpacks.

"Doctor!" yelled George. "You gotta help David! He got shot!"

Bobby walked closer to the RV while holding Carol's shoulders with Becky. Hana walked out of the RV and looked at the burning cabin, her eyebrows lowering, before unsheathing her sword.

"Don't chase 'em," said Kotaro. "You'll be outnumbered. You need to stay with us."

Hana shook her head before lowering her sword. She grumbled and cursed in Japanese as she walked back to the RV.

"You know I can understand you, right?" said Kotaro before looking into the woods. "Hey, look it's your siblings, Lori."

Lori turned around and saw Lincoln, Lana, and Lily walk out of the woods, all of them staring at the burning cabin. Lori walked towards them with a stiff leg, hugging the three.

"What happened here?" asked Lincoln before looking at a wounded survivor. "What happened to David?"

"We got attacked," said Lori. "David got shot but Dr. White's patching him up now. But that doesn't matter- you guys can't be running off like that!"

"Sorry," said Lana. "I…"

"Give me back the revolver," said Lori. "And what the hell did you do to Weber?"

"I- uh…" stammered Lana.

"I have the revolver," said Lincoln, raising Carol's gun. "Here you go. I needed something just in case there were roamers. I don't have a handgun- not that I need one, you know."

"It's okay- okay, I got it," said Lori, looking at David in the distance before turning back to her siblings. "Where's Weber?"

"We lost him," said Lincoln. "We have his knife, though."

"I got him patched up!" shouted Dr. White.

"We have to go now," said Lori.

"Now?" gasped Lincoln. "But what about Web-"

"There's no time," said Lori. "There's a dangerous group out there and we need to find shelter now."

"It'll just be quick."

"We have no time to argue about this," said Lori, walking towards Vanzilla.

"I'm just asking you this once-"

Lori turned around.

"These people killed Reggie. Not quickly. It was torture what they did to him. I can't have that happen to us, so we have to go! Understand?"

Lincoln nodded as he held Lily's hand. Lana looked back at the woods with a frown on her face. Lori looked at Lana before walking to Vanzilla. Lincoln, Lana, and Lily followed her.

George sat in the driver's seat of David's RV as he started the engine, leading the other vehicles into the road. They left the burning cabin behind, as well as two bodies in the wooded park.

The headlights lit up the road darkened by the midnight sky. As the vehicles traveled southwards, they came across signs marked by X's. Pavement marked by X's. Mailboxes carved with the same sign. Even a daycare was marked by the large symbol.

"They were like a whole tribe," Lynn told Lincoln. "The had me by the ropes, literally."

"You sound like Lori, now," chuckled Lincoln.

Lynn punched Lincoln's shoulder causing him to gasp in pain.

"No time for jokes!" growled Lynn. "A kid died, y' know! Umm, y' know, the one that had a boner for Carol."

"Can't you ever say something appropriate?" said Lori, annoyed.

"Who gives a fuck? Certainly not the X… tribe… men."

"X-men?" said Lori.

"Taken by superheroes," said Lincoln. "These X-Tribesmen sound dangerous."

"Hell yeah they are," said Lynn. "We have to kill them all, right, Lori?"

"Lynn… I'm really tired. I shouldn't even be driving right now."

Lisa turned to her left and looked at Lana, whose eyes remained fixated in the dark trees that passed by.

"You appear to have gone through a traumatic experience," stated Lisa. "What occurred back in the park?"

"Nothing," said Lana.

"Harboring secrets, now? That's fine. The secret is going to be exposed by a mental slash emotional breakdown soon."

Lincoln walked over to Lana's seat and looked at Lisa.

"Can we have a moment alone?" asked Lincoln.

"Sure thing," said Lisa, crawling to another seat in the van. "Lana's not the only one who has gone through tragedy recently, you know."

Lincoln tapped Lana on her shoulders.

"It's not easy, right?" he whispered.

"I know what I did was right… so why doesn't it feel right?"

"A first kill changes a person forever," said Lincoln. "Killing Talia was completely justified- says Lori- though I can't somehow stop thinking about it. Just knowing that you took a person's life… forever… that does damage. It means you're a good person, Lana. The fact that you feel guilt."

"I think it's unfair," said Lana. "He was going to kill Lily. So why would I feel bad?"

"Because you know there were other things you could've done. I won't keep blaming you for what happened. But I do want you to learn from it."

Lincoln then grabbed Lana and placed her on his shoulders as the image of Weber's body continued to flash in her mind. The vehicles continued to drive along dangerous territory.

 **II - Guns and Fuel**

-Day 815-

The wooden door creaked followed by soft footsteps entering an apartment part of a longer complex building in Baltimore. The sunlight passed through the transparent curtains and lit up the living room with natural light. A finger rubbed through the couch and picked up a line of dust that has collected on the furniture for two years. The survivors passed by the plain walls, empty cabinets, dusty corners.

"It's a good place to hole up in, right?" Lori told David as she flicked the flashlight off.

"Maybe," said David. "Let's check the rest of the building."

The group moved to the neighboring apartments, clearing it of any roamers. They inspected every room and took whatever foodstuffs, water bottles, batteries, any supplies that could help them. While the group continued to move from apartment to apartment, Jace and Luan decided to stick around the apartment next to the one they made a shelter out of.

"Luna and I checked the kitchen," said Luan. "There are two roamers in there… and it ain't pretty. But they're not gonna move- I think it'd be great practice for you, y'know. Luna told me about your fear of roamers."

"It's not a fear of roamers," said Jace. "It's a fear of killing them."

Luan and Jace walked inside the kitchen of the cleared out apartment. Two roamers were tied together with ropes on their wrists. Their other wrists were tied to their chairs, in which their waists were also tied to.

"They were married," said Luan, showing Jace their suicide note. "They both pulled a Romeo and Juliet- except, Juliet here drank poison along with her Romeo. No dagger, but they did leave a gun in the table- something you're not gonna use if you're gonna kill this happily married couple. Boy, they really did tie the knot, didn't they?"

Luan looked at Jace, who stared at them with a distraught look on his face. He shook his head and turned around.

"I can't kill them. They look too… human," said Jace before looking at Luan. "Can't I just leave them alone? They're not going to hurt me if I walk away, especially with them all tied up like this. 'Sides, it's unnecessary. I only kill roamers if I have to."

"What about people?" asked Luan. "I don't want to either, but there's only one sure way to protect the people you love, nowadays."

Luan walked over to the kitchen table and lifted her katana, adjusting the blade slightly before letting a powerful swing slice off the skulls of both roamers. Jace took a deep breath and shivered before walking over to the table.

"I wish there was some other way," said Jace.

Jace took the Beretta Px4 that sat on the table next to an empty bottle of cyanide, two wedding rings locked together, and a dead rose. He placed it in his pocket and walked out of the kitchen with Luan.

After setting up their apartment for temporary comfort, members of the group left to scavenge for fuel and medicine in the city. In one of the rooms of the apartment, where David rested by a window looking out into the neighborhood clustered with vehicles, Carol walked in with puffy eyes, holding a yellow pacifier in her hands.

"Think we'll see 'em again?" asked Carol.

"See who?" groaned David, lifting himself against the bed frame.

"The monsters who murdered Reggie."

"I don't know. Maybe."

"They need to die. All of them. I'm tired of losing people- kids who don't deserve to die in this world. He didn't fucking deserve it."

"He didn't," said David. "I think it's best for the group to never see those douchebags again, you know, for our safety. But part of me wants to see them again just so I can kill all of them fuckers. But as you can see… I'm in no condition to do that."

"Think Lori's doing a great job at protecting us?" asked Carol. "'Cause I don't think she is."

"She's trying her best. The fact that no one else could do better- that's all that matters."

"We could've done better," said Carol. "If you haven't lost your wife and if I haven't lost my baby, we wouldn't even be in this situation. And then look at what happened to Simon Weber. Lori doesn't even know Lana was the one who took MY gun and killed that kid!"

"I understand you're angry, but Lori is not to blame."

Carol sniffled.

"I know! I just… I don't want to keep blaming myself…"

Carol sat down by David, allowing him to rub her back, comforting her. Lisa stood outside of the room, grasping her own hair as she held her tears back. She had no time for crying, though this meant she would always have to bottle her tears of guilt.

* * *

Lori and the others continued walking along the outskirts of downtown Baltimore, being careful enough to avoid the swarms of roamers in there but scattered around enough to inspect each abandoned car in the road.

"Benny, come here," said Bobby, handing him a packet. "I found some gum."

"They still got flavor to them?" scoffed Benny as he placed a stick of gum in his mouth. "Wow. Watermelon."

Benny continued chewing as he looked at Bobby's jerry can.

"Any luck?" Benny asked.

"Not really. Every car in this street's tapped out."

"Mmm. This gum's good."

"I know right. It was originally watermelon lime, but I guess the lime flavor has lost–"

"Guys!" shouted Luan from the intersection of the street. "Follow me!"

Luan, Benny, and Bobby met up with the rest of the group in a street infested with roamers stuck in wooden spikes, crushed cars, and nets. Lori stood in front of them, confronted by a group of survivors wearing body armor.

"The hell's going on here?" asked Benny.

"I don't know. Lori, me, and some others found them here and they kinda threatened us, but they decided that the leader, Brendan, will have a talk with Lori. I don't know, it's weird."

"How do we know you guys won't come back and raid us?" asked Brendan, a man with light-purple dyed hair.

"You'd be taking the main thing we use for defense," said Lori. "And all we'll be taking is the main thing we need to get out of here."

"That's true. You know, you shouldn't really be in this city. There are some terrible people that hang around here a lot."

"The X?"

"Yes, the X. So you know…"

Brendan looked back at his bodyguards and nodded. Lori looked back as both of the group's RVs drove slowly towards her, stopping behind the roamer traps.

"Now, how do we know you're not gonna raid us with our weapons?" asked Lori.

"There is no way to tell," replied Brendan. "You're just gonna have to trust us. And trust me, we're not assholes."

The mesh fence behind Brendan opened as a large tank truck slowly drove down the street.

"We got a couple people here that know how to refine the fuel we find around here," he said. "Old distilled gas becomes as good as new. You don't gotta worry about the fuel only letting your cars run for a couple feet before dying out."

Brendan motioned two of his people to pull out a tube from the truck, carrying it to the RVs.

"Shotguns, pistols, submachine guns- half a gallon of fuel per gun," he stated. "Rifles, automatic, semis, sniper rifles- a gallon per gun. Machine guns- two gallons. Rocket, grenade launchers- three gallons."

Lori nodded.

After a few minutes, the group members carried a gun from Hana's RV to the armored group, handing them rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, and pistols. Their crates became empty.

"Seven rifles, five submachine guns, five pistols, two shotguns. That's thirteen gallons," said Brendan. "How much for each RV?"

"Five on the old RV," said Lori, "and eight on the new RV."

"Sure thing," said Brendan before turning to his men. "Fill 'er up!"

The men disposed fuel from the tank truck to the RVs as the group watched. Lori turned around and sighed. George cleared his throat.

"This is highway robbery," he said. "We don't know when we're going to hit another military base or gun shop."

"Maybe we won't need guns in Washington," said Lori. "Besides, this much fuel is more rare than guns. It's worth it."

George nodded as the men took their tube back to the tank truck. Brendan walked up to Lori and held his hand out. Lori turned around and glared at Brendan before shaking hands with him.

"Nice doing business with you," he said. "Stay safe out there."

"You too," said Lori before walking back to David's RV.

The group followed her, each member entering an RV. The mesh fence of the sheltered street was closed as Brendan and his men walked back inside with a wagon of new firearms.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another street blocks away from the sheltered street with the armored group, a couple members of the groups found a street with a tank truck in the middle of the road and a pharmacy in the corner. Dr. White, Luna, and Sam were inside the pharmacy while Kotaro, Becky, Lynn, and Preston hung outside in the street beside the tank truck.

Dr. White walked around the store with a backpack behind his button-up shirt. He looked around the cluttered packets of medicines and drugs in shelves, most of them empty.

"Anything ending with _cillin_ is what we're looking for," said Dr. White. "I would ask you take everything we see, but we can only carry what we need."

"Definitely no Oxycontin, right?" asked Luna. "Even if it's necessary?"

"As much as I wish to prescribe it to Carol… you know her history."

"Not saying that you're wrong- I get it- but don't you think it's a tad judgmental of us to keep blaming her for what she did to us?"

"We need her back in the game," said Sam. "She's a really helpful member of the group and to see her just being… I don't know… dead weight- and I don't mean it in a bad way- it's just… sad."

"I see where your worries are coming from… and I think these drugs can help Carol… but they can also kill her."

"Right," said Sam. "Last thing we need is to find out she OD'd."

Dr. White removed his glasses and wiped them on his khaki pants.

"You understand," he said.

Sam nodded as she looked outside the pharmacy. Kotaro grabbed his siphoning tube and placed one end inside a jerry can. He placed it down and then held one hand on the tube as he hovered above the fuel door. He placed his hands on it and opened it. Suddenly, a large puff of smoke exploded out of the open fuel door, causing Kotaro to fall back.

Becky ran over to Kotaro and picked him up as smoke flowed out of the tank truck rapidly. She coughed and walked him away from the truck as smoke began to cover her sight of the rest of the group.

Sam looked at the street as the smoke began to sweep across the block, even clouding up the pharmacy window. Luna stood next to her, gasping as the group members backed away from the smoke.

"That was a smoke grenade," said Sam.

"Hella smoke, then," said Luna before turning towards the intersection. "Shit, look over there. Roamers!"

"I'll go out and help the others," said Sam.

Luna pulled out her crowbar.

"Hey, let me come with."

"No! You take Dr. White somewhere else. Wait for us."

Luna nodded and grabbed Dr. White's arms as she watched Sam run out the pharmacy. She then turned around and walked towards the back door.

"C'mon, doc. Ain't safe out there."

"You don't say," gasped Dr. White.

Becky took out her machete and struggled to look around in the smoke as she kept her arms around Kotaro, who continued to rub his shoulders against his eye. A roamer slowly approached her through the smoke, its face quickly folding within itself as Becky sliced his head off. Then, another roamer ran through the smoke, lunging towards Becky, knocking her down to the ground. Kotaro gasped as he looked at Becky with teary eyes fogged up from the smoke. Becky yelled as she forced the machete through its chest, shoving it away, but the roamer only pushed against the machete, causing the blade to pop out from its spine. Sam ran inside the smoke and kicked it away along with Becky's machete in it. Becky pulled out her Glock 17 and shot at the roamer twice, hitting its skull both times.

"I thought these running bastards weren't around here!" yelled Becky as she grabbed her machete back before grabbing Kotaro.

"Forget running bastards," said Kotaro. "The trap. It's from the X."

"The X? We have to leave now!" exclaimed Sam. "I got your back, Becky!"

Luna and Dr. White fled out of the back door and entered another store next to the pharmacy. They fled through the back door of that store and entered a clothing store with mostly jackets and sweatpants. Then, they ran towards the entrance and ran out of the store, finding themselves on the other side of the block. They found themselves surrounded by parked cars where a couple masked survivors stood up from behind them, revealing themselves to the two survivors.

"Shite," muttered Luna.

The leader of the X walked up to group with the butterfly knives in his hands. Dr. White moved his hands towards the handle of the entrance door of the clothing store before the leader flung one of the knives at his hand. The doctor screamed as he looked at his palm before turning his hand around, the blade sticking out.

"You two. You're coming with us," said the masked leader. "Get in the truck and we'll patch that up."

Luna looked at Dr. White and shook her head as he walked toward a white pickup truck. One of the X-Tribe members grabbed Luna's arms and handcuffed them behind her back as he shoved her toward the truck.

"Easy," said the leader before turning to Luna. "You gotta follow instructions. Makes everyone's lives easier."

Luna gave him an angry glare before he picked her up and placed her onto the bed of the pickup truck with Dr. White and a couple other masked survivors. The leader pulled the knife out of Dr. White's hand, causing him to yell once more as blood seeped out of his palm. A couple of men sitting next to him and Luna grabbed a roll of bandages and applied them on the doctor's hand. The leader got inside the pickup truck and the wheels turned, taking Luna away from the pharmacy and away from her group.

* * *

"Where the hell is my girlfriend?" exclaimed Sam.

"I didn't see her ass anywhere," said Lynn. "Where did you tell her to go?"

"I don't know- just somewhere that wasn't here! Oh god, she could be anywhere!"

Lori walked through the cleared smoke in the street toward the tank truck. She found the canisters of smoke grenades inside the fuel door before checking her surroundings.

"The X must've been around here," she said. "Wherever Luna and Dr. White went- no doubt the X-Tribe took them."

"Took 'em where?" exclaimed Sam in a panicked voice.

"I don't know, Sam," said Lori. "Look, I want to look for my sister as much as I do but we have to calm ourselves just a bit. Remember, they want most of us alive for whatever reason. So we know that Luna is safe for now."

"How much longer though?" said Kotaro. "You've seen what these people can do. Luna doesn't have much time. We have to act fast."

"Lynn, Vonda, Preston, we need you guys to look for tracks. I know it's not all woods and forest here… but you guys are our best chances on finding the doctor and Luna."

Lynn rubbed her arms and looked at Vonda and Preston. She shrugged as she started looking around the pavement.

"We… we can try," she mumbled. "Let's find Luna, people. Let's go. F-Follow me. They couldn't have gone far."

* * *

The pickup truck drove along the road, passing by buildings, traffic lights, abandoned cars. Some roamers wandered the sidewalks and took notice of the passing vehicles, but the vehicles moved too fast for them to catch up.

Luna fidgeted as she struggled to pull her wrists through the handcuffs. She groaned as she tried breaking the handcuffs apart, though she sighed with defeat as she looked up at the X-Tribesmen.

"Where the bloody hell are you taking us?"

One of the masked survivors, wearing a yellow face mask spoke in a young male voice.

"Umm… are we allowed to tell her?"

The woman with dreads behind her mask shook her head. The young masked survivor turned towards Luna.

"Uh… I can't tell you."

"Can you take these handcuffs off of me?" asked Luna. "They're really uncomfortable."

"I-I can't do that either…" said the masked male.

"Please? I'm asking you nicely. Please, ain't we all human?"

The yellow masked survivor turned away.

"We're close to the X-Zone, can't we just take off her-?"

"No!" ordered the masked female with dreads.

"You heard the woma- I mean- you heard the rules. I can't-"

"Fuck it," muttered Luna.

She stood up as the truck prepared to make a turn. The yellow masked survivor leaned towards her to sit her down though Luna kicked him and leaped out of the moving truck. She gasped as she smacked her face against the pavement, her body rolling into the sidewalk where she hit a fire hydrant. She groaned as blood seeped out of her temple and a bruise formed in her left eye. She looked at the fire hydrant, which had scratch marks on it, and leaned her body against it.

The pickup truck stopped along with the other vehicles as Luna struggled to pick herself up with only her legs. The leader ran out the pickup truck and towards the teenage girl, pulling her upright as a couple of the masked survivors tossed him bandages.

"Jesus, what the hell was that!" yelled the leader.

"Don't… don't take me to where you're going," groaned Luna.

"You might have a fucking concussion. I'm gonna have to talk to your doctor about that."

"Why the hell do you care? You're gonna kill us anyways! Just do it now!"

"Get back in the fucking truck and don't pull that shit again. Go!"

Luna walked towards the truck, as one of the masked survivors held a towel over her bleeding temple. The other X-Tribesmen lifted her up and placed her back into her seat. The leader walked back to his seat in the white pickup truck, and the vehicle moved once again.

After a dozen minutes or so, the vehicles arrived at a neighborhood with densely-packed buildings, though most of them had shattered windows, broken doors, and blown rooftops. The mesh fences guarding the block was bent in some areas and ripped apart in other areas- though stacks of rubber tires acted as a wall in these damaged parts. Army vehicles and large tents were sprung up throughout a cracked road.

The captives were escorted out of the truck and into the neighborhood by the leader himself. The mesh fence was opened for the arriving X-Tribe and captives. As Luna walked inside the guarded neighborhood, she saw a sign that faintly read 'BALTIMORE SAFE-ZONE' though a large pink X was painted over the word 'safe.' Then, the fences closed, with everyone walking inside the community taking off their masks, including the leader himself. Luna looked at him, finding a burn mark across his right cheek where a stubble was growing. She then looked around as she followed the leader through the street, finding a woman walking with her husband, another woman planting flowers, and men throwing a football around. One similarity they all shared were the burn scars in their faces or neck. Small scars or large scars in cheeks or nose or forehead.

"What the hell is this place?" Luna whispered to herself, holding the towel against her face with her handcuffed hands.

"You seem surprised," said the unmasked leader. "You know, we don't just hunt people down, setting up traps 24/7. We actually enjoy ourselves."

The leader escorted the captives into a high school where a strong scent of iron and bleach filled the halls. Luna and Dr. White then entered a cafeteria, where half of the room had tables and the other half was a giant cell with makeshift metal bars. Chains hung from the ceiling and the floor near the kitchen was stained with dried blood. Sounds of knives clacking against metal and meat can be heard from the kitchen.

Luna snuck a peek at the kitchen and found meat hanging from a chain locked to the ceiling. The ribs were sticking out of what appeared to be a torso. She squinted before the squeaking sound of metal rubbing against metal came from the cell door being opened by a masked X-Tribesman. Dr. White and Luna were placed inside with the leader and another masked survivor following them inside.

The leader placed his hands over Luna's face, causing her to flinch and turn away.

"Relax," said the leader. "I need to treat your wound."

"When are you going to kill us?" growled Luna.

"I'm not going to kill you," said the leader. "As long as you don't hurt me, I won't hurt you."

The leader removed the towel from Luna's face as she opened her mouth, surprised by his actions. He grabbed a needle and began stitching the cut in her temple.

"I know we got off to a bad start, but I really want us to introduce ourselves," said the leader.

"Well, you burned our cabin and you shot at us," said Luna. "You killed one of our friends."

"Like I said. Bad start. But I promise you, I'm not going to hurt you. There are times when I don't keep my victims alive for this long. But you… you're not a victim."

The leader continued stitching the open wound on Luna's face as she looked away.

"My name's Woodrow. I never know the name of my victims. And it'll always remain like that."

Luna gulped as she looked at Dr. White, who was being treated by another member of Woodrow's group. She sighed and looked back at his captor.

"My name's Luna. And that's Dr. White over there."

"I don't think I asked for his-"

"You _will_ know his name… after all, we all got off to a bad start, right?"

Woodrow smiled and nodded before his smile faded. He removed the needle from Luna's face and caressed his finger on the closed wound. She looked at him in the eye and exhaled softly as sweat formed on her forehead.

"Your skin is oily and has a bit of sweat in it… yet it still looks young and… beautiful," whispered Woodrow.

"Oh. I… I didn't expect that…"

"You know I wouldn't do this with anyone else, right? You understand?"

Luna continued to look at him in the eye as she nodded softly.

"Promise me you're not going to hurt the doctor."

"If that's what you want, Luna, then I won't. Maybe you two will join us one day."

Woodrow stood up and left with his friend, as he closed the cell door and locked it. Luna looked at Dr. White and crawled to him, looking at his hand.

"Hey, what was that?" asked Dr. White.

"Our key to surviving," said Luna.

"It look like he has it for you."

"I know he wants to screw my guts. I just need you alive at whatever cost."

"You know what Stockholm syndrome is, right?"

"I do… that's not what it is, I promise you, doc. I love Sam with all my heart, but I have to keep you alive."

Dr. White nodded as he looked around the cell, finding a pile of items in the corner. He sat down against the wall and sighed. Luna looked up at the ceiling.

"C'mon, dudes. Where are ya?"

* * *

The sun was beginning to drop down as Lori and the group headed back to the apartment complex. Sam sniffled as she walked by herself.

"We're gonna find her," said Lori. "She's alive somewhere. I'm hopeful and we should all be hopeful too."

Sam ignored Lori as she walked inside her apartment. Lori stood outside and looked up at the sky, her eyes fixated on the moon in the sky. She felt like she was lying to herself.

* * *

 **III - Melting Point**

-One Week Later-

All of the members of the group, except David, Carol, Jeffrey, Lisa, Lana, and Lily, walked closer to downtown Baltimore, the inner city where the risk of running into swarms and even a herd were really high, though the risks would be worth it if they found a clue to where Luna and Dr. White were. The group all together as a pack made it easier to take out roamers, both lone and grouped. Their movement, however, was sluggish and noisy.

"I'm going to go ahead," said George. "See what can I find around there."

Lori nodded as George jogged lightly towards the intersection in the road.

"We're not going to find them," said Sam. "Not at this speed."

"It's the safest way to move around the city," said Lori, checking her surroundings. "We need the fuel to make it to the capital, so we can't use our vehicles."

"We should split up- we can cover more ground like that."

"It's too dangerous."

"Yeah, agreed," said Jace. "We're going to find Luna like this, don't be such a downer."

"We're moving slower than a fucking turtle!" exclaimed Sam. "If we split up, we could find Luna much faster than whatever the hell we're doing now!"

Jace shook his head.

"Sounds like a good way to get us killed."

"This- this is going to get Luna killed! Every second that we're wasting now could be her last!"

Members of the group began to murmur among each other.

"What about this… X-Tribe?" said Jace. "We can't risk other lives to save two!"

"One of them is my girlfriend, you prick!" yelled Sam.

"What about the doctor?" said Vonda. "He's arguably more important than any of us, right? We should risk lives to save him."

'Thank you, Vonda. Can't forget about the doc too."

"That's assuming they're still alive," said Preston.

"Shut the fuck up!" yelled Sam.

"C'mon, Sam…" groaned Benny.

Jace approached Sam as she looked at him with an angry glare.

"Look, Sam. I wanna find Luna as much as you do, but you need to calm down, okay?"

"Don't tell me to calm down. What the fuck do you even know about saving people? I can save the girl I love- unlike you!"

"Can you guys keep it down?" ordered Lori.

"What the hell is that supposed to-"

"You couldn't fucking save Leni," said Sam. "How the hell are you gonna save Luna?"

Jace shook his head and grew an angry look at Sam.

"You don't get to talk about saving people," said Jace. "The reason we're here looking for her is because you couldn't fucking protect her. This is on you."

"At least I actually know HOW to save her! What about you, huh? What did YOU do when you left Houlton? When you left Leni alone with a gun to her head? That's right. You weren't even _there_!"

"Sam, stop," said Luan to no avail.

"Don't you fucking dare!" yelled Jace. "Look who's talking! The one who couldn't fucking save her little brother! Little! Brother!"

"Yo, chill," said Benny as he approached Jace.

Tears formed in Sam's eyes as her throat stung her.

"And where the hell is Alex?" she hissed.

Benny placed his hands over Jace's chest.

"Chill, Jace, don't-"

Jace shoved him away and yelled as he punched Sam in her arm. Sam yelled as Jace threw another punch, though she grabbed his arm and punched his jaw.

"Guys, stop!" yelled Bobby.

Jace screamed as he tackled her against a car, causing her to groan in pain as her back awakened by the jolt of sharp pressure. He prepared to throw another punch aimed at Sam's face, though she quickly moved her head, causing the car window to crack as Jace held his fist in pain.

"Fucking hell!" screamed Jace.

Sam kneed Jace in his groin and tackled him to the ground, where she wrapped her hands around his neck. Jace clenched his teeth as he grabbed Sam's arms, struggling to set himself free. He then swung his fists at Sam's face, smacking blood out of her mouth with each hit. Her cheek was bruised. Her temple was cut. Blood poured out of her nose.

Lincoln tried to pull Sam away from Jace, but he got a kick to his stomach, causing him to groan in pain as he fell back on the pavement of the road.

Jace turned his body slightly to the right as he gathered momentum to toss Sam to his left, causing her to roll away from Jace. He quickly stood up as he kicked Sam.

Suddenly, Preston grabbed Jace's arms and locked them against his shoulders.

"C'mon, chill out, man," whispered Preston.

Sam stood up, groaning as she limped towards Jace, holding her left arm against her chest. She then punched Jace's stomach with her right hand, knocking the wind out of his lungs. She panted as Bobby wrapped his arms around her body, holding her back.

George panted as he ran back with the group, where he found a couple roamer corpses in the ground. Lori placed her hatchet back into her belt and walked over to Jace and Sam.

"You two caused a scene and attracted roamers over here!" she scolded. "You two, come with me. You two got some explaining to do."

Bobby held Sam as she followed Lori, blood dripping from her lips and her temple. Preston held Jace as he followed Lori, blood seeping from his knuckles while a bruise formed around his neck. Both exhausted and sweaty fighters refused to look at each other, while the group stared at them awkwardly as they stormed over to the sidewalk.

* * *

The sun continued to rise high in the sky as a fan blew cool air into the large cell. Luna lied sat against the wall with Dr. White, each of them hearing the clacking of noises from the kitchen. Luna couldn't find a way out of the school, since she found nothing in the cell and in the bathroom- which the prisoners had to ask permission to go to- that could be of any help. She continued to stare at the busy movements that occurred outside the cell as the residents of the X-Zone began to leave the cafeteria.

"Hey, doc…" said Luna in a dejected voice.

"Yes, Luna?"

"How's Nova Terra? I mean, how does it look like? How is it like living there?"

Dr. White shifted his glasses around and shrugged as he looked up.

"It's almost all countryside and abandoned towns- unless you account for the ones that the First Nations people took up. It's all beautiful nevertheless, just like the main city, capital, where all the citizens of the KHAN live. The streets are clean, the houses and buildings look nice, technology and jobs are bustling… it's like a utopia."

"But it's really a dystopia, right?" commented Luna.

"It's certainly worse out here than there. That's the thing. You wouldn't even think it's a dystopia. The police are friendly… the rules are more lax than you think… people respect the soldiers there… and the soldiers respect the people. You know, Krissen wants her people to see her as a hero, not a dictator who rules with an iron fist."

"She seems so important- it's a wonder we never really questioned you more about that dudette who turned our entire world into a living hell just so a select few can be in heaven."

"I don't know enough about her to tell you anything important," said Dr. White.

"Then what about this… why don't you talk about your family? You- you rarely bring them up."

Dr. White looked down and faced Luna.

"You think by just asking that, you'll be able to find out?"

"Sure, yeah. C'mon, dude. It's better than just sitting here all bored."

Dr. White nodded and then looked ahead into the empty cafeteria.

"Talking about my family remind me of all the terrible things I did for them on my path to create a cure."

"Right, the cure to save humanity… to save your family," said Luna. "Seems like they don't need saving if they're in Nova Terra."

"That's another thing. Talking about them reminds me of the terrible things I did _to_ them as well."

Luna faced the doctor and softly cleared her throat.

"What do you mean?"

"When I had the rogues lock up Lori and George in the prison as part of the plan to liberate the prisoners… I was given time to do anything I could. I had one of the rogues send a written message to them detailing a location that they needed to get to… because I was about to betray the KHAN. It's some rebel territory far away from the capital, but it's still within Nova Terra, and there are still roamers that lurk around. They have to survive out there in hell every day because of my mission. I don't even know if they're alive anymore."

"We made you betray the rogues," said Luna.

"Your group didn't make me do anything," reassured Dr. White. "I did something and I gotta take responsibility for it."

Dr. White then turned towards Luna.

"But it will all be over soon, right?"

"No, it won't," said Luna. "I'll make sure of it. Even if it means I don't see the light of day or step foot on Nova Terra."

Luna and Dr. White both looked back at the empty cafeteria, empty cans on the corner of the cell.

* * *

Jace, seated on the sidewalk, stared at a fire hydrant with scratch marks on its edge and stains of blood below it, before Preston snapped his fingers in front of him.

"Hey, you with me?" asked Preston. "Wanna talk about what happened there?"

"I-I think Sam hates me," said Jace. "She blames me for what happened to… Leni and my sister."

"She doesn't hate you."

"Bullshit. She's had it out for me since day one. Thinks I'm tryna' steal Luna from her. I don't even like her, like _that_ anymore… you know? She's my friend."

"Jace, look at me. People say anything in the heat of the moment and they end up regretting it later. I know it, remember when I dissed your sister? You know, if I could take it back, I would not have said it in the first place."

"It's fine. We're cool, you know?"

"Yes, we are. And you're going to be cool with Sam, you just gotta talk to her. She's going through a lot. You know Luna is the reason why she hasn't lost the will to live? It's beautiful, really."

"It's a bit morbid," smiled Jace. "But yeah… I agree. I guess I just kinda forgot how stressed out she is from losing the only person she loves. You're right. I was the one who threw the first punch. I should be the one apologizing. Give me a moment, Preston."

Jace stood up from the sidewalk while Preston gave him a pat with a smile.

"You got this, bro."

Sam sat on the sidewalk parallel to the one Jace and Preston were at. Sam was fiddling with a guitar pick as Lincoln sat down next to her.

"You kick hard," Lincoln nervously chuckled. "You work out in your spare time or something?"

Sam smiled as she looked at Lincoln before fading into a frown.

"No. Sorry about that, Linc. I… was just so angry, I didn't think."

"Your head's clear now, right? I wouldn't want another kick."

"Haha, yeah, you're good, dude."

"You should talk to Jace," said Lincoln, causing Sam to face him. "My sister Luna wouldn't want you guys to fight."

"I don't like him. And he doesn't like me either. We're just going to end up arguing again."

"Please, do it for Luna. He's a friend and you're her girlfriend. She would want you guys to get along. She loves you more than anyone, and she wouldn't want to lose you."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry, I kicked you."

"It's okay, it'll be a funny story to tell Luna."

Sam and Lincoln stood up, with Sam wrapping her arms around the boy. She then walked over to the opposite sidewalk, meeting Jace in the middle of the road. Lori uncrossed her arms and prepared to walk over to them before Bobby stopped her.

"We got to keep looking for Luna, right?" he said. "Let's keep moving while they talk it out."

Lori nodded. Jace rubbed the back of his head as he looked at Sam's eyes.

"I'm sorry-" both of them said before they nervously giggled.

"You go first," said Sam.

Jace nodded as the group began to walk ahead. Sam continued to fiddle with her guitar pick.

"That's a nice guitar pick you got there," he said.

"It's Luna's," said Sam.

* * *

The guitar pick moved around her fingers as she softly plucked it across an acoustic guitar. Luna hummed as Dr. White sat on a bed, reading a book as he held it up with one hand. She slowly tuned the guitar over and over until the strings ran in harmony with her hum.

Woodrow walked over to the cell with a plate in his hand and a cup of water in the other. He opened up the cell and walked inside, smiling at Luna before handing her the plate.

"Haven't seen you in days," said Luna, grabbing her plate of food. "I've been meaning to ask something. Why the masks?"

"Some people here find it very difficult to hunt out there. It makes them feel like monsters, you know? I'm not gonna lie. What we do out there- we are monsters. But only when we wear the masks. 'Cause without 'em, we're just normal people. Well… as normal as we can get. It's sorta like a second identity, you get me?"

Luna nodded as she took a sip of water.

"Plus, some people don't like showing their scars. It makes 'em feel weak, you know? Reminds them of the colossal power that nuclear weapons got against us humans. We're like ants compared to those explosions."

She nodded again then sighed.

"Won't the doc get meals like I do?" she asked.

"Of course, where are my manners?" smiled Woodrow. "But before I fix him a plate, tell me, can you sing? Well, silly me, of course everyone can sing. What I meant to ask was… can you sing well?"

Luna placed the meat from her plate into her mouth and shrugged. She placed a napkin over her mouth.

"I do the best I can, you know?" she gulped, before taking another bite of the meat. "This tastes… unique. What is this?"

Woodrow smiled.

"It's human. Human meat."

Luna's eyes grew wide as she began coughing the food out of her throat. She gagged out the food and coughed before tossing her plate to the ground, shattering it to big pieces.

"What the bloody hell! Hu… human?"

"Yeah. It's meat from your friend that died back in Wilmington."

"Oh, Jesus!" shouted Luna. "Eating a fucking person is one thing but you're making me eat Reggie? What the actual bloody fuck is wrong with you? This is cruel punishment!"

"Relax, we're all eating people here," said Woodrow, standing up.

"How will that make me relax?" exclaimed Luna as she began to hyperventilate.

"The meat from your friend was going to spoil, I had to give it to you. Figured it'd be one last way he could help you guys out."

Luna gagged as she tried to remember how Lisa taught her to get rid of ingested poison. She opened her mouth and was ready to stick her finger inside before Woodrow grabbed her arm.

"Don't you dare," said Woodrow. "I don't wanna clean up more of your mess."

"You made me eat a human. You're sick."

"I'm sorry. I'll feed you animal meat now. But you gotta sing a song for me."

"No!"

"Do it or I'll keep feeding you people human meat!"

Luna took a deep exhale before reluctantly nodding. Woodrow walked away to get a broom in the corner of the cell as Luna quickly grabbed a shard from the broken plate and placing it in her pocket. Woodrow turned around with the broom in his hand, walking over to Luna.

"Got a song in mind?" asked Woodrow as he swept the plate shards.

Luna nodded as sweat dripped from her long pixie cut hair, falling down to her eyes and covering her ears. She placed the pick on the guitar strings and cleared her throat before glancing at Woodrow. He placed the broom away and smiled. She closed her eyes and exhaled.

" _I walk through the valley of the shadow of death._

 _And I fear no evil 'cause I'm blind to it all._

 _And my mind, my gun they comfort me._ "

Luna glared at Woodrow as he squatted down.

" _Because I know I'll kill my enemies when they come._

 _Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life._

 _And I will dwell on this earth for ever more._ "

Luna looked at Dr. White and continued plucking her guitar.

" _Sad I walk beside the still waters and they restore my soul._

 _But I can't walk on the path of the right because I'm wrong._ "

Woodrow rubbed his hands over Luna's forehead and moved her hair away from her eyes. She closed her eyes again.

" _I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…_ "

* * *

The sun remained high in the air as Jace and Sam walked together, following the group. Jace wore a navy blue shirt with ripped sleeves while Sam stuck with her 'The Who' shirt. Preston walked with them, wearing a basketball jersey.

"It's not like people beat her up," said Jace, "but I could tell. She would have a shitty day right after another shitty day. But Alex wasn't the one to complain. I… hated that. I wish she could just tell me why people would harass her. Growing up, I kinda figured on my own. Bullies… they don't like anyone who's different. There was these neighbors I had. Super religious. Super douches. One of their kids was in Alex's grade, so when she went to high school, she really had it rough with him at the start. I was all worried but Alex told me to not worry so much… but still… I hated what that kid would say about her. Then, one day, Alex came home with a black eye and a cut in her lips, kinda like mine right here. She lied again, saying she wasn't watching her steps but only 'cause she wanted to protect me or something. It didn't matter. The next day, I skipped school and followed the kid to the high school… and then I asked him why he hit my sister. He was talking about how she sinned and all that crap, and I told him he shouldn't hit girls. Then, he told me Alex wasn't a girl, therefore he was allowed to hit her. That got me so mad, I just… lost it and I started hitting him. At the end… I got my ass kicked. But it was worth it. 'Cause he couldn't smell for the next couple months. Alex didn't like what I did, but she respected it… I think she secretly wanted to fight him too, but she didn't want to a bad role model for me. It was just me and her most of the time, you know?"

Sam smiled.

"You kinda remind me of my little brother. You know… Simon. Similar thing happened a while ago. When the kids at his school found out I was into girls... well, y'know. Kids are cruel. But I'd keep telling him to not let the things they'd say about me get to him. The things they'd say– I didn't mind. But he did. This one kid went up to him and called me a dyke. Funny, 'cause, where the hell did he learn that word? Makes you wonder sometimes... but anyways– it was enough to get Simon mad. He really gave him a beating, like... damn, he took pride in it. He said he gave that kid a black eye and popped out a couple teeth. I wasn't happy with what he did... but I knew he did it 'cause he loved me. Still... it just had to stop, y'know?"

"Yeah," said Jace. "There's something about dissing loved ones that really piss people off."

"I'm sorry for bringing up Leni," said Sam. "And Alex."

"I'm sorry about bringing up Simon. And for trying to beat you up. You're kinda strong, you know that?"

"So I heard," smiled Sam. "You went really crazy for someone who wants to rescue my girlfriend."

"Yeah… she's like my best friend. And it also pains me when you two aren't together. You and I may not be the best of pals, but I respect anyone who would love and care for Luna. That's you, Sam. You'd make a great wife, y'know?"

"Thank you, Jace. I didn't know you cared that much about my relationship with her. I thought you were more… envious."

"Sure, at the start, it may have ticked me off how affectionate you two were with each other, but now? Whole different story. If I'm being honest, that mushy stuff you do with each other? Makes my heart jump with joy."

"Really?"

"I ship you guys, Sam!"

Sam giggled as she and Jace hugged, though Jace groaned.

"What happened?" gasped Sam as she released Jace.

"Still got bruises in my ribs," said Jace as he let out a small laugh.

Lori smiled as she looked back from the front of the group. She turned around and found a cluster of cars on top of each other, creating a wall and blocking the roads ahead of her in the intersection in the distance. Lori continued walking ahead, finding two large pieces of lumber placed in an X formation.

"Not this shit again," puffed Lynn.

"This might be a good sign," said Lori. "This must mean we're getting closer, right?"

"Closer to our death?" said Vonda. "Yeah, I agree."

"Let's see if we can take an alley," said George.

Suddenly, flames engulfed the wall of cars before it reached the lumber of X. Then, one X-Tribe member walked around the wall of cars, then from every alley, from every building, even from the sewers. Members of the group looked around as they each began to look visibly terrified, including Lori. Each member of the group was grabbed and held at gunpoint by an X-Tribe member except Lori.

Then, the commanding masked survivor, the X-Tribe woman with dreads, walked in front of the wall of fire and held an ASP behind Lori's head.

"We been following your group," she said. "We usually don't attack large groups like this- 'cept when we were in Wilmington- but I've been patient. Y'all stick together like glue and that's so motherfuckin' annoying. Now we done being patient."

"There was a teenage girl and a doctor," said Lori, still looking away from her captor. "Where'd you take them?"

"You ain't asking any motherfuckin' questions, you got that? We're gonna beat you all down, then we're gon' take you someplace where you'll never escape alive. And you, boss lady? We gon' let you watch it all happen."

The X-Tribe members formed a small circle around the intersection as two of them pushed Kotaro and Hana into the middle. Some of the members were struggling to keep some of their captives calm. Lynn was quickly smacked in the head with a hockey stick, knocking her down, while Becky struggled to grab her own machete. Her captor grabbed her dagger and prepared to slice her face before Becky covered it with her arms. The dagger cut the skin of her arms, causing her to yell before another masked survivor thrust his mallet into her back, causing her to fall to her knees.

"What are you doing to them?" asked Lori, her eyes widening.

"Eh, eh, eh! Zip it! No fuckin' questions!"

The masked survivors grabbed Hana's katana and Kotaro's rifle before some other X-Tribe survivors surrounded the captives. Then, they began to punch, kick, pull, and scratch Hana and Kotaro. Some of them pulled out their pipes and sticks and began to beat them to a pulp.

Luan ran ahead towards the middle of the circle before being held back by her captors as she screamed.

"Let her go, you freaks!"

Suddenly, Luan was shoved to the ground and beaten on the spot her sword being taken out and tossed away. Benny struggle to help her, but he was beaten as well while the rest of the group watched.

Hana moaned as blood was pouring out her face. Kotaro groaned as bruises filled his arms and legs. Benny screamed as he felt his stomach being repeatedly punched. Luan cried out in pain as her face smacked against the pavement.

Bobby was left speechless like his sister, Ronnie Anne. George fidgeted around, before being kicked behind his leg, causing him to fall to his knees. Vonda gasped and tried to help George before her arm was smacked away. Sam, Jace, and Preston watched in shock as their friends were being mauled by the masked savages. Clyde covered his eyes. Lincoln felt tears bubbling up as he watched his sister get beat over and over. Lynn screamed and stood herself up with her hands.

"Y'all are gonna fucking pay!" she shouted before being beaten again with a hockey stick.

Some of the survivors beating Hana, Kotaro, Luan, and Benny walked away from their bleeding bodies and moved towards Lynn. She was picked up and dragged to the middle as she flailed her arms around. The survivors began to pull apart her shirt, her pants, her shoes, her hair. She shrieked in fright, causing Lori's heart to sink as she never saw Lynn so scared in her life before.

"No, no, stop," muttered Lori.

"Shut up," ordered the commanding masked survivor.

"STOP!"

"Shut up!"

The commanding enemy smacked Lori with her ASP, causing her to fall on one knee. Lynn cried out for help as one of her bra straps was ripped apart. Lori pulled out her revolver and moved it towards her captor before she smacked it away from her hand. She moved to grab her hatchet before her captor held her right arm. She then tried to take the ASP from her captor before she grabbed her left arm as well, her captor pressing the ASP and her palm against Lori's chest as she folded her arms against it. She then shoved Lori's back, still holding her arms, against a car in the left road of the intersection. The captor and Lori were face to face with each other. Lori stared at the eyes inside the mask. The masked captor laughed.

"What's a scrawny girl like you gon' do against me? You're in no position to fight back!"

Lori took a deep exhale and lunged her teeth into the side of the captor's neck, biting into her jugular vein as deep as she could. Her captor screamed as Lori ripped a piece of her flesh out, along with a ripped vein that spewed out blood. She coughed and gagged as Lori spit out her piece of flesh, blood dripping from her lips and teeth. After Lori grabbed her ASP, the captor fell to her knees, struggling to close her neck with her palms before falling face-down into the pavement.

The members of the X-Tribe all stopped their relentless beating, shocked and unable to move as they looked upon the body of their superior. Lynn shivered upon looking at her sister. Bobby and Lincoln were unable to close their jaws as no words came out.

Lori quickly shot the X-Tribe members to her left and right, the ones that held George and Becky hostage. Both George and Becky grabbed their Glocks and began shooting the other enemies that held their friends hostage as Lori shot the ones beating Lynn. Some of the members began to run away before Becky grabbed her automatic rifle and gunned them down, assisted with George and his shotgun. Lynn quickly crawled to Bobby's arms as the bloodshed continued.

Then, there were three.

An X-Tribe member wearing a black face mask, struggled to drag himself away from the wall of fire as one of his legs was riddled with shotgun pellets. Lori knelt down and placed that hatchet against his neck as two of the X-Tribe members, held captive by her group, watched.

"No… please…" begged the masked enemy.

"Where is my sister?"

"Luna? I don't know…"

"A slow death or a fast death?" asked Lori.

"None, please…"

"That's not an option. Answer the question or you're getting a slow death."

"I don't know, I swear!"

Lori shook her head as she pressed the blade of the hatchet against the enemy's throat, causing him to yell before it turned into a cough. She stood up and saw the roamers approaching from the road without the wall of cars.

"Babe…" whispered Bobby.

"No time," said Lori. "Take the injured and get them back home. Take Clyde with you. Please go now."

Bobby nodded as he and Clyde helped Lynn, Luan, and Benny to their feet. Kotaro and Hana limped around a wall of cars as they took an alternative route back to the shelter, following Bobby and Clyde. Lori and the others, including two masked captives went around the wall of fire, letting the roamers devour the dead attackers.

"Look at what you did to my people," said one of the masked enemies. "Me and Antonio. We'll never tell you where we live."

Lori pulled out her hatchet.

"You won't have to."

She swung it down on the unnamed survivor, slicing his right hand off. He hissed in pain as blood began to drip from his open wound.

"You wanna live and get that fixed up?" said Lori. "Take us to your home. Shouldn't be too far now, right?"

"Okay, okay. Let's go quickly then."

Lincoln looked at Lori as she ran ahead with the captives while the rest of the group followed her. He gulped and can only watch as the monster inside Lori continued to rage about.

The flaming limber of X continued to rage in the distance until the group no longer saw it. Lori, George, Becky, Preston, Sam, Jace, Vonda, Lincoln, and Ronnie Anne with the two captives as they approached the X-Zone in the distance. They stopped at an intersection, where Lori saw an apartment building close to the X-Zone where members of her group could set up a temporary base.

"How many of your people are in here?" asked Lori.

"There shouldn't be that many," said Antonio. "More than half of my people were sent out to other places to… hunt. There's no way you can sneak in without being spotted. All of you against them? Not a chance."

"Which is why we won't be sneaking in there," said Lori. "You'll open the fences and you'll leave them unlocked. If you don't do that… we're sniping you."

"Wait, what about him?" asked Antonio, pointing at his fellow survivor.

"He'll join you… if you can tell us about the traps in this building."

Lori held the amputee's shirt and moved him to the entrance door.

"Ain't no traps," said Antonio. "Look for yourself."

Lori signaled George to come closer and then she looked back at Antonio. Then, she nodded.

"Okay," she whispered.

Lori opened the door and George kicked the amputated captive inside the building before closing the door. Antonio yelled in protest as Becky held him back. Then, after a few seconds, an explosion shattered the windows and puffed smoke out of it.

"A grenade trap," said Vonda.

"I was expecting roamers or alarms, but a grenade trap?" scoffed Lori. "You really tried to kill me like that?"

"I fucked up," said Antonio. "I fucked up."

"More traps upstairs?"

"No."

Becky held out Antonio's right hand and held her machete up high.

"No, please!" begged Antonio in a panicked voice. "There are no other traps 'cept the ones in the entrance in the other buildings! I swear to God! I swear!"

"You have a funny way of invoking His name," said Preston.

"Let him go," George told Becky. "He's not lying."

The group members began to walk inside the apartment building, using their flashlights to scope out the corners not lit by sunlight. Lori then faced Antonio and placed her hatchet back into her belt.

"You get everyone and you tell everyone what we did," said Lori, "but you do not tell them we're here. Want more of your people to live? Get as many of them together so they could leave the X-Zone. Whoever stays behind…"

"May the Lord have mercy on their souls," said Preston.

The masked enemy showed fear in his eyes before walking away, headed for the X-Zone. Lori and Preston walked inside the building, joining the others in setting up the temporary base.

 **IV - Exterminated**

The sunlight glowed through the clouds, making the entire city seem gray. Inside the cell, the lights in the ceiling signaled the daytime hours to Luna and Dr. White. Two empty plates were stacked on top of each other, along with two forks. Luna sipped on her cup of water and sighed, before Dr. White tapped her.

"Hey," he whispered. "I think it's my turn to ask questions."

"Shoot 'em," said Luna.

"Why do you want me alive? A stupid question, maybe, given your compassion, but why me?"

"You're the best hope humanity has for a cure. I mean… you and Lisa already came up with a prototype."

"That's worth sacrificing yourself for me? That monster holding us here… you already know what he wants."

"It's nothing compared to what a cure can do. You know, if you were to die… I wouldn't be able to live with myself. People really close to me- people I loved- they were taken from me by the things out there. You know about my sisters, Lola and Lucy."

"Yeah," said Dr. White. "Lori never told me how they passed."

"But you figured it out, right? Roamer saliva… why is it so strong? What's in there that took their lives? Just like with Tabby. It made her weak and suffer in her last minutes- I'm so sorry Lincoln was there to see it all."

"Did they ever turn?"

"Lola did. I wasn't there to see her act as a monster but my other siblings were there… y'know Ronnie Anne had to kill her in front of Lana? I can only imagine how horrible that must've been to her."

Luna sniffled.

"Then there was Lucy. She was never even afraid of death but that doesn't mean we had to have her taken away from us. Because there was nothing we could do to help her from becoming one of those things… she had to be… put down. By Carol."

Dr. White cleared his throat as he removed his glasses. But he couldn't say a word.

"You know, my siblings already moved on, even Lana. Not Lincoln. I could tell he hides his grief from us. Maybe he deals with it silently– I don't know. But it changed him. I know Lucy told us not to cry over her death, but Lincoln took that too literal, you know? But I find it very hard, man."

Luna placed her hands on her head and rubbed her palm over her hair.

"What if I have to put down one of my siblings one day?" whimpered Luna. "Or what if I became a roamer myself? Or if I had to be put down myself because there isn't a cure? I don't want the day to ever come. I don't want anyone else to feel loss like I did."

Dr. White sighed before Luna continued.

"I don't want to die either. I know this world is hell, but I want to grow old with my family and Sam. But you'd do anything for the cure, even if it means I have to die… not judging, by the way. If I have to die… let me die in the most useful way possible."

Dr. White held both of Luna's hands.

"I'm sorry for anything that happened to you," he said. "But you deserve to live. Don't worry about me. There's always Lisa."

"You would rather let me live and throw away any chances of a cure?"

Luna shook her head as she whispered.

"Why?"

* * *

The mesh fences to the X-Zone opened. As per Lori's orders, Antonio left the fences unlocked as he walked inside his community, his mask and clothing stained with blood. He took off his mask, revealing his bald head and goatee, as he looked around nervously.

"Everyone!" he exclaimed. "Gather 'round!"

The men and women stopped with their activities and all looked at their unmasked friend. They all began to approach him as Woodrow looked from the high school with his binoculars.

"What happened to the others?" asked one of the women.

"They… uh… they all got killed," said Antonio, "by this certain group. And uh…"

Sam looked into the scope of her rifle while she was in prone position as Jace scoped around with binoculars. Lori approached Sam and knelt down.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Seems like everything's going all good," said Sam. "They just got the shocking news that we killed their friends."

Antonio leaned close to the group before pointing at a certain building.

"They're over there," he said. "We need all of our people to attack that building, you hear?"

"Shit, we just got made," said Sam.

"Do it," said Lori as she grabbed her AK-47 rifle.

The unmasked X-Tribe members squinted at the building as Antonio insisted that the group was near.

"They're here. Tell Woodrow that a dozen or so people are hiding over there. I know you don't see anyone but I'm telling you guys, they are-"

A bullet struck his back as he yelled, falling to the ground. The men and women yelled as some of them placed their masks on. Some of those with masks pulled out their crude melee weapons and pistols out, while the others prepared to run away.

Suddenly, a hail of gunfire rained on the men and women that were gathered around Antonio. Bodies dropped like flies as more of them tried to escape. Woodrow dropped his binoculars and ran inside the high school, gone from sight.

Luna and Dr. White looked around from their cell as they heard gunfire from the distance. Then, they saw Woodrow running towards the cell.

"Come with me," said Woodrow. "We're leaving."

Luna and Dr. White stood up and looked at each other in surprise.

"Shit…" said Jace. "This is the change of plans?"

"There were no change of plans," said Becky as she moved away from the windows.

Lori, George, Becky, and Sam all removed the magazines in their guns and reached into a large backpack that Preston was carrying. He distributed magazines out to the fighters, including Vonda and Ronnie Anne, all of them putting their sources of ammo in their pockets.

"Promise me you'll be careful," said Lincoln.

"I will," said Ronnie Anne. "I'll be back before you know it, Lame-O."

Lori, George, Becky, Sam, Vonda, and Ronnie Anne dashed out of the building, leaving Jace, Preston, and Lincoln inside the building to give the group an overview of the X-Zone. The fighters ran to the mesh fences and pushed through, all sticking together as a group as they took cover behind a building.

"Got eyes on everything?" Lori spoke into her walkie-talkie.

"Yeah," Lincoln replied in his own walkie-talkie. "You got two targets on your left."

Becky, who stood leftward behind cover, aimed her rifle to her left. Right when the attackers arrived, she shot her rifle, shooting and killing the two armed attackers. She snuck into their pockets and took out their magazines and placed it inside her own pockets.

"Took care of 'em," said Becky.

"Two targets on your right," said Lincoln.

George pumped his shotgun and fired it onto the duo of attackers, hitting both of them with spraying pellets.

"Dozens of targets moving from building in the right," said Lincoln.

"Alright, let's go," said Lori.

Suddenly, Sam ran ahead, leaving the group behind as they moved to the back of a Hummer.

"Come back!" yelled Lori.

"Don't chase her," said Lincoln. "Five targets on the roof in the gray building got eyes on the Hummer. Take care of 'em."

"Dammit," muttered Lori. "Alright, you heard our overwatch. Targets on the roof!"

Gunfire continued.

Jace zoomed into his binoculars on the roof of a building and saw a teenage girl and a doctor held by their arms by a masked X-Tribe member. He stood up and tried to sneak away from the top floor of the building as Lincoln and Preston continued to watch the X-Zone.

"Where are you going?" asked Lincoln.

"I… I'm just gonna…" stammered Jace.

"You're going to look for Luna," said Preston. "Is that right?"

Jace sighed as he closed his eyes.

"Good luck," said Lincoln.

"Got a weapon?" asked Preston.

"Yeah," said Jace, Px4 in hand. "Hopefully, I won't have to use it."

Lincoln nodded before he turned on his walkie-talkie.

"Luna's on the rooftop of the building with the white pillars in front," said Jace. "So, is Dr. White."

Lincoln gasped as he grabbed the binoculars. He looked into the rooftop of the high school and found three people. He looked back at the room and found Jace gone.

Gunfire continued to rage across the X-Zone as the fighters were placed in different positions. Vonda fired her bow into one of the enemies in the rooftop, hitting and stiffening him as he fell three stories down to an abandoned military tank. Ronnie Anne found an enemy creeping out from a market, so she quickly turned her crossbow towards it and fired it, hitting the enemy's chest. As another enemy popped out from the entrance, she quickly took out her sidearm and shot at him three times, dropping him.

"Damn, how are we supposed to get to that building with all these _pendejos_ shooting at us?" she exclaimed.

"Just keep fighting your way there!" exclaimed Lori.

Woodrow continued to walk Luna and Dr. White across the rooftop, taking them near the entrance to the last fire escape behind the school. He quickly turned around upon hearing the screeching of a metal door against concrete. He pulled out his butterfly knives and stood between Luna and Dr. White.

"A friend of her?" asked Woodrow.

Sam stared at Woodrow with her AR-15 in her hands.

"I'm the love of her life," said Sam as she aimed her rifle at the masked leader.

Woodrow quickly grabbed Luna and held one of his butterfly knives against her throat.

"You… you didn't tell me about her!" yelled Woodrow.

Luna remained silent. Woodrow then jammed his knife into Luna's left thigh, causing her to shriek in pain as he took out his other knife, holding it against her neck. Sam ran closer with an angry fire in her eyes.

"Get any closer and I'll cut her throat out!" shouted Woodrow as he grabbed his bloody knife back. "Drop your fucking gun! Do it or else!"

Sam tossed her gun to the ground as she sniffled upon seeing Luna hold one of her hands on her bleeding pants and her other hand against her neck. Woodrow cackled before screaming.

"I thought you were the one for me!" screamed Woodrow. "Instead… you've been fucking a girl without tellin' me? A girl! You damn… LESBIAN! You'll burn for this!"

"Hey!" shouted Dr. White. "Look at yourself. Why in the world would you ever think what you're doing is okay? I mean, come on!"

"I told you… the mask unleashes the monster," panted Woodrow.

"You're fucking insane," said Luna. "Why would I ever want you?"

Woodrow took a deep breath as Dr. White approached him. The doctor then shoved his shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" barked Woodrow. "You got some fucking nerve."

Dr. White wiped the sweat off his forehead and gulped as he removed his glasses.

"L-Let the girl go, please," he said.

Woodrow removed his knife away from Luna's throat and walked up to Dr. White. He then looked at Sam and removed his mask. And in one quick swing, he slashed his knife across the side of the doctor's neck before thrusting his other knife into his chest, piercing his heart.

"No!" yelled Luna.

The doctor dropped his glasses before falling to his side.

Sam ran towards Woodrow as he lunged towards Luna, who dug into her pockets and took out a shard of the broken plate she tossed earlier. She stabbed Woodrow in his shoulder before he was tackled by Sam.

Sam yelled as she took out Luna's crowbar from her backpack. She swung it at Woodrow, breaking his nose as he fell to the ground. She then held it high before Woodrow tossed his knife at her ankle. As she screamed, Woodrow quickly picked himself up and sliced her right arm, causing her to drop her crowbar. He then punched the bruise on Sam's cheek as she fell down.

Luna dragged herself close to a dying Dr. White.

"Why'd you do it?" groaned Luna.

"Can't save humanity... without first saving... your own."

Dr. White coughed out blood.

"Ask Lisa… if her sacrifice was… worth it. And lastly… _please_... set… my… family… free…"

Dr. White stiffened as his eyes stared up. Tears flowed out of Luna's eyes as she turned tomwards her girlfriend and her captor.

Sam quickly grabbed the knife from her ankle and picked herself up. She swung it around, trying to hit Woodrow as he kept dodging the sharp blade. He then elbowed her face and picked her up before tossing her back to the concrete rooftop.

"I'm gonna toss you out like fucking garbage," said Woodrow.

He grabbed her shirt and dragged her to the edge of the rooftop. She yelled and swung her knuckle on Woodrow's groin, causing him to yell in pain. He turned her around and sat on top of her. She tried to grab his neck, but he quickly jammed his knife through Sam's left hand into the concrete surface, getting an agonizing scream out of her. He then covered the girl's mouth with his left hand.

"Wanna know how hurt I feel?" hissed Woodrow.

He placed the blade against Sam's collarbone before rubbing it up and down, carving the surface of her bone. She closed her eyes as her muffled screams came accompanied by flailing legs.

"Sam!" cried out Luna.

Tears flowed out of Luna's eyes as she held out her hand for her. Luna struggled to stand up before Woodrow tossed a knife at Luna's left shoulder. She quickly fell to her knees as Woodrow stood up.

"Hey!" a male voice shouted.

Woodrow turned around and found a teenage boy aiming a pistol at him. It was Jace. Woodrow showed his bloody palms as blood ran through his smile. He then rubbed the blood on his palms over his mouth.

"I just took down three of your friends," he snickered. "You wanna be next?"

Jace exhaled softly as he placed his finger over the trigger, aiming for the enemy in his sight, who kept taunting him.

"Look at yourself… fingers are shaking, grip's getting sweaty, you're breathing like you just ran a damn marathon. I don't think you got the damn guts to do what it takes to survive… that's why I'm going to rip out their guts… then I'm gonna–"

Jace clenched his teeth as he pulled the trigger, causing Woodrow to flinch as he placed his hands over the hole in his chest.

"Oh," he murmured.

Jace then walked closer, firing off two shots at the unmasked leader, causing him to drop to his knees with two additional holes in his chest. With partially closed eyes and teeth grit, Jace pulled the trigger once more. Woodrow let out a raspy gasp as he fell down on his back, smoke flowing out of his gunshot wounds. Jace slackened his posture and sighed before turning towards his friend.

"Oh my god, Luna, you okay?" exclaimed Jace, jogging to her.

Luna stood up and limped towards a dying Woodrow. She grabbed her crowbar and sat on Woodrow's stomach as he groaned.

"So you're still alive," Luna whispered.

Woodrow clenched his eyes as he struggled to lift his hands up.

The group members finally arrived at the rooftop as Luna lifted her crowbar up. Lori looked upon Sam and Dr. White in shock as her eyes finally saw what Luna was going to do.

Luna swung down her crowbar on Woodrow's face, before lifting it up. Then she swung down again, each swing cracking into the leader's skull. She continued bludgeoning the leader as the group approached her. With one final swing, she yelled at the top of her lungs, smushing her enemy's brains apart.

' _Muddy Waters' by LP plays in her head._

Luna looked ahead in the skyline of the city. She stared at the buildings bombed by napalm before being picked up Jace.

She groaned as she wrapped her arms around Jace's shoulders.

"Thank you so much," she said.

Jace nodded as he approached Sam. He let go of Luna and grabbed Sam's hand, helping her up. Her body was filled with spots of blood and bruises everywhere. Jace took a rag from his pocket and wiped it across Sam's lips before he backed away.

"Thank you, Jace," groaned Sam.

Jace nodded as he joined the rest of the group. Sam moved her hair away as she struggled to open her bruised eyes.

"Do I still look pretty?" asked Sam.

Luna smiled as she wrapped her arms around Sam's shoulder before kissing her. She then back away slightly and looked at Sam's baby blue eyes.

"Does that answer your question?" whispered Luna.

Both girls giggled softly before closing their eyes and pressing their lips against each other's as tears dropped down their cheeks. They each tilted their heads, their arms wrapped in embrace, as their kiss caused them to ignore their pain. They continued to release each other's lip before locking them back in.

Jace smiled as he placed his pistol back into his back pocket. Lori walked over to Dr. White's corpse, hovering her hands over his eyes.

Luna released her embrace from Sam and began to let her tears fall. She turned towards Dr. White and panted as continued to hold onto Sam.

"He's… he's…" stammered Luna as she wept.

"We know..." said Lori as she picked up the doctor's cracked glasses, "...damn it. So close."

The group surrounded the doctor's corpse as the cloudy skies began to darken the city. Lori looked around the city and found roamers swarming the streets. She then knelt down, closed the doctor's eyes before grabbing his arms and lifting his upper body up. George walked to the other side and lifted his legs up as Jace and Becky helped Luna and Sam walk back to the doors that led to the stairway, with Lynn and Vonda serving as their protection. They all took careful steps as they navigated their way down and out the school. The group navigated through the cafeteria, where they found the cell that Luna and the doctor were placed at. They also found the clothes of the X-Tribe's first victim of the group, much to their shock and anger. Luna looked away, never wanting to turn her eyes back on that place ever again. They left.

-One Day Later-

The overcast clouds hovered above the capital of a nation that once stood strong. Lori looked ahead and saw the Washington Monument standing in the distance as she kept her hands on the wheels, driving Vanzilla closer and closer to the capital.

The vehicles stopped in the border of the capital, in the middle of the highway above Anacostia River. The group stepped out getting prepared to discuss how to deal with the soldiers, the politicians, the government officials that they might be expecting. But no one was able to say a word as Lori walked past them.

She saw her fiancé, Bobby, looking into his own engagement ring, and remembered how overjoyed she was when she reunited with him. The best parts about him– his humanity and compassion– have not changed.

Next to him was Ronnie Anne, looking into her crossbow, and Lori remembered her being so glad to find Lincoln in the hallways of her former elementary school. She has definitely hardened over time.

Next, she saw Clyde, looking at his bat, and remembered him being nervous to approach her in his school. His crush for her faded, though a new kind of love grew for her, one that was more familial.

She saw Sam next, who fiddled with her girlfriend's guitar pick, and remembered seeing her so excited to see Luna in Detroit. Her love for Luna only caused her to grow stronger and more bold.

She saw Benny holding his katana and remembered seeing him so excited to see Luan in Detroit. His love for Luan was only strengthened along with his loyalty to the group.

She saw Carol looking into the sky and remembered getting angry at her for her past betrayals. She was insecure, desperate, and unreliable, but became a stronger woman with the gift of nursing, though she was left without her daughter.

She saw David looking into the river, and remembered being held at gunpoint by him in front of her home. He was stubborn and courageous with leadership skills, but was left a soldier without a wife and without a best friend.

She saw Becky looking at her gun, and remembered holding her at gunpoint briefly in Ann Arbor. She was sultry with a grudge against Carol. Now, she is more hardened with a willingness to do the dirty work, though now left without her friends Dana, Tad, and Leni, and her former boyfriend, Derrick.

She saw George looking at the trees, and remembered chasing his car down in the roads of New York. He kept his code of honor in keeping prisoners alive, and though he lost his wife and daughter, now gained an adoptive daughter of his own.

She saw Preston looking at a waving flag in the capital, and remembered listening to his pleads for help in Portsmouth. He remained resourceful and kindhearted.

She saw Jeffrey holding his Bible, and remembered following him to his church. He remained religious and a beacon of hope for her.

She saw Kotaro holding his rifle, and remembered meeting him in the Units in Houlton. He was frightened and weak, though he became more confident and tough.

She saw Hana feeding her dog, and remembered seeing her on top of the platform in the Wasteland. She remained serious and aloof, though she proved her loyalty to the group.

She saw Jace holding his backpack, and remembered him flashing a smile upon returning to Houlton. He was a friendly animal lover, though he lost his friend, Leni, and his pets, Izzy and Lizzy.

Then, she saw all siblings walking away from the vehicles. Luna kissed Sam, Luan hugged Benny, Lynn lightly punched Clyde's arm, Lana tapped Jace's leg, and Lisa and Lily both grabbed Bobby's attention.

She smiled softly before finding Lincoln alone behind Vanzilla, staring into the river. Her mouth stiffened to a frown as she closed her eyes halfway. She walked over to him, placing her arms on the guardrail over the edge of the highway.

"We're finally here, aren't we?" said Lori.

"Yeah," said Lincoln. "Was it worth it? I mean, was it really worth it? Everyone changed… everyone lost their innocence."

"You know… what I did back there…"

"You don't have to explain yourself, Lori. I know. You did it to protect us. And I love you for that. But I'm talking about the others."

"By others… you also mean Lily and Lana?"

"Yeah. I mean… not that anything happened to them– they didn't do anything either! Nothing happened, I'm just talking in general–!"

"Lincoln. I know. I know Lana shot Weber."

"How'd you know?" asked Lincoln.

"I heard a gunshot from where you, Lana, and Lily came from. You guys come back with no Weber. Then, I saw how traumatized Lana seemed. I know you guys. I can tell when something is off."

Lori sighed.

"But I wasn't there for you guys enough. I tried to protect you guys from the external problems… and I never really put too much thought on the internal problems. I'm not your mother, but you, Lana, Lily, Lisa, Lynn, Luan, Luna, are all my responsibilities. I wanna be a better guardian."

Lori turned to Lincoln, who nodded. He then closed his eyes and gave Lori a tight hug. After, he released the hug and looked up at Lori, who gave him a reassuring smile.

"I'll keep the thing under wraps for now," said Lori. "Gotta find the best way to talk it out with Lana without having the others antagonize her. You know… you haven't really changed. Sure, you became tough and all… but you're still the same caring, compassionate, humane brother I know. I really appreciate that. I need that."

Lincoln smiled.

"One more thing," said Lori. "When you returned Carol's gun, that reminded me of something– you don't have your own pistol. Something you can hide. You can always show off that gun you have there, but sometimes…"

Lori removed a Colt M1911 from her belt, handing it to Lincoln.

"...it's best to leave some things concealed. It may literally save your life… or someone else's life."

Lincoln grabbed the pistol and placed it in a holster of his own. He then looked back at Lori.

"Just remember," said Lori, "if D.C. seems safe, the people there seem safe, even if everything seems safe… you are _never_ safe. Understand?"

"I do," said Lincoln. "Now what do we do?"

"Let's find our new home."

.

.

.

 ** _Hey, Mr. Potassium here. Twenty-five chapters. Wow, what a milestone! With the way things are going, I can safely say that this story is a 1/4 done! Yup, three-quarters left! It's crazy how much has changed after nearly reaching half a million words! Reading and editing Chapter 1 really showed me these changes. Not only the changes in the story, but the changes in the way I am as an author. I look forward to seeing more improvement from myself 25 chapters later._**

 ** _One thing that hasn't changed is the fact that I want the best for you guys as the readers! You guys are cool! Keep on enjoying the story, leaving reviews, share your thoughts, keep on being yourselves!_**

 ** _Sounds too cheesy? Maybe. Doesn't make it any less true. 'Till the next time! :)_**


	26. Anarchy

_**Hey, there! Mr. Potassium here. Biweekly publishing turned into monthly ones, which is something I really don't like. I would like to get these chapters out fast, but well… life can make you busy! Anyways, here is an extended chapter that I will now write once every volume! Extended chapters are chapters with 25k+ words as opposed to the regular ones, where they are simply 15k+ words. Extended chapters also have parts that extend from I - VI, as opposed to I - IV in regular chapters. Next extended chapter is Chapter 33, so I should be able to publish the next couple chapters faster than usual. Just something to be aware of!**_

 _ **Also another thing I want to address are OCs. I know this is obvious to all you readers, but the guy who last left a review really didn't know. How? Idk, but it's fine. I just want to state that David Jones is an OC, and is not the same David from TLH (Lisa's crush). Missy is also an OC. As well as many other characters in the story. But just in case you don't know what an OC is, it means original character.**_

 _ **Well, here it is! Volume 6! The White House will be featured as the main setting, so in order to better visualize the interior rooms, I recommend using whitehousemuseum dot org. Also, there are some songs featured in the story, so to enhance your experience, I recommend using an app like Soundcloud to play them as you read (some of you may have done this already, but I just felt like telling you all).**_

 _ **Anyways, that's all I needed to say. Enjoy!**_

* * *

-Day 6-

As the rotor blades spun on the wings of the gunship, the jet engine roared across the night sky. The gunship circled around Washington D.C. raining down fire and destruction as part of a wide-scale invasion of the capital. Buildings across the capital were burning in flames. Smoke hovered in the air. Bullets were fired across roads. Missiles were fired into the sky. Flares were set off by aircraft. Artillery and mortar rounds blew structures into rubble.

A middle-aged woman with light curly hair hiding behind her van scribbled on her notepad, jotting down her observations. Blown mailboxes and abandoned cars filled the street. She grabbed her microphone and looked up.

"Hey," she called out. "Hey! Moose!"

A bald man with a brown horseshoe mustache and an anchor tattoo turned around, placing down his large camera.

"What?" he answered.

"What are you doing? Our job isn't over!"

"Our job isn't–? Look around! It ain't safe out here!"

"Journalism isn't safe at times, you know. It's just riskier today."

The reporter crawled to the front of her van and looked ahead, finding the luminous White House glowing in the distance.

"This is more than risky," said Moose. "There's a damn war out there! Let's just follow the soldiers over there. They're goin' somewhere safe."

"We're here because we take risks more than anyone back in Michigan. That Mulligan bitch will never head straight to danger like I do."

"Because she's not tryna' die!"

The reporter shook her head and motioned her cameraman to follow her as she crossed the street.

"Where are you– Nora!" called out Moose.

The reporter held her notepad close to her chest until a shout stopped her in her tracks.

"Don't move!" yelled an enemy soldier.

Nora stared at the enemy soldier in black camo holding a G36 with a laser sight in his hands. She shivered as she looked at Moose, who raised his hands as another enemy soldier held him at gunpoint. A trio of enemy soldiers walked from the intersection, aiming their guns at the two civilians.

"I need you to get on your knees, lady!"

"I know who you people are," said Nora, shivering softly. "KHA Nationalists. The suspects in the nuclear explosion from yesterday in New York, right?"

"Shut up and on your knees!"

"Modern day terrorists. Heard about your leader's manifesto."

The laser moved between Nora's eyes as she looked into the invader's eyes. She opened up her arms and continued to hold her notepad.

"Tango on the left!" shouted a soldier from behind the enemy soldiers.

Rounds of gunfire were fired at the enemy soldiers, killing all five in the area. Nora flinched and walked back as she rubbed her finger against her pencil skirt, feeling the damp blood.

"Hey, you alright, ma'am?" called out a soldier.

Nora looked up as Moose walked over to her.

"Sorry we went kinetic on 'em," said the soldier. "They had guns on you. They weren't one of us."

"It's fine," said Nora. "Thank you…"

"Sergeant Hernandez. It ain't safe for you two out here. Why don't my men and I take you somewhere safe? There's a hospital less than a klick away from here."

Nora nodded.

"Okay. So am I like… embedded to you guys?"

The cannon from the gunship fired near the White House, tossing a large ball of fire and dirt into the air. The soldiers remained low behind cover.

"How the hell did they get an AC-130?" yelled one of the soldiers.

Sgt. Hernandez turned around and motioned his men to follow him. He then looked at Nora and Moose.

"We gotta go now. C'mon, journalist. We gotta keep you safe."

"I'm with her too," said Moose. "Though, I'm no journalist…"

The blades of a smoking Apache spun around as it hovered above the Watergate Complex. The helicopter fired a few missiles near the entrance, killing a couple soldiers in black with the KHAN flag patch.

"Shit, what do we do, Sergeant? Lang ain't respondin'," said one of the enemy soldiers.

The sergeant, who went by 'TEPPER' in his name tape, remained crouched and placed his finger over his mouth, hushing the soldiers.

"Just… be… patient…" said Tepper.

Suddenly, a missile struck the helicopter, blowing it up into flames as it spun down uncontrollably. The building that the soldiers were in shook.

"Nice one, Lang," said Tepper as he pressed against his earpiece. "Meet up at the rendezvous now."

Tepper turned to his squadmates, Corporal Schultz, Specialist Ilona, Private Farber, and the frightened Private Perkins. He motioned them to move out of the Watergate Complex.

Flares sparked across the sky as the tail rotor of a Hind, belonging to the Nationalists, was set ablaze, before it crash-landed near the Capitol Building. Mines went off in the distance as other Nationalists moved closer to the White House. More buildings were set ablaze, and more roads were being bombed by jets, mortar, and artillery. The Nationalists kept on moving ahead towards a nearby hospital.

Inside the hospital, Nora took out her notepad and began to talk to the injured soldiers. Sergeant Hernandez talked to a medic, Staff Sergeant Lenus.

"Listen, doc," sighed Hernandez. "I know that we're running low on medicine. But more of our guys are out there, getting their six handed to them, and we gotta help 'em out here!"

"You bring them in, there'd be nothing to help them with," said Lenus. "I need you to stay here and protect these soldiers, or else we're fucked!"

" _Contact! Front!_ " yelled one of the soldiers through Hernandez's earpiece. " _Sir, they're flooding in! Sir, help us! Help–!"_

"Shit," muttered Hernandez. "I need all able-bodied men in the front doors! Now! Doc, keep these people safe."

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Nora.

"I gotta defend you people. Stay put!"

Gunshots roared near the front entrance. Hernandez ran to the main hall of the emergency room where he saw doctors and nurses running for their lives. Roamers wandered the halls as Hernandez fired his rifle at the dead. The bullets struck their heads, knocking them dead to the ground. Then, the Nationalists popped out of hiding and fired at the U.S. soldiers. Hernandez crouched and shot one of the Nationalist soldiers in his jaw. Farber dropped dead.

"Flashbang!" yelled one of the soldiers.

The flashbang blinded Hernandez as he ducked to the ground. He groaned as a few bullets struck his chest. The lights in the hospital flickered as Hernandez struggled to get his vision back. In the blurriness of his vision, he was able to see the barrel of a rifle. Tepper aimed the laser of his FN FAL between Hernandez's eyes and pulled the trigger.

"Sounds like they're comin' closer," said Moose.

"That's because they are," said Lenus, walking up to the door.

Perkins was on the other side of the door, kicking it open, when Lenus tackled him back against a wall. Perkins shoved him away and aimed his pistol at Lenus before the medic smacked the gun away, the bullet hitting the floor below him. The medic knuckle-punched Perkins's neck, causing him to release the pistol, which Lenus grabbed. Lenus quickly aimed the pistol at Perkins's body and fired off a couple shots.

Nora and Moose gasped in surprise as Lenus stood up, looking down at the dying body. He then turned to his left and was immediately shot in the head by Tepper, turning Nora and Moose's gasps into shocked ones as he fell to the floor. Tepper and other Nationalist soldiers revealed themselves as they walked inside the room. Illona knelt down to feel Perkins's pulse.

"Is there anyone in this room who can help Perkins?" asked Tepper, holding his rifle.

Nora stood up, gulping as she held her notepad.

"No one's helping that son of a bitch," she said.

"His pulse is gone," said Illona. "Perkins's dead."

Tepper gulped and sniffled as he licked his lips. He then raised his rifle and shot his gun at every injured soldier in their beds, as Nora screamed in protest.

"If it were up to me, you'd be dead on the floor," said Tepper, sniffling. "But it's against my orders to execute someone like you. Consider yourself unlucky. These people are going to eat you soon."

Tepper and the other Nationalists left the room, leaving Nora standing alone in the room, with Moose kneeling down in shock. She covered her mouth as she dropped to her knees, placing her hands over one of the soldiers. She tossed away her notepad and cried on the dead soldier's chest.

 **Chapter 26: Anarchy**

 **I - Washington**

-Present Day-

A white pupil clouded by the outer golden shell– its eyeball– contracted as the roamer softly limped around. Saliva dripped from the end of each individual tooth, sometimes sticking to the other parts of its teeth and gum. The roamer's lips were absent. Its facial tissues were gray and was decayed as stains of blood and dirt marked the skin.

The roamer dragged its feet on top of a cracked road, rolling and stepping on tiny pebbles. It continued to limp parallel to a line of barbed wire. It passed decayed corpses with uniforms, some with an American flag patch on its sleeve, and others a flag patch of the only nation standing.

The overcast sky and the burnt buildings and the rubble didn't bother the roamer. Not one bit. It only wanted something or someone to eat. The pupils looked around. And something caught its attention. The yell of an attacker.

A hatchet hacked through the roamer's face, between the eyes. Blood seeped out of the blade as Lori pulled it out of its skull. She held her hatchet next to her cargo shorts where the holster for her Colt Python was attached to. She placed her hatchet in between her belt and shorts, and grabbed a couple bullets from a pocket on her cargo vest that covered her blue T-shirt. As the wind blew her shoulder-length golden hair, Lori loaded the bullets into the chambers of the revolver and walked behind her fiancé.

"Good formation, guys," she said.

Bobby clenched his teeth as he swung his machete on the roamer in front of him. He removed his machete and held it up next to his white tank top. Blood dripped past his green flannel shirt tied around his waist where the holster for his Glock 17 was located, his blue jeans, and brown sneakers. He unclenched his teeth and sighed, moving his oily hair further back behind his ears.

"I think there's more coming," he warned.

Carol placed her back against Lori's as she stepped backwards with her purple sneakers, holding a trench knife with a knuckle guard on one hand and an LCR-22 on the other. Two holsters were attached to her skinny khaki pants. Her golden hair, which reached the lower back of her dark purple tank top, was tied into a rope braid. She watched a couple roamers stumble towards the group.

"Some coming from the back too," she said.

Becky stood alongside with Lori and Carol, holding a machete and a Glock 17, while her ACE-23 remained behind her back, the strap running across her chest of her dark green tank top. A roamer crawled towards her, struggling to reach her black jeans before she stomped her with brown boots.

"We got this," she grinned.

Hana walked along the overgrown sidewalk, holding her sword out. Her black bra was partially revealed by her white open-side shirt. Strings of cobweb touched her skin not covered by her gray sweat shorts, and dirt stained the sole of her white shoes and parts of her black trouser socks. Her black hair was tied in a spiky down-ponytail and flicked around as she looked ahead at the bombed road and back at her group.

Luan and Benny walked past an M1 Abrams tank with pierced wheels and dented armor. Luan walked in front while Benny remained behind her, his back against hers, his buttoned T-shirt against her white shirt, which had an image of a colon and right parenthesis sign, and his blue skinny jeans against her yellow skirt with a pink belt. His white sneakers moved forward and her brown combat moved back. A roamer in a U.S. military uniform crushed on its back reached its arms out, until Benny stabbed it with his katana. Another roamer came from under the tank, which Luan took out with her katana as her flower necklace and ponytail swung around.

"Got it," she said.

Benny nodded and continued to follow the group. They came across electrical cables blocking the road, along with utility poles down in the ground, some on top of cars. Ahead was the wreckage of a Hind.

Luna and Sam, holding each other's hands, peered through the group members before looking back at the approaching roamers. One held her crowbar and the other her ice axe. Bandages covered Sam's determined face and prepared hands and Luna's ready leg. Sam's white shirt and deep burgundy jeans covered her bruises just as Luna's purple flannel shirt above her purple sleeveless top and leather pants did. Their boots stepped on puddles of blood as they tapped their other group mates.

"Dudes, the biters are comin'!" exclaimed Luna.

"It's too dangerous to cross the cables, isn't it?" asked Sam.

Kotaro nodded as he walked away from the electric cables, grabbing his Remington 700. He flicked his hair to the side of his face, revealing the stitches under his eyes, and pulled his open buttoned-shirt with rolled up sleeves and walked towards a roamer wearing a green uniform. He smacked it with the butt of his gun, knocking it to the ground where he slammed its skull against the pavement, splattering its blood on his jeans and black sneakers.

"A whole lotta army guys," he said. "What happened here?"

David looked closely at a roamer in green, finding gunshot wounds on its leg. He looked at a crawling roamer then a roamer with partially hacked feet. He rubbed his hands over his stubble as he grabbed his Remington Model 870. His M16A4, which belonged to Reggie, hung from the back of his navy blue shirt while his M9 pistol remained in a holster in a black belt above gray cargo pants. He kicked the closest roamers in the legs with his black military boots, knocking it to the ground. He then slammed the butt of the shotgun on the roamer's skull.

"These are the slow ones," he warned. "There are more coming. Get your guns out when they do."

Jeffrey stayed back near the electric cable as the group remained in circle formation. He held a small switchblade in his left hand where his watch was, and rubbed his other hand against his blue jeans, wiping the sweat off his palm. He then fixed the collar of his blue button shirt with rolled up sleeves as he watched the group melee the roamers. His lips quivered along with his stubble as he looked back.

"You all, there's more roamers coming!" he called out. "They're running!"

Preston lunged his pocket knife into a roamer's eyes as sweat formed in his green shirt with rolled up sleeves. Splatters of dark blood stained his striped shorts and sneakers as he continued slicing the roamers. He then looked back and found the approaching roamers.

"Stay back, Uncle Jeff!" he exclaimed.

Jeffrey moved closer to the center of the circle where Luna and Sam were. Jace held two butterfly knives up, wiping the sweat on his hair that hung above his blue headband. The sleeves for his flannel shirt were rolled up as he held his arms up and his blue skinny jeans, which held a Px4 in its pockets, were clean from blood. But his skate shoes moved back. And he found himself back with Jeffrey, Luna, and Sam.

"Will electricity hurt the roamers?" he asked, wiping his growing mustache.

An arrow flew across the cables, killing a running roamer next to the Hind. Jace turned towards Lynn, who pulled an arrow on a string back with her red recurve bow. The arrow was next to her bruised and cut face, with a couple bandages here and there. Her fresh basketball jersey showed off her toned arms while covering the top part of her running shorts with capri leggings underneath it. Her red running shoes allowed her to bounce around the group formation before stopping near the electric cables. She released the arrow, flying against the breeze blowing her longer ponytail back. She smirked as the arrow hit another roamer.

"As long as I keep hitting these morons, we won't find out," she snarked.

Next to her was Vonda, her red-orange hair glowing in a low side ponytail that sat on top of her sleeveless V-neck top. She wore skinny jeans and brown hiking shoes. Her homemade archery gloves made it more comfortable for her to shoot her arrows at the runners ahead of her.

"Yeah, they're still getting closer!" exclaimed Vonda.

One of the runners got caught by the electric cables and tripped, as it flailed its arms at George. He thrust the stock of his Mossberg 590 pump shotgun into the back of the runner's skull, breaking it, before slamming it again, splattering the brain. He wiped chunks of flesh off his gray shirt and jeans before shaking his wavy hair that covered his ears and his back neck. His Glock 19 remained inside his holster, not being needed as he aimed his shotgun at another roamer getting tangled in the cables.

"Looks like they can't be electrocuted," he remarked. "We gotta use our guns."

As he fired his shotgun at the approaching roamers, Ronnie Anne loaded her bolts into a crossbow and moved away from the electric cables, making her way to the other side where runners began to pass by the M1 Abrams tank as they approached the group. Her longer ponytail slowly moved towards her face as the breeze caused her crossbow to rock slightly. The wind also blew against her loose T-shirt and loose denim jeans, though the SIG Sauer P220 in her holster remained still. She stood still with her black sneakers as she shot her crossbow at the runners.

"I'm too damn slow, aren't I?" growled Ronnie Anne.

Clyde nodded as he held his baseball bat. Sweat formed below his curly hair, on his short mustache, below his glasses, in the armpits of his striped polo shirt, and the skin below his bush pants. He stepped over puddles of blood with his boat shoes as he went for the roamers in the sides. He smacked one of the roamers and shoved it away with his bat, before Ronnie Anne shot him with her pistol.

"I had it but thank you," sighed Clyde, his voice sounding deeper.

Lincoln wiped the blood of his combat knife against his jeans before placing it in his own sheath. He then grabbed the strap running across his orange tank top and pulled out his MP5 from his back, aiming at the roamers. He slowly moved his sneakers back with his group members as he fired his submachine gun at the runners tripping over the potholes and bomb craters.

"How do we get past the electric cables?" asked Lincoln. "The roamers are gonna overwhelm us soon!"

Lisa stayed in the middle of the circle formation as the group continued firing their guns at the roamers. She adjusted her glasses, rubbed the sweat on her palms against her green sleeved shirt, and grabbed rubber gloves from the pockets of her baggy jeans. She placed them on and grabbed a copper wire and a lightbulb in her other pockets, moving towards the electric cables. As her group covered her, she placed the copper wire against the open cable wires, and tapped it against the bottom of the lightbulb.

"There's no power," she said, shocked. "It's safe to pass through!"

Lana continued firing her AKS-74U at the shorter roamers, the ones more at eye level. Her bullet casings flew off her gun, dropping past her red cap placed on backwards, braided pigtails, dark green jeans, tool belt on her dark blue jeans, and work boots. As the gun ran out of ammunition, she placed the gun on her back held by a strap across her chest and reached into her tool belt, taking out wire cutters. She grabbed Lisa's rubber gloves and grabbed the electric cables.

"Just to be safe," she said as she began cutting the wires.

The group passed through the electric cables, keeping their circular formations. Lily stayed in the middle, walking with Kimi. Her black shirt, lavender skirt, and pink flats continued to stain itself as she walked around the bloody corpses. Though covered by shade, she found herself sweating since barely any breeze grazed her face and short pigtails. Her hand with the pearl bracelet held Lana's hands as they approached the Hind.

"Look! Someone!" she exclaimed, pointing at the helicopter.

A roamer inside the Hind was torn in half as it reached out is arms away from the pilot seat. There were bullet holes on its uniform, which was black, and had a patch indicating it didn't belong to the U.S. military. Suddenly, with her hands, Lynn drove her arrow into the roamer's eye before pulling it out.

"Just keep moving along," said Lynn. "Ain't anything special."

Lori looked at the patch and recognized it from the soldiers she saw in Augusta. She looked at the chest area of the uniform and found a familiar name. The roamer was a soldier for KHAN.

The runners continued chasing after the group from behind them. George fired his shotgun at the close roamers while Kotaro continued firing at the roamers in the distance, missing a couple shots.

"Don't worry about it," said George. "I can teach you how to sharpen your skills later."

"You see it too, huh?" said Kotaro. "Alright, guys. Someone take over."

Bobby, Becky, and Sam took out their Glocks and fired at the roamers with George. A bang after another in an improper pattern.

"We're moving ahead!" declared Lori.

The group remained in their tight formation as they moved up the road. They continued to move past the corpses and debris around them. Dozens of bags, weapons, and ammunition crates were scattered around them. Running closer, some of the runners bumped and tripped and stumbled over these objects, creating noise that result in a few of the survivors instantly aiming their guns at them and shooting them. Such as a roamer approaching from the left, before tripping into a box of MREs. Ronnie Anne instantly turned towards it and fired her pistol at it.

"Nice one," commented Becky.

"Look over there!" said Lana, pointing at a tall white tower. "Isn't that the Washington Monument?"

Lori fired her revolver at a crawler in the ground before stepping over its open skull.

"Focus," said Lori. "There's a bus ahead. We need to move it."

"Can't we just go around?" asked Lynn.

"Look around."

Lynn and the rest of the group saw roamers struggling to get through the barbed wires, mesh fences, and Czech hedgehogs placed in the sidewalks. She then looked back at the damaged Circulator bus ahead, finding it blocking the group from entering the intersection.

"Right," said Lynn. "How do we move it?"

"We can't," said David. "It's too heavy, but Lori– we gotta get through that thing! There are too many roamers behind us!"

"Or maybe…" said Lincoln, walking out of formation. "We can just go over it. There's a dumpster over here. Let's roll it next to the bus and climb over it."

Lori grabbed her AK-47 and aimed it at the roamers inside the bus.

"Excellent idea," she said. "David, George, Lynn, Hana– push the dumpster. All the rest– cover 'em!"

She fired her rifle at the roamers inside the bus, killing all of the ones she could see. She approached the bus before an explosion at the park on the other side of the fence caught her attention.

"It was a mine!" exclaimed David. "Must still be some around here. Watch your step!"

"No doubt roamers far away heard that shit," said Becky.

Lori watched as the runners approached from the roads they passed. Some were wearing ragged civilian clothing while others were wearing military uniforms. One was wearing a suit. Another wore a dress. Another wore school uniform.

"Fire!" yelled Lori.

Becky fired her ACE 23 at the roamers, gunning down as many roamers as she could, though most of the bullets were fired right through their body. Some were shot in the skull and fell down and tripped their cold friends. Benny grabbed an M4A1 from his back and helped Becky as the others shot their pistols or semi-auto rifles.

A few bullets flew past Lynn as she groaned from pushing the dumpster.

"Careful, guys!" said Lori. "Dumpster coming through!"

A runner managed to dodge the bullets as it approached Lynn. She tried kicking it away, though it grabbed her sneakers and dropped her down to the ground. As George grabbed his pistol, the roamer quickly crawled closer to Lynn's legs and rapidly lunged its jaws towards her flesh. Then, a bullet struck through its eyes, spilling brain matter into Lynn's leggings. She looked up and saw smoke flowing off of Lori's revolver.

"Ah, fucking gross," she cringed.

She stood up and patted George in the back, who placed his sidearm back into his holster. She then returned to pushing the dumpster next to the bus.

"Damn, that was heavy," said Lynn. "What's in here? Rocks?"

She opened the dumpster and found limbs and body parts. Then the smell of hot decaying flesh mixed with the odor of garbage blasted into her face as she quickly closed it. Gagging, she moved away from the group and fell to her knees, vomiting into the ground.

"Jesus," panted David. "Smells worse than shit."

Lori nodded as the roamers approached closer.

"Hana, go first and make sure the other side is clear."

Hana quickly climbed to the top of the dumpster and reached her arms on the roof of the bus before jumping and placing her leg over it. She lifted the rest of her body into the roof and stood up on the flat roof.

"Clear," said Hana. "But destroyed."

Lori nodded as members of the group began helping themselves up to the roof of the bus. The small ones, like Lana and Lily, were lifted up onto the top of the dumpster before being lifted up onto the train roof by Hana. David carefully lifted them down to the road where the intersection met.

"Let's go, guys!" exclaimed Lincoln from the roof of the bus.

Lori and Benny nodded as they continued fighting off the roamers. Benny shook the blood off his katana and placed it back into his scabbard as he jumped on top of the dumpster. Lori walked back to the dumpster as she continued firing her rifle at the approaching roamers, letting off a few bursts of gunfire.

Benny jumped, landing both of his arms and one of his legs onto the roof of the bus. Then, an undead hand grabbed his hanging leg and squeezed, pulling him down. He gasped and struggled to hold onto the roof.

"Guys! Help! Help!" he yelled.

He moved his leg back and forth in an effort to kick the roamer in the bus away from the windows. The roamer only held on as it slowly rose its head, approaching his jaws to the teen's clothing.

Lori grabbed her hatchet and chopped of the roamer's hand off, allowing the survivors to help Benny up the bus.

"Oh my freaking god!" exclaimed Benny as he looked at his leg, the roamer hand still squeezing on.

He slowly opened up the hands and tossed it away as Luan pulled up his jeans.

"Please tell me you're alright!" frantically exclaimed Luan. "Oh. You almost became dead meat."

"I get it," smiled Benny.

Lori looked at the roamer in the bus and grabbed her revolver until she was met with hesitation.

"Lori! Watch out!" exclaimed Lincoln.

With the swarm of roamers approaching her, Lori quickly jumped up the dumpster, the cut limb from the bus roamer waving close to her face. As the roamers approached Lori, the survivors on top of the bus loaded their guns and fired down at the roamers. Space was made for Lori as she was helped up to the bus roof. Then, the gunfire stopped.

All the survivors jumped down to the ground. The bus roamer turned around and growled, though Lori already reached for her revolver. She aimed the revolver at the roamer and shot it, the bullet striking its skull and the chest of a roamer on the other side. As she lowered her sidearm, she continued looking at the roamers slamming themselves against the bus.

"Capital of America is disappointing," said Hana. "No one here."

"This can't be right, dudes," said Luna. "The doc said there'd be soldiers and scientists here…"

"Maybe we're not looking hard enough," said Sam.

"It was only a possibility," said Lisa. "But with the power out… that possibility may not exist anymore."

"It doesn't look like any city we came across," said George. "This place is just… destroyed!"

The group walked over a shattered fire hydrant and around heaps of metal. Sand bags and empty boxes were stacked by buildings. Lori grabbed a pair of binoculars from her backpack and looked up at the Washington Monument. There were signs of bombings.

"A whole battle took place here," said David. "Something tells me it wasn't just the dead that the soldiers were fighting against."

"No," said Lori. "I recognized some of the uniform that we passed by. The black ones. On their arms was the flag of the KHAN. They destroyed this place."

"So that means there's no one here?" asked Lana. "Everything that happened to us could've been avoided if we just went home instead of here!"

"It's not a total loss," said Lincoln. "This place could be promising. I mean, weapons, walls, fences– this could be our new home!"

"It's not a home we were looking for," said Becky. "It was a place to distribute a cure. But there's no one to distribute it to. This place probably doesn't even have the things needed to finish making the cure anymore!"

The group walked into the Ellipse, seeing armored vehicles, tanks, and helicopters clustered on the large field.

"Wait, if the KHAN destroyed this place, wouldn't White know about it?" questioned Ronnie Anne. "He knew about the nuke in New York City! Wouldn't he have known this happened too?"

"Wouldn't make sense for him to come here if he knew there would be nothing for him," said Benny. "Something's not right here."

"The fact that it was KHAN who caused this mess– raises a lot more questions," said Kotaro.

"So what the hell do we now?" asked Lynn.

Lori looked into her binoculars again, looking at the White House. The United States flag on the roof was flown at half-staff and appeared undamaged. The White House had scorch marks and blown pieces, but looked unscathed in a lot of areas. She removed it and sighed before squinting, growing a worried look on her face. She looked through the binoculars again, before she quickly removed it.

"Take cover!" shouted Lori.

David grabbed Carol, who was exposed in the open, and moved her behind a fighter jet. The whizzing of the bullet flew past them, right before gunshot cracked across the air around them. The group members grabbed their guns and reloaded them, preparing for another fight.

"Lisa, I thought this place was empty!" exclaimed Becky.

"I said there was a low probability of government presence!" exclaimed Lisa.

David took out his knife and held it out in the cover, before a bullet quickly struck the knife off of his hands. He shook his hands as he hid them back behind cover.

"We got a trigger-happy person on the White House roof!" exclaimed George. "What do we do?"

"David," called out Lori. "Do you think you can hit him from that far?"

"I would only have a chance after he lets off another sniper shot, but I only got a small window of time," said David. "I can't hit him without my sniper rifle."

"Then, what if we all try to shoot at the same spot at the same time?" asked Lori.

"Risky, but what other choice do we got?"

Lori grabbed her hatchet and was ready to hold it out, when suddenly she saw movement behind a crate of weapons. She fired her AK-47 at the crates, prompting two survivors behind it to leap out, both of them falling to the ground with bullet holes in their jeans.

"Ah, dammit!" yelled one of the survivors.

Lori and David walked up to a survivor and dragged them behind cover.

"Who the hell are you guys?" asked David.

"Who the hell are you?" exclaimed one of the survivors.

David grabbed the barrel of his M9 and slapped it across the man's face. Lori grabbed her hatchet with roamer flesh stuck on the blade, and lifted it up in the air, ready to chop the other survivor's arm off.

"Wait! Wait!" exclaimed the one held by David. "I'm Jimmy! And that's Rob! We're agents for the Service!"

"The Service?" asked Lori. "You're government agents?"

Jimmy nodded as he took out his wallet, which revealed his badge. George swiped it away from Jimmy and looked at it.

"Service as in Secret Service," said George.

"Our boss doesn't like the 'Secret' part in the name," said Jimmy. "We don't really operate in secret. We want people to come to the White House."

"Yet you tried sniping us?" asked David.

"Because you guys are just comin' in here with guns and you're a very large group–!"

"Can you just kill us quickly?" asked Rob. "My legs are killing me. Thanks, blondie."

Lori lifted Rob up and walked behind him, shoving him out of cover. The sniper looked at Lori shoving Rob against the fence through his scope. He then noticed that Lori aimed her gun at Rob's head. A man with long slick back hair and a medium stubble, who knelt next to the sniper, grabbed his binoculars and the sniper's walkie-talkie.

"Rob? Who is that woman aiming what appears to be a… revolver? Forty-four Magnum?"

"Three fifty-seven," said Lori, holding Rob's walkie-talkie. "Imagine the damage that will do to poor Rob's skull. But I'm not here to talk guns. I'm here to make a deal."

"Don't hold one of our own hostage and expect to make a fair deal."

"You attacked us first," said Lori. "These people need medical care and they don't have much time."

"Fair point," said the man. "What's the deal?"

"If you want your men back, give us refuge."

"We give that to everyone. But you haven't exactly shown me that your group are the most trustworthy people."

"What if my group… can prove it to you? We're making a cure. We just need the right people to distribute it."

"Interesting…" said the man.

"But you guys don't exactly strike me as all that trustworthy either. How do I know you guys didn't just swipe the badges off of the real Secret Service?"

"The President of the United States trusts us. His wife, his kids, all the people that we gave refuge to… they all trust us. Plus…"

A couple Service agents revealed themselves out of hiding as they surrounded the group, though their weapons were aimed downwards.

"We could've shot you given the chance," said the man. "But we wouldn't do that to our new White House residents."

A couple Service agents grabbed Jimmy and Rob as they placed them inside Cadillac One, the presidential limo, before driving off into the road.

"I'll see you in a few," said the man before handing the walkie-talkie back to the sniper.

 **II - The Service**

Lori and the group were escorted by the agents through a fence gate, walking on the sidewalks in the President's Park, observing the small trees and growing weeds in the grass. The South Lawn had freshly mowed grass, and flowers growing in random spots. A squirrel ran across the lawn, stopping as it stared at the group walking by.

"Stay, Kimi," said Benny.

Kimi panted as it passed by the squirrel, catching up to Hana who watched the government agents with suspicion. The group followed the agents around the White House, passing by the West Wing as they walked along a road. Clyde walked up to an agent and nudged him.

"So since you guys aren't about that _secret_ lifestyle anymore… is it true that you guys have aliens hidden somewhere? I knew a friend who wondered whether you guys really hid them in Area 51– wait, silly me. What I really want to know is if the President ever met one of these aliens."

"Clyde, what are you doing?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"I'm sorry, I'm just getting a little excited. We're going to learn all these government secrets, you know!"

"In time," said one of the agents. "After we trust you, that is."

"They will trust us!" said Clyde. "Oh, I can't believe I'm going to meet Oba–"

"Clyde, don't set your expectations too high," said David. "We don't know anything about these people."

The group approached the Cadillac One and the North Portico of the White House.

"Did you guys know I was born in that?" said Lincoln. "The First Lady delivered me! Well– the _former_ First Lady."

"Laura Bush delivered you?" asked Lisa. "That's not what I was told."

"'Cause it's not true," said Lynn. "But it's a great story."

"It's true, but I wasn't… supposed to… tell you guys," said Lincoln upon being hit with a realization as he turned towards the Service agents. "I can tell them about that secret safehouse you guys have in Royal Woods, right?"

"Uh… yeah, sure," said one of the agents. "It's not like anyone can do anything dangerous with that information anymore."

"Wait, if there was a secret safehouse in Royal Woods, why didn't we go there?" asked Ronnie Anne. "You're making this stuff up!"

"No, he isn't!" said Clyde. "His parents told us!"

"It's not like I know where this safehouse is in Royal Woods," scoffed Lincoln. "Whatever, you don't have to believe me."

The agents opened up the entrance door and allowed the group to walk in as a man stood inside, surrounded by other Service agents who wore casual clothing. They were all armed with either submachine guns or pistols, and they circled around the group as the agents closed the entrance door. The man in the suit walked towards the group and stopped in front of Lori. He had a serious expression on his face as he stared Lori in her eyes. Then, he smiled.

"You must be the leader," said the man. "Welcome to the Entrance Hall."

Lori nodded as she looked at every agent in the Entrance Hall. She looked at the lit chandeliers and shiny marble floor and the spotless red carpet in the ground. Then, she looked back at the man in the suit, who held out his badge.

"I'm Special Agent Edgar Flynn. But please, call me Eddie."

Eddie then reached out his hands, ready for a handshake. Lori lowered her eyebrows and gave him a reluctant handshake.

"I'm Lori Loud. So, about the deal."

Eddie let go of Lori's hands and smirked.

"Right, you want refuge. Did you guys not have your radio on? I mean, we were telling people to come here."

Lori looked at David who shrugged at Eddie's comment. She looked back at Eddie.

"We didn't have our radios on. But, even then, there would've been no way to respond. How were we supposed to let you guys know we were coming without being shot at? You could've killed us out there!"

"Allen, our sniper– he and I were extra paranoid today. Good thing we weren't extra accurate today!" chuckled Eddie.

The group members remained silent as some looked around at the bright and clean building while others looked at the agents.

"I'm sorry," said Eddie. "You guys must have gone through too much for me to be joking about that. Umm… follow me!"

Eddie and a group of agents surrounded the survivors as they walked down the Center Hall staircase leading to the Center Hall in the basement floor, or the ground floor. An agent flicked on the light switch, turning on the lamps in the hallway. Eddie continued to lead the group through the hall as the footstep noise coming from his dress shoes echoed.

"So, you guys have a lot of power," said Bobby.

"We got multiple generators– all extremely powerful," said Eddie. "Those babies can last for years, but we gotta be careful with how we use them. You know, conservation and all that."

Eddie stopped in front of a room as the agents opened up the door.

"Welcome to the Protection Area. This is where you people will stay until we can process you all. We might ask you questions, some a little personal and uncomfortable, but hey– it feels a hell of a lot better than out there. We do need something from you guys though. Your guns."

The survivors tossed their glares at Eddie.

"Woah, we definitely respect your Second Amendment rights here, but only after you become residents. But until then, we can't really risk you people running around, guns blazing. It's only temporary. It's just until we can get to really know you all. I'm sure you understand."

"We do," said David. "We're just upset about it, that's all."

Eddie looked at him as the group members started handing the agents their guns. His eyes caught the dog tags around his neck. He smiled slightly.

"Huh. You served in the military?" asked Eddie.

"Yes, sir. United States Marine Corps. Served two tours in Afghanistan."

"That's… that's great," said Eddie. "Thank you for doing your best."

David glared at Eddie before walking inside the Protection Area, which was a rectangular room with wooden tables and fancy chairs, unlit candles, and carpeting in the entire room. The lights were left off as the sunlight shone through a window.

"You know we're really vulnerable, right, Lori?" whispered Becky.

"Nothing we can do about it, now," Lori whispered back.

Eddie whispered at the agents. He nodded and motioned them to leave. They closed the door, leaving just Eddie and two other agents next to him.

"I know this feels uncomfortable and all, but you know– our primary goal is to protect and serve the President and his family. It's our duty and it's a good life. No place lasts long without a leader or some sort of government. 'Cause that'd be anarchy. And a life of anarchy ain't a good life. You've seen it, right? All around you, you see it. The infected in every street. Looters and raiders ransacking camps and buildings."

"You seem to know a lot about life out there," said Kotaro.

"Oh yeah, from what people tell me, I know a lot more than you might give me credit for," replied Eddie. "But that could end, right? You know, we have scientists working around the clock, making something so we can all deal with this. But nothing works. And we're losing a little bit of hope every day. But then… there's you guys. Someone brought up a cure. Who's the genius who thinks they have a chance to take on nature's worst disease?"

"That would be I. Lisa Loud. And I have the prototype of the cure for the Necrosis Influenza of the Rabid Type. NIRT cure, as I like to call it." I don't want to take all the credit though."

Eddie rubbed his chin as he stood up.

"Incredible. Girl genius."

"It wasn't just I," said Lisa. "There was a doctor. Unfortunately, he passed away due to unfortunate circumstances, but his work is to be notable in the prototype. He should take all the credit…"

"Hmm. Sounds like you don't feel that proud. C'mon, feel proud! You might've just saved humanity! I certainly need to feel as if you did. Lighten up. Everything that happened, everything that you did to make this cure…"

Lisa gulped and looked down as Eddie continued talking.

"...and I mean all of it. Don't regret a thing. It's unfortunate that this doctor passed away, but we have you. We all made sacrifices before, right?"

Lisa closed her eyes.

"I'm sure once we distribute this cure, your spirits will be lifted, right?" said Eddie.

"Right. Just nervous, is all," said Lisa.

"Perfect. I'm going to come back with questions. Stay tight. Lighten up, people! You're saved! Saved from the anarchy of the world!"

Eddie and his agents walked out of the room. Lori looked at David.

"Something's definitely fishy," she said.

David nodded as the group members looked around. The chandelier in the room flickered as some group members made themselves comfortable in the floor or on the chairs. Lisa continued to stand still in the same spot as she faced the entrance door.

"Hey, David," whispered Lori as she turned around. "There's a…"

Lori walked towards Lisa and placed her hands on her shoulders.

"Hey, are you okay?" asked Lori.

Lisa stared at the door, hearing the crying of an infant in the distance. The cry grew louder and louder until it was all she heard. She turned around, with tears falling down her cheeks.

"Lis, what happened?" asked Lincoln, quickly walking to her.

Lisa cleared her throat as she wiped her tears away. She blinked rapidly and took off her glasses, wiping the lens with her sleeves.

"There's something I have to confess…" she said, her voice breaking.

The survivors all stared at her. Carol remained seated in a chair. Becky laid against the wall with her arms crossed. Lily sat on Lana's lap. Lincoln knelt down, rubbing Lisa's back.

"The current state of the cure was only made possible due to a sacrifice I made from juggling with calculated risks and limited options in a time of dire need and urgency. I made this sacrifice knowing that it would be for the benefit of humankind but I couldn't help but let the guilt of said choice wittle my conscience by the day. It's a burden I'm carrying and it weighs heavy."

"Lisa…" whispered Lori, "...what are you talking about?"

Lisa glanced at Carol before looking down at the floor, where a teardrop fell.

"I euthanized Zoey."

The atmosphere tensed up as silence filled the air. Lincoln stood up and flinched back. Lori stared at Lisa with shock, before facing Carol.

"N-No, you can't be serious, right?" asked Carol. "Please, be clear. You mean after she died, right?"

"She wasn't deceased… yet," said Lisa. "She was in pain. Her pain receptors flooding her brain with messages of an inevitable death. I had to spare her from this pain."

"She would've recovered…" said Carol, her eyes turning watery. "All you had to do was give her the quinine!"

"The chances the quinine would've saved the infant was too low to risk giving it to her. The NIRT cure was top priority."

"So you didn't take the risk?" cried Carol, standing up from her chair. "The cure was more important to you than my daughter?"

"The cure is more important for humanity," said Lisa.

"I don't care! You could've made another prototype of the cure! But I can never get back my baby!"

Carol stomped the floor as she walked towards Lisa.

"You killed my baby! And for what?"

Becky grabbed Carol and held her back.

"C'mon, relax, Carol," whispered Becky.

"For what?" sobbed Carol. "You don't even know if your cure works! You don't even fucking know!"

"Carol, please…"

"White gave his life for Luna! And you couldn't fucking use your cure to save my baby? You're a heartless coward! Spineless… piece of _shit_!"

Carol fell to her knees, covering her eyes as Becky tried to comfort her. Lisa looked away as she was unable to speak, tears washing over her cheeks. Lori placed her hands over her chin, shaking her head slightly. Lana stood up and cleared her throat.

"She's not the only one with a secret," said Lana.

Carol continued sobbing as the survivors turned towards Lana. Vonda placed her hands on her hips as she bit her lips. George rubbed his head as he glanced at Carol. Lori looked at her while slowly shaking her head.

"We all did things that we wish we didn't do," said Lana. "Lisa's not the only one."

Lincoln sighed and looked down. Lana gulped.

"I… I k-killed Weber…" stammered Lana. "I was just– I took Carol's gun. And I shot him. And it wasn't for no reason. He threatened my life and Lily's. But the way I handled it…"

Lana's voice quivered.

"I handled it wrong. And now…"

Lana broke into tears.

"I feel bad!" sobbed Lana as she ran up to Lori. "Lisa feels bad too! Please don't be mad at her! Please don't be mad at me!"

Lana pressed her face against Lori's stomach as she continued to cry. George and Vonda looked at each other as they grew concerned expressions. Carol seethed as Becky grew an angry look at her face. Lisa then walked up to Lori, snuggling up to her legs as she continued crying softly.

"Simon Weber wasn't a threat," said Vonda. "He was a bit of a loner. Lana, you must've pushed him somehow."

"I... I didn't mean to," sniffled Lana. "I thought I was going to save you guys from him… but all I did was make him afraid."

"He grabbed me 'cause he was scared…" said Lily. "He said Lana was gonna do bad things. He said Lori did nothing. He ran with me to save me. But Weber is being scary that time. Very scary."

George stepped into the conversation.

"Frank– the kid's father– said that his son had a mental condition that affected his behavior. According to him, the kid tends to lash out in extremely stressful conditions, which is what Frank tried to shield him from. This world? No shortage of stress-inducing triggers."

"Right, he told me," said Lori. "It was back in Houlton, but… he said as long as he was around, the kid would be kept in control."

"Until he wasn't," said Vonda. "You were supposed to protect every member of the group."

"We were all too busy…" said Lori, her voice trailing off.

"Right. And you're not mad at Lisa or Lana? Are you even going to punish them?"

"I-I just need to talk to them. I gotta figure something out."

"You would kill people for killing our own," said Becky. "What kinda message are you sending to us if you aren't going to do shit?"

"She has a soft spot for family," said Vonda. "I get it. I wouldn't mind, 'cept it kinda risks our lives."

"You gotta do something, Lori! Why are you still holding them like they're five years old?"

"Well… Lisa _is_ a six-year-old," commented Lincoln.

"She has the maturity of a fucking adult!" shouted Becky. "She can cry all she wants– it's not going to stop us from getting justice for Carol and her child!"

"Please… I don't want you guys to hate Lisa," sobbed Lana. "We're sorry. Please, we're sorry!"

"Sorry won't bring back Weber or Zoey!" yelled Becky.

"Hey, Becky, just chill," said Jace, stepping into the debate. "She's just a kid. I had a strange feeling about Weber and I bet any of you guys would have too. Now, I do think that Lana can't just get off scot-free, but… c'mon, don't act like Lana did this for no reason. Weber killed my lizards. This kid was more of a danger to us than Lana is now."

Lincoln looked at Jace and opened his mouth slightly, before closing it. He looked away and exhaled, wondering why he stopped himself.

"Well, what are you going to do… Lori?" asked Vonda.

Lori looked down at Lana and Lisa, who clung at her legs. She sighed and closed her eyes before the door to the room opened.

"Mrs. Loud?" called out Eddie. "I would like to have a word with you, if you don't mind."

Lori nodded and walked out the door with Eddie. Lana and Lisa stood next to Jace, though he felt slightly uncomfortable catching a couple glares from the group.

Lori and Eddie walked through the halls of the White House.

"You okay there?" asked Eddie.

"Just feeling a bit conflicted," said Lori. "Being a leader can suck. Seems like everything's my fault."

"Right, the burden of leadership. Everything's your responsibility, even if the littlest mistakes weren't your fault."

"I can't help but feel as if I should've done something differently. I feel like I'm being too… negligent."

Eddie and Lori walked up the stairs.

"I know exactly how you feel," said Eddie, looking down at the steps. "Trust me, I've been there too. All you can do is learn from it. Try a different approach with your people. See something that works– stick with it. No leader's perfect. That goes for the President too."

"Thank you," whispered Lori. "I know telling me all this is just you being polite… but something tells me you didn't take me out the room just to hear me vent to you."

Eddie and Lori stepped on the carpet of the Entrance Hall, before walking towards the Blue Room, which looked out at the South Lawn.

"I want to talk to you because I believe your group is a special one," said Eddie. "This cure thing… I mean, what's it's status?"

"It's more like a treatment," said Lori. "It freezes the progress of the infection by disabling the enzymes involved in carrying it to the brain– I don't know, something like that. But it's only a temporary solution. Because it'll only be a matter of time before paralysis sets in… and the patient dies."

"Interesting…" said Eddie as he opened the door to the Blue Room. "And this cure… do you guys have it stored in a vial, tube, or is there some kind of recipe book or something?"

"We have it in a vial," replied Lori. "My sister Lisa has it with her."

Eddie closed the door as Lori looked around the Blue Room. The carpet, the curtains, the chairs, it was all blue. She looked out the window and saw the Washington Monument standing in the distance. Eddie pulled out a wooden chair from the table and motioned Lori to sit. She gave him a quick smile before sitting in the chair across Eddie's. He grabbed a bottle from the table and poured it out into a cup.

"Wine?" asked Eddie.

"No, thank you. I'm not… old enough."

"You were being quite the badass out there. I assume you killed people. Raiders, looters. You probably seen way too much death for someone your age. But you don't want to drink wine because you're not… old enough?"

Lori shrugged.

"I'm being rude. My deepest apologies. So there was a doctor," said Eddie.

"Dr. Steven White. Candian doctor. We met him in Houlton, Maine– it's right at the border next to Canada."

"You people came a really long way. Literally! Must've been exhausting coming all the way down here."

"Yeah. Literally. Like you wouldn't believe. You know, we're not the only people working on the cure. There's another organization. KHAN. It's much bigger than anything I imagined."

"Right," said Eddie. "The people that invaded the capital. I wasn't aware you knew about them."

"We actually faced off rogue soldiers from the U.S. Army. I think they were all Army– maybe Special Forces here and there. I was actually kinda hoping we would see the legit military. You know, the strength and honor type?"

"Unfortunately, many of our soldiers left in hopes of finding their families. They were good people. Honest. Loyal. But their morale was broken. Especially after what the KHAN did to them. Many of them were slaughtered like animals."

"They're monsters," said Lori. "Dr. White actually worked on this cure for quite a while. He was working on it for the rogues. Until we came into the picture. It's a long story."

Eddie took a sip of the wine.

"Well, we got time," he said.

There was a tense atmosphere in the Protection Area as cool air rumbled through the vents. Lisa held electrical wires connected to the camera in the corner of the room, messing with it using a screwdriver and wire cutters.

"Is anybody going to comment on how this place feels like a damn prison or will it just be me?" said Vonda.

"Yeah, definitely," agreed Ronnie Anne. "No water, no food. Just sit here and wait…"

"Look, I'm sure Lori's telling Eddie everything they need to know about us," said Bobby.

"Right," sarcastically replied Vonda. "That's totally what they're doing."

"What are you saying?" asked Luan.

"I can't be the only one that feels like something's going on between Lori and Eddie. He's a handsome guy and she's a beautiful gal. And she would do anything to make sure we stay here, right?"

"Ugh," groaned Luna.

"No…" sighed Luan.

"She wouldn't do _anything_ ," said Lynn.

George shook his head and laid against the wall.

"Jesus, Vee, you can't be making accusations like that," he scolded.

"Sorry, just pointing out that possibility," said Vonda. "I mean, she made it clear she would do anything to keep her family alive. She doesn't care about the rest of us. I mean, once again, I can't be the _only_ one to notice that Lori didn't give a damn about Frank's death."

"We're still on that?" asked Jace.

"We were never off that topic," hissed Carol. "Lori being a whore isn't impossible."

"Carol!" exclaimed George.

"What! What are you gonna say? Huh? 'Cause nothing you say will make me stop being angry at my friend! She fought me because I took drugs to make me feel happy in this godforsaken world! Remember that? And she can't even get angry at her sisters who killed an autistic kid and my sick daughter!"

Lana leaned close to Lisa.

"What does that word mean? Autistic?" asked Lana. "Does it mean weird?"

"It's… don't worry about it," said Lisa.

"And also…!" shouted Carol. "...Lana is at fault for Reggie's death! If she hadn't made Weber scared, he would've never ran away, and you guys never would've had to chase him in the woods! And Reggie still would've been alive!"

David and George looked at each other, softly shaking their heads. Preston placed his hands over his forehead and sighed. Then, Lana rejoined the conversation.

"You know Weber watched you as you hanged yourself?" remarked Lana. "He just stared at you! He did nothing! He was going to let you die!"

"I wish I _had_ died!" cried Carol.

Carol turned away from the group members and caused the entire room to go silent. Lana felt her heart beat faster. George then stepped up.

"I hope some of you didn't forget what she did for you guys," said George. "You know… she had a choice to leave you guys behind if she and her family left Houlton. That's right. General Black actually offered Lori a choice. He would've let her and her family leave Houtlon, and you all would've been stuck there, subjected to experiments. But she didn't because she sees you guys as family."

George turned towards Carol.

"After what you did back in Philadelphia, Lori was the one who made us stay in Wilmington so that you could rest and recover properly. I know you remember that. And the only reason why it didn't seem like she cared about Frank and Simon Weber was because she was mostly focused on caring for you. She wanted to be there for you."

George then turned towards Vonda.

"You know these people went to Ann Arbor to look for you. David told me all about it. By no way are you at fault, but two lives were lost. Lori might've not made the best decision, but it was one fueled by her empathy for good people. That goes for you too, Becky. She made sure those two important lives weren't lost in vain."

"I know Chaz would be grateful that you made it this far," said Bobby, smiling at Becky.

"Lori does have a soft spot for family," said George. "And she considers you guys family."

"You're defending her," said Becky.

"You're damn right I am. She isn't a perfect leader. She needs time to think about this. So give her some damn time. She doesn't want to let her emotions cloud her judgment."

"I cut the camera feedback," said Lisa.

George nodded as he looked out the door.

"I'll be back. Think about what I said."

"Where are you going?" asked Vonda.

"I'm going to do some investigating," said George. "I have a feeling Eddie's not a real agent."

George opened the door and left. The group members looked at each other. The tense atmosphere returned.

 **III - Remnants of Himself**

Eddie began to pour himself another drink of wine as Lori nervously fidgeted with her fingers.

"So… if the soldiers– the _real_ soldiers– left… why haven't you?" asked Lori.

"All this talk about protecting the President and preventing anarchy and all that…" sighed Eddie as he took a sip of wine, "...it's because I wasn't able to protect my husband and son when the time came to defend them from the invasion. My husband was killed by the KHAN soldiers. Dragged out of my hands then shot in the back of his head. They did it right in front of my eyes. Then, my son? We were out there, looking for food supplies from nearby military camps when a couple raiders looted the camp. They saw us and shot at us. They hit my kid… and took the food. He bled out in my arms."

"Sorry for your loss," said Lori.

"Thank you, but there isn't really nothing to be sorry about. I learned to deal with it by doing my job. I guess that's why some people look up to me…"

Lori nodded as she wiped her eyes.

Meanwhile, George snuck around the halls of the ground floor of the White House. He walked past the stairs, looking around the hall, making sure he didn't run into any working cameras in the ceiling. He then found an open door to his left. He peeked inside, finding bookshelves near the walls. It was a library. He found a woman in leather sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, her body facing the door but her eyes glued to her book. George quickly peeked away, the woman not budging a muscle.

George then walked to the door right across the library, finding it closed. He placed his ears against the door, but he heard nothing. He looked up and found a sign. Vermeil Room.

He walked back towards the Protection Area and passed by the China Room. Next to it was the Diplomatic Reception Room. The door was slightly open, though George was able to catch a glimpse of an armed Service agent, who was napping in a couch. He walked past it and walked across the hall opposite to the room, heading north.

He continued looking around, finding bullet holes in the walls. He continued walking ahead, when he heard noises coming from the room ahead of him, where another hall ran west and east. He heard laughing and thuds before recognizing the sound of a rolling bowling ball. It was a bowling alley. He turned away, heading east.

The next room was signed as Flower Shop. He looked inside it and found flies buzzing around withering flowers. He left the door open and looked out at the courtyard. He crouched as he saw a couple agents talking to each other, though he was unable to hear anything. He crouched away, heading west.

He found a room to his right, next to the west courtyard. The sign said 'Carpenter's Shop.' He heard a multitude of men and women talking, along with the sounds of tools and machines being used. He looked at the west courtyard through a window, finding the agents carrying backpacks and weapons. There were blood on their pants. On the ground were corpses. Fresh corpses.

One of the agents glanced at the window, causing George to quickly duck. He quickly crawled towards a room to his left, which was the Refrigerator Room. He then hid behind a cabinet as a Service agent came inside the White House.

"I'm tellin' you I saw something," grumbled the agent.

"Hey, Rob!" shouted the agent as he looked across the Refrigerator Room. "You seen anything out here?"

"No," Rob replied. "Should I?"

"See," said the agent. "Told you. Now, stop wasting time, asshole. We gotta get their weapons inside. Inventory check is coming soon and I ain't getting downgraded to cleaning these bodies 'cause of your dumbass!"

"Ight, fine. Jesus."

George sighed as the doors that led out to the courtyard closed. He walked towards another other exit of the Refrigerator Room. He saw stairs that led downstairs, though he ignored it. He saw the Protection Area across the mini-hall. It was signed, 'Map Room.'

He prepared to cross the large hall before hearing Eddie and Lori walking downstairs. He quickly jumped back inside the mini-hall, which Lori saw. Eddie turned around.

"What?" asked Eddie.

"Nothing," said Lori. "Hey, earlier… why'd you call me Mrs. Loud? Some of those girls are my sisters, not my daughters."

Eddie faced Lori, away from the Protection Area. He grabbed Lori's hand as George crossed the hall. He nodded as he walked back inside the Protection Area.

"Well, you have a ring," said Eddie. "I assume you were married."

"Oh," smiled Lori. "Good observation!"

George sighed a big breath of relief as the group members looked at him.

"So, what'd you find?" asked Becky. "Another way to defend Lori?"

"The Service might be dangerous," warned George. "These assholes were lootin' a dead body. And not just any dead body. Fresh ones. The agents– their pants were stained with fresh blood."

The door opened. Eddie and Lori walked inside.

"Thank you for your time, Lori," said Eddie. "I'm going to need David and George now."

David and George looked at each other concerned once again, as they walked up to Eddie.

"Camera appears to be down so we're going to have guards posted outside the room," said Eddie. "Do not try leaving the room. Follow me, men."

Eddie walked next to a couple armed agents as David and George followed him out of the Protection Area. The armed guards closed the door.

"I guess we have time to talk about what happened earlier…" said Lori.

"There might not be time," said Kotaro. "George warned us that these people might be dangerous."

"The Service might be killing people and looting them," said Benny.

"David and George might be in danger," said Lincoln.

Eddie and the agents led David and George inside an office room.

"So, what are we doing here, sir?" asked David.

The Service agents pulled out their pistols and aimed them at both men. Eddie removed his suit and rolled up his sleeves.

"You don't have to address me with that sir bullshit anymore, David. Raise your arms."

"Why?"

"Shut up. I'm going to be the one asking the questions," said Eddie. "Raise them or else I'll get one of Lori's sisters. Maybe then, you'll talk."

"No need," said George, raising his hands. "I knew you weren't a real agent."

"Too good to be true, right?" smiled Eddie.

The Service members grabbed each of the men's hands and handcuffed them behind their backs. Then, they were placed down in a chair each.

"Stan, stay. Everyone, leave," ordered Eddie.

The agents left the office, leaving David and George handcuffed to their chair. Eddie and Stan stared down at both men as they put on their leather gloves.

"KHAN," said Eddie. "Does that name sound familiar?"

"Doesn't ring a bell," said David.

Eddie looked at Stan and nodded once. Stan punched David in the jaw and grabbed his hair.

"You're just going to make this more difficult for us, right?" asked Eddie.

David spit at Stan's shoes.

"Maybe," he snickered.

Eddie walked up to George and punched his gut.

"Just for the record…" said Eddie, "we're only refreshing your memory. 'Cause you're going to tell me everything you know about the KHAN."

"We ain't tellin' you shit," said David. "You could eat shit for all I care. Dickhead."

Eddie let out an uncontrolled chuckle as he walked over to the desk, opening up a drawer. He took out a taser and turned it on. He then thrust it at David's shoulder and began shocking him. He clenched his teeth as he groaned in pain.

"Start with your wife," said Eddie. "Tell me why she was a part of KHAN."

David panted as he faced Eddie, looking surprised.

"Yeah, that's right," smiled Eddie. "Lori told me everything she knew about KHAN. Including the fact that your wife served them! But, heh, can't blame Lori. I was pretty charming."

"None of your goddamn business," said David.

"Oh, that's right. You're Marines! Which means you can supposedly take it all, right?"

David did not reply. He continued panting as Eddie tilted his head.

"I DO NOT HAVE FUCKING PATIENCE!" he boomed.

Eddie grabbed a switchblade and began slicing George's shirt apart. The blade slashed the skin in his chest, arms, and legs. Stan then handed a bottle of rubbing alcohol to Eddie. David watched as Eddie poured the rubbing alcohol over George's body, causing him to scream.

"George!" yelled David.

"Don't tell him anything!" yelled George.

Eddie slapped George.

"Shut up!" yelled Eddie.

"Why do you wanna fucking know?" asked David.

"Because the KHAN killed my husband! And they destroyed my city! And they left it in such a vulnerable place for scum like you to roam around! And scum like you killed my son!"

"That ain't our fault!" yelled David.

"I wanna know because I want to fucking destroy the KHAN. But if you don't tell me…"

Eddie aimed his gun at George's head.

"...I'm going to fucking blow his head out!"

"And after I tell you… you're going to kill everyone in my group?" asked David.

"Yeah, that's the plan."

"My wife was in it because she was forced to join the KHAN. There. Happy?"

"Not quite," said Eddie. "You know their leader's name?"

"Krissen. I don't fucking remember her last name."

"Why couldn't the Marines defeat the KHAN? Huh? Why did they abandon us?"

"I don't fucking know."

"Bullshit! You're supposed to know! Why the fuck didn't they do anything?"

"I don't know!"

"You're supposed to know!"

"I don't!" shouted David.

"YOU KNOW!"

"I DON'T!"

Eddie yelled as he kicked David's chest, dropping him and his chair to the ground. He knelt down and began beating David's face. Blood began to ooze out of the torn skin in David's face.

The sun began to descend as Lori paced back and forth in the Protection Area. Lisa knocked on the windows of the White House and sighed.

"Bulletproof," said Lisa.

Kotaro looked through a tiny bookshelf. Luna and Sam lifted up the carpet. Preston placed his left ear against the wall and walked along it. Jace did the same, but on the floor instead. Bobby kept his ear against the door, listening to the armed guards talk and cough. Lincoln approached an air vent close to the ceiling.

"There could be our way out," said Lincoln.

"That's kinda dumb," said Ronnie Anne.

"That's kinda scary," said Bobby.

"That's kinda smart," said Lori. "You could still fit in tight spaces?"

"Yeah," said Lincoln, measuring the vent with his eyes. "It's not too tight. I just have to get up there somehow."

Lynn and Hana picked up the wooden table and placed it below the vent. Lincoln climbed on top of the table, before being handed a wooden chair. He balanced it down on the table, before standing on top of it. He stretched out his body and grabbed the vent. He pulled on it before it popped out. He then placed his hands inside the rectangular air ducts and jumped to no avail.

"Pull yourself up!" exclaimed Lynn.

"I'm trying!" groaned Lincoln.

"Try harder!"

"I can't! My fingers are sweaty! They keep slipping!"

"Ugh, you can't do a pull up?" scoffed Lynn as she climbed on top of the table. "Ditch the chair. Get on my shoulders."

Lincoln climbed down from the chair and looked at the group. They all stared at him. He turned his rosy cheeks away and placed his hands on the wall and his feet on Lynn's shoulders as she remained crouched down. Then, she stood up, causing Lincoln to move his hands up closer to the ducts. His hands were inside the ducts but he was still unable to pull himself up. Then, Lynn grabbed Lincoln's shoes and raised her arms up, lifting Lincoln up even further.

"Whew! You got even heavier!" groaned Lynn.

Lincoln pulled his chest inside the ducts.

"Looking good!" exclaimed Clyde.

Sweat formed on Lynn's forehead as she looked down at Clyde. She gave him a soft smile. Then, she let out a huge breath as Lincoln pulled the rest of his body inside the duct.

"I'm in, Lynn!" exclaimed Lincoln. "Now what do I do?"

"I don't know," said Lynn as she climbed down the table. "Don't you always have a plan when you do shit like this?"

"Oh, right. I'll be back, guys!" said Lincoln as his voice trailed off. "Move the table back to where it was…!"

Lynn grabbed the chair and placed it down before grabbing the table.

"So, what do we do?" asked Luna.

Lily walked up to her and handed her a book.

"Read me a story!" she said.

Luna grabbed the book and looked at the title. It was _Fifty Shades of Grey_. She rolled her eyes towards the group and sighed in defeat.

Lincoln crawled forward in the dark air ducts, which would only be dimly lit when he passed by a room. He continued to pass by more vents, the sunlight revealing the sweat in his face and oily hair, despite it being cool in the ducts. Whenever he passed by a vent, he would stiffen up and crawl slowly, as to avoid making noise and getting caught. As the dim light faded away, he would increase his pace in the ducts.

As he continued to crawl forward, he heard the noise of the fan grow louder and felt the wind grow colder. He tapped the wall to his right, feeling the outer corner of it. As he continued tapping on the corner, he turned and began crawling away from the fan. He then tapped on a furry object, which squeaked and scurried away.

"Oh, rats!" Lincoln whispered loudly as he moved his hand away. "Man, it's been a while since I crawled in the vents. Last time I did so was with Lucy–"

Lincoln began thinking about her again. Her black hair, pale skin, dark clothing, monotonous voice, he missed all of it. He continued crawling. He was remembering something.

-Day 21-

"You got it, Lana," said Lori. "Alright, everyone! David and Lana are going to work together on fixing the engine! I need some people to come with me to grab supplies that we need! And Lisa, work on siphoning the gas because I know you have plastic tubes!"

"I can come with you," said Lincoln.

"Sorry, but I'm looking for someone older. I don't want to risk your life," responded Lori.

Lincoln frowned as he looked back.

"I can come with you!" exclaimed Wavehead.

"So can I," said D.

"I guess I'm coming as well," said Luna.

Lincoln walked away and headed back inside the RV. He saw Ronnie Anne, Lynn, Clyde, Tabby, Liam, and Zach all standing around Rusty and Lucy on the couch, taking turns at making an attempt to comfort them.

"...he sounds like a cool fella," said Liam. "I didn't know him that well but Rocky really does seem like an interesting lad."

"Because he was," said Rusty. "Just leave me alone, guys."

"I appreciate what you guys said, but I really need to be alone now," said Lucy, moving to the booth table.

Clyde and Lynn frowned as they walked away from the couch. They passed by Lincoln, only managing to give him quick glances. He walked towards the booth table. Zach grabbed Lincoln's shoulder.

"Hey, what about him?" he whispered, tilting his head towards Rusty.

"In a minute," said Lincoln.

"Hey," whispered Tabby, grabbing Lincoln's chest. "She's not in a good mood."

"I still gotta try."

"C'mon, Rusty needs you more than she does," said Zach.

"Fellas, just… just let Lincoln give Lucy a good talk," said Liam before facing Lincoln. "Go. We got this. Get 'er spirits up."

Lincoln nodded as he passed by Ronnie Anne. She remained quiet as she kept her arms crossed. Liam looked back at Rusty.

"Ain't no one tellin' you how to feel," said Liam. "I reckon we're all buggin' ya, but I think we're all just tryna' tell ya that we'll always be there for you. We ain't got a problem with you wantin' to be alone. Just please, if ya feel like talkin' to us, then don't feel ashamed to walk up to us. I get it."

Liam looked at Tabby and Zach.

"They get it. We're ya friends, man."

Rusty teared up and nodded as he looked at Lincoln.

Lincoln sat at the booth table.

"Hey, Luce."

"Lincoln…" whispered Lucy. "If you're here to tell me how to feel, then you will be wasting your time."

"I just want to talk to you. And I think you wanna talk to someone too. Preferably someone who's not just talking about how to make you feel better."

"Well… I guess I do want someone to talk with. But I don't want to drag you down with me. You shouldn't feel as heartbroken as me."

"You don't really seem–"

"Because I'm hiding my grief," said Lucy. "I'm suppressing it. Moving it for another time."

"How do you do that?"

"I just wait until I'm alone. Then, I do whatever my heart wants to do. Sleep, cry, wallow, whatever. I don't want to look weak in front of Lana, Lola, Lisa, and Lily. Maybe even you."

Lincoln stared at Lucy.

"See– this is why I didn't want to–"

"No," said Lincoln. "It's okay. I get it. I actually think that's something I might do. I understand why you want to do it."

"Really? You really are the only one who understands me."

Lucy played with her fingers as she looked down at the table.

"Rocky also understood me. Not a day goes by where I don't think about him. I really hate this world. There's nothing he ever did to deserve his fate."

Lincoln nodded as Lucy wrapped her arms around his body. Her cold skin felt warmth radiating from her brother's body. It was comforting. Lincoln hugged her back.

-Present Day-

Lincoln felt the warmth leave his body as he approached a bright vent. He crawled towards it, wiping his eyes. He then looked through and found shelves and tables filled with guns. It was the armory. He looked around and saw a Service agent cleaning Lori's AK-47. The agent whistled as he placed the stock against his shoulder and looked into the iron sights. He pretended to fire the gun before walking out of the room.

"Okay," whispered Lincoln, opening the vent. "Do this slowly. Slowly."

He held the vent and looked down at the shelf below him. They were filled with pistols, including his M1911.

"Hey, you!" shouted one of the agents from the door.

Lincoln's heart froze. He almost let the vent slip out of his fingers.

"Hey, Rob, can't you hear me?" said the agent. "Did you do inventory check?"

"I can barely walk, asshole!" exclaimed Rob from the distance.

Lincoln quickly grabbed the M1911 and slowly moved back into the air ducts, closing the vent softly. He kept looking inside the armory as more agents walked inside.

"I'll do inventory check," said one of the agents.

Lincoln crawled in the ducts with his pistol in his hands. He looked at the safety switch as he felt the cold metal barrel. He remembered when he first touched the gun. He placed the gun in his pocket and continued crawling. But he couldn't stop remembering.

-Day 58-

"We can do fine with three cars, right?" said Lori. "We have twenty-eight people. Fourteen people in Vanzilla. Ten people in the RV. Four people in the van. We can move the remaining boxes of weapons to the van. We don't need the empty ones anymore."

"Let's move them out quickly then," said Luan. "I can't see anything in this darkness."

Luna and Sam opened up the trunk to Chunk's van. With lowered heads, they lifted the crates up and placed them inside the van.

Carol approached Richard who was carrying a crate from Sergei's car to the van.

"Hey, you alright?" she asked.

Richard grumbled and ignored Carol. She simply rubbed her arms and returned to converse with Becky and Dana.

"Anyone want this?" asked David, lifting up Sherry's M1911.

Lynn grabbed it and stormed towards the side of the road before stretching her arms back, getting ready to toss the gun away.

"Hey, no!" yelled Vonda.

"I don't want to see this shit ever again!" yelled Lynn.

"Lynn, please!"

Vonda grabbed Lynn's arms before being shoved away.

"Sorry," whispered Lynn. "I don't get why you want anything to remember your evil mom by."

Lynn tossed the pistol to the pavement before pacing back and forth. Lincoln looked at the pistol before kneeling down to grab it. The metal barrel cooled his warm hands as he picked it up. He then handed it to Vonda.

"Thank you," mouthed Vonda before walking up to David. "Can we store this in the RV?"

Lynn approached Lincoln.

"Why the fuck are you actin' normal?" she said. "Like nothing happened? Like Lucy is here, waitin' around the corner, ready to spook us?"

Lincoln lowered his eyes as Tabby approached him.

"Don't bother," said Tabby. "I doubt he cares much when it comes to losing people, whether they be family _or_ friends. After all, didn't take too long for him to get over what happened to Chunk and... Liam. Not even a single tear, either. Why should this be any different?"

Luna grabbed both of the girls' shoulders.

"Hey, leave him alone," she said. "Linc's just got his own way of dealing with being crapped on by life. If he don't cry, then he don't cry. I'm sure he cares about Lucy and Liam… and Chunk a lot more than he shows."

Lynn puffed as she walked away. Tabby scoffed as she rolled her eyes at her friend before walking away.

"Suppressing your grief?" asked Luna.

"How'd you know?" said Lincoln in a low voice.

"'Cause I did it before," said Luna. "It didn't work out so much for me. I guess I suppressed it for too long, 'cause when all the emotional crap piled up on me… it felt like hell. Even Sam couldn't stop me from crying."

Luna cleared her throat.

"Just don't let that stuff accumulate in you, alright? Let the grief out somehow. Lucy knew best how to do it."

Lincoln softly nodded as he glanced at David walking inside his RV with the M1911 in his hands.

-Present Day-

Lincoln looked around the air ducts as he heard screaming coming from one of the rooms. He continued crawling until he looked at the vent for the photo office. He looked at Eddie and Stan interrogating David and George. Stan held David's mouth opened as Eddie reached inside it with pliers. David screamed in agony as Eddie grabbed a tooth and began pulling on it with his pliers.

"I can do this for hours," said Eddie. "And I won't stop until I get some fuckin' answers!"

"That's the plan," said David.

"It's a bad plan. If you plan on stalling me– it won't work. All my people are going to kill everyone in that room except the girl scientist. Her cure will help a lot. I'll also keep the dog alive– keep him for myself. And then you'll be here– alive. The longer you keep me here, the more painful I make it for them."

Lincoln held his M1911 before leaving it in his pocket. He crawled away rapidly, before banging his knee against a duct wall.

Eddie looked up at the vents. Lincoln remained hidden away from the vents, though his breath shook. Eddie pointed his pistol at the air ducts.

"We got a rat problem, again?" asked Eddie.

Stan shrugged before Eddie turned around.

"So, where was I?" said Eddie. "Oh, that's right– you were going to tell me why you betrayed your country."

Lincoln slowly crawled away from the vents, heading back to the Protection Area. He heard punches, and groans coming from George. As he continued to navigate around the ducts, he stumbled upon a vent that looked downwards at the Palm Room, a room below the left courtyard. He peeked through it, finding a teen girl walking with two older men, all armed with pistols.

"I don't know, guys," said the teen girl. "There is strength in numbers, right? Why do we keep killing our guests?"

"We're already large enough," said one of the agents. "Plus, we don't need more mouths to feed. You know, your mother does nothing but sit in her ass all day, so unless she can pull her own damn weight then–"

"Don't fucking disrespect her like that, asshole!"

"Sheila, don't mind what comes out his mouth," said the other agent. "You're doing your mother a favor by helping us out. And you have to keep it that way, understand me? You came here to look for the President. He ain't here but you got us. Understand?"

"I just don't like doing it," said Sheila. "I dream about what we do sometimes. I hate those fucking dreams. And that's when I sleep. What if the real government finds out what we did? I dream about that too. You know how those dreams end? With my brain in the floor!"

"We are the government!" said the asshole agent. "I swear to God, Sheila, if you're gonna complain about getting your hands dirty, then–"

"Shut up. Just shut up," said the agent. "Let's just go get something to eat, damn."

The two agents walked away as Sheila held her chest, closed her eyes, faced up, and let out a deep breath. She then opened her eyes. Lincoln flinched back before remaining frozen. She continued to stare at the boy before an agent called out to her.

"Sheila, you comin' or what?"

Sheila looked down and walked away, leaving the Palm Room. Lincoln let out a deep sigh of relief before crawling away.

Meanwhile, in the Protection Area, Luna nudged Lisa in the shoulders. Lisa faced her and saw her older sister holding Dr. White's glasses.

"You know, one of the last things the doc asked me was to ask you if your sacrifice was worth it," said Luna. "Didn't know what the meant 'till now. Curious then, curious now."

Lisa gulped.

"I would like to believe it was worth the sacrifice. I would."

The vent near the ceiling came off and went inside the duct. Lincoln then revealed his face.

"Good news or bad news?" asked Lori.

"Bad news," replied Lincoln. "Oh, definitely bad news! These people are going to kill everyone in this room but Lisa. I guess they wanna keep her alive because she's the only person who knows how to make the cure."

Lori placed her hand over her forehead.

"Damn… I even went into detail about that," said Lori. "What else?"

"Eddie is torturing David and George. I don't know why– something about betraying his own country or something."

"I spoke too damn much. They fucking think David's a rogue."

"I found their armory. I even took back a gun, I don't know if you want it or–"

"No, take it," said Lori. "Go rescue David and George. We'll figure something out."

"You don't want me to go down from the other side? Shoot the guards or something?"

"No, it'll be too much noise," said Lori.

"Well, the armory looks like a woodshop," said Lincoln.

"Carpenter's Shop," said Lisa. "Straight ahead, past the kitchen. Should be next to a courtyard."

Lori nodded.

"Another thing," said Lincoln. "There is no president here. No government. These are just people who took over the White House. The Service have done this before, but there are good people here. Some people are forced to kill, like a teenage girl I saw! Sheila is her name!"

"We'll put down anyone who threatens us," said Lori. "Simple as that. Now go."

Lincoln closed the vent and turned around before reluctantly crawling away.

"Are we really going to kill these people?" asked Luan.

"We don't really have a choice, do we?" asked Lori.

"You're making it sound like we have to kill them all," said Benny.

"Well… we have to get them out of the building one way or another…"

"Wait, hold on," said Jace. "You mean we're not escaping?"

"Fences, fortified walls, barbed wire, locked doors, running water, electricity," said Lori. "This place is too valuable. And we didn't come all this way just to turn it away. These people don't want to work with us to make this cure happen? Then, they can't stay."

"What do we do, babe?" asked Bobby.

"We're going to kill as many Service members as we can, and we'll drive the others out of the building. And Eddie? He's mine. He's literally got a whole fucking lot of explaining to do."

"So…" said Becky, cracking her neck, "...what's the plan?"

 **IV - Takeover**

The two guards outside the Protection Area sat on their chairs, opposite to each other. The large guard was scratching lottery cards while the bald guard was working on a crossword puzzle.

"Hell yeah," said the large guard. "Looks like I won a couple hundred thousand dollars."

"Must be your lucky day," said the bald guard.

They heard a knock on the door.

"You or me?" asked the large guard.

"You get it, fatass," said the bald guard.

"Do me a favor and fuck yourself."

The bald guard chuckled as the large guard opened up the door. Lori held a hand over her stomach.

"Can I please use the bathroom?" asked Lori.

"I don't know. Can you?"

"Oh, for _fuck's sake_ ," whispered Lori. "May I use the bathroom?"

"What's wrong with the one inside the room?"

"It's clogged. Water's flowing everywhere. C'mon, I have to go badly."

The large guard placed his fingers on an earpiece.

"Hey, Eddie? This chick, their leader– she wants to use the bathroom."

"Well… let 'em," said Eddie, his knuckles bleeding. "Keep up the act."

Alright," said the large guard. "Follow me."

Lori walked out of the room as the large guard led her across the hall and into a men's restroom. He opened the door and motioned Lori to go inside.

"No dilly-dallying," said the guard.

Lori walked inside, seeing three urinals and two stalls on one side of the restroom, and five sinks and paper towels on the other side. She turned on all five sinks while shutting the clog, letting the running water rise up as she walked into one of the stalls, dropping her shorts. The sound of urine splashing against the toilet water was muffled by the sink water as it continued to rise. She then stood up, raised her shorts back up and exited the stall before washing her hands with liquid soap. With the sink water now dripping to the floor, Lori grabbed the liquid soap and began squirting it all over the marble floor. She slowly walked over to each sink and turned them off, before looking into the large mirror. Adjusting her vest, she clenched her arms together to show more cleavage above her tank top. She then walked out of the restroom.

"Oh, thank god," said the large guard as he began to walk inside the restroom.

"Hey, there," she said with a seductive voice. "You know… I've been feeling a bit… hot lately."

"Well, that sucks," said the large guard before shoving Lori away.

Lori gasped as she opened up her arms. She clenched her teeth as she walked back in the bathroom. She saw the large guard against one of the urinals.

"Hey, get out," said the guard. "Can't you see I'm doing something private?"

Lori cleared her throat.

" _We_ could be doing something… private. I'm feeling hot… and I think you can help me with that."

"Sounds like you're going through menopause," said the large guard. "But wait, how old are you?"

"Meno– what?" asked Lori. "I mean, age doesn't matter. What matters is how much I want your–"

"I say age does matter. You look like a damn teenager. You can't be getting menopause this soon. You're bullshittin' me, and I don't like being bullshitted on!"

The large guard zipped up his pants and looked at Lori as he walked over to a sink..

"Why are you looking at me like a damn creep?" asked the guard. "And what the fuck's up with the floor?"

"Fuck, this is why," said Lori.

She grabbed one of the sinks and held on to it as she kicked the guard's shin, causing him to slip and fall forward, busting his nose and forehead.

"Six letter word… aromatic evergreen shrub... known as the bay tree…"

The bald guard wrote a word into his crossword puzzle before hearing crashing noises in the bathroom. He stood up and walked over to the restroom before seeing Lori come out, appearing horrified.

"The hell happened?" asked the bald guard as he entered the restroom with Lori.

"I-I don't know, he must have had a heart attack or a stroke or something! He just fell over and I guess he got knocked out!"

The bald guard knelt down and placed his fingers over the other guard's neck.

"Yeah, he's out cold, but man, what the hell is all this water?"

Lori swung the pistol grip at the guard's head, dropping him to the ground.

"Oh, you bitch!" groaned the guard.

Lori knelt down and patted the guard's waist, searching for a knife. She was then kicked back before the guard stood up. She held on to one of the sinks and stood up as well. As the guard reached for his gun, she threw hers at his face, causing him to stumble back. Slowly rolling towards the guard, she was ready to throw a punch before the guard grabbed her vest.

"Let go!" shouted Lori.

She reached for the guard's eyes and began pushing her thumbs against it before the guard shoved Lori. She quickly grabbed his shirt, causing both to slip down the marble floor together, though Lori landed on the guard. The guard coughed as blood poured out of the back of his head.

"You shoot me, the whole place kills your group," coughed the guard.

"Good thing I'm not planning on shooting you," said Lori.

She rolled over the guard and ripped his earpiece out. She lifted up the guard's shirt up to his neck and pulled back. The guard clenched his bleeding teeth and held his shirt, pulling them forward. He stood up on his knees, forcing Lori to stand up and kick him down. He groaned as he tossed himself backwards, shoving Lori's back against a sink. She gasped in pain as she continued to hold onto the shirt.

"Fuck's wrong with you?" groaned the bald guard.

Lori yelled as she ran towards a stall, banging the guard against it, and forcing it open. Both of them fell to the floor, though Lori quickly regained her balance. She lifted up the guard with his shirt and pulled back while pushing her foot against the guard's back. He coughed violently as he struggled to move back. She then grabbed the shirt and continued to wrap it tightly against the guard's neck before pulling it back with one hand and pushing his head down with the other.

The guard flailed his head around, forcing Lori to smash it against the toilet seat. Then again. Then again. Blood flowed out his nose and his teeth as he turned redder.

Lori screamed as she shoved the guard's head down the toilet. The guard grabbed the toilet seat and struggled to lift his head up, his muffled screams coming out as bubbles. Then, suddenly, his arms collapsed and fell down next to the toilet as his head moved no longer.

Lori released the shirt, panting as she looked at the body on its knees, lying against the toilet with the head inside. She shook her head and continued to pat down his waist.

The other guard began to wake as its blurred vision showed Lori walking up to him. She knelt down and quickly sliced his throat open. He gagged and quickly stiffened as his body became lifeless. Lori walked out of the bathroom with a bloody needle point knife, and headed to the Protection Area, unlocking the door.

"If you don't feel up to the fight, go to another room and hide," said Lori. "The rest of us head to the armory. Move."

Lori walked out of the room and quickly hid in the narrow hallway across the Protection Area. Becky, Kotaro, Hana, Lynn, Vonda, Luan, Benny, and Ronnie Anne followed her. The others moved to the room next to them and passed it, before entering another room. Luna was the last one to walk in as she turned around, her hands on the door.

"Go get these wankers," said Luna, before closing the door.

Lori and the group slowly crouched past the kitchen, but stopped before the north hallway. The door to the armory was open and the lights were on. Lori looked out in the open hallway and then into the courtyard. There was no one. She motioned the group to enter the armory.

As the group entered the armory, Lori placed her hand out, motioning the group to stop. She watched as a Service agent held out a clipboard, his back turned against Lori. She walked towards the agent, knife in hand.

"I didn't expect company," said the agent, his eyes glued to his clipboard and pencil. "Whoever it is, I got this handled. Just go and–"

Lori wrapped her hand over the agent's mouth and shoved her knife against his lower back. Her hands muffled his screams before Lori dropped him to his knees and shoved the blade into the back of his neck and twisted it around, turning the screams into coughs. She then removed her knife before dropping the body to the ground.

"Come in, now," said Lori. "Grab your guns."

Two Service agents walked around the kitchen with a bowl of chicken soup. One of them blew into it as Sheila stepped out of the kitchen.

"You sure you don't want anything?" asked one of the agents.

"I'm good, thanks," said Sheila, pocketing a bag of tea. "Feel free to not come by. I'm thinking about quitting this job. You know, take my chances out there."

"Pussy," whispered the other agent.

"Dick," whispered Sheila as she walked away.

The two agents ate their bowl of soup as the cook continued to stir the soup in a large stock pot. Suddenly, an agent was struck by two arrows, a second apart. He groaned and fell on his knees as the second agent turned around. Suddenly, Hana decapitated the second agent. The cook turned around and screamed before her mouth was quickly shut by Becky. She looked at Vonda and Lynn pulling out their arrows from the first agent before he dropped to the ground. She closed her eyes and whimpered.

"Hey, lady," whispered Becky. "Lady! Shut up! If you keep screaming, I'll kill you."

The cook hyperventilated into Becky's hands as she opened up her watery eyes.

"Control yourself," said Lori. "We'll lead you out of here. Don't tell anyone we're here and we won't have to kill you. Understand?"

Footsteps came rushing down from the pantry room.

"What the hell is going–?"

The survivor wearing white clothing and a chef's hat was quickly struck by a bolt to the chest. She groaned as her legs folded back, dropping her body to the ground. Ronnie Anne's eyes and mouths were wide open as she lowered her crossbow.

"No!" screamed the cook. "That was the chef!"

Becky shut her mouth again as she kept screaming. Water ran down the cook's eyes as Becky slammed her against the refrigerator, shushing her.

"C'mon, shut the fuck up, 'fore I kill you" whispered Becky.

"Knock her out," said Lori.

The cook continued to sob before Becky lunged her machete against her stomach. Ronnie Anne snapped out of her stupor as the group members flinched. Becky released her hand from the cook's mouth, letting her gasp with soft whimpers, blood running down her lips. She pulled out the machete, letting the body drop with her back sliding down the refrigerator.

"Becky? No…!" whispered Lori out loud.

"Damn…" said Lynn.

"I'm… I'm going to go back with the others," said Luan. "You know, they need protection and stuff… you know?"

"I'm coming too," said Benny.

She and Benny walked away before Luan whispered to herself.

"God, what a kitchen nightmare."

Lori and her group walked out of the kitchen, slowly walking towards the Bowling Alley. She handed Lynn the needle point knife and nodded at her. Lori opened the door and they both burst inside, with Lynn kicking the door back shut. A couple shouts were heard followed by the sound of blades ripping into flesh. Then, thuds to the floor. Lori and Lynn walked out with blood in the hatchet and knife.

"Let's keep going," said Lori.

The group walked down the middle hall and made it back to the south hall. They looked inside the Diplomatic Reception Room, and found a guard napping inside.

"Do we kill him?" asked Kotaro.

"He's got an earpiece on," said Lori. "So yeah."

Hana walked up to the napping guard and stuck her katana inside his forehead before pulling it out. She followed the group out of the room and walked past the China Room where the group were hiding.

The group walked inside the library, catching the eyes of a female agent. She dropped the book and slowly raised her hands up.

"Woah, I don't really mean trouble," she said.

Lori walked up to her and pulled her earpiece out. Becky and Hana stood behind the agent.

"I need you to stay quiet and we won't kill–" said Lori before the agent reached for her gun.

Becky grabbed the agent's hair and pulled it back behind the chair, forcing the agent to look up at her eyes. Her green eyes glared at the agent as she chopped her throat against the chair with her machete. The agent sneezed out red mucus before her eyes closed. The group then walked out, passing by a sign stating 'QUIET, PLEASE.'

"Holy shit," said Rob, holding crutches before raising his arm to his earpiece. "Eddie, the group's loose and armed. I repeat, they are–"

Becky raised her Glock and shot Rob in one his cheeks, dropping him to the ground.

"Well, that didn't take long," said Lynn. "Fuck do we do now?"

"We gotta stick tight and use the halls to our advantage," said Lori. "They got cameras upstairs. Can't risk going up."

Eddie lowered his hands as he yelled. More gunshots roared inside the White House. David laughed as blood poured out of his mouth. A tooth lied in the table next to him.

"You guys are gonna need to pray to God," said David. "You're going to Hell today, Eddie."

"Shut up!" yelled Eddie. "Stan! Stay with them! I gotta find out what the fuck's going on!"

Stan nodded as Eddie walked out of the room. George's chest puffed in and out as his bruised face looked down.

"Well… better start talking gentlemen," said Stan. "Just 'cause the big man left don't mean we stop talkin'."

Stan took out a blowtorch and lifted David's shirt up. Smoke and the smell of burning flesh mixed with David's agonizing scream added to the hellish environment they were in.

Suddenly, a gunshot splattered blood against the picture on the wall of Eddie. Stan dropped to the floor. The vent opened up and Lincoln crawled out, landing on the table.

"Oh," sighed David. "Nice one, son."

"Yeah, great going, kid," said George. "What were you doing in the vents with Sherry's gun?"

"Long story," said Lincoln, jumping down. "Where is the key?"

"Right next to you on the table. Hey, kid, how's Vee?"

"She's fine," said Lincoln, unlocking the handcuffs. "Everyone is. At least the last time I saw them."

The gunshots continued.

"There aren't too many survivors here," said David. "Actually, our group's got the same amount of people. We should be able to clear this house quickly."

"Yeah," said Lincoln. "There are families in here. People not part of the Service. Why don't we help them?"

David nodded. George picked up Stan's pistol and removed the magazine to peek inside it, before placing the magazine back in the gun. He opened the door and pointed it out, inspecting the halls.

"Coast is clear," said George.

"Let's go help the families, then," said David.

Lori and her group continued firing at the agents near the Palm Room. Two bodies laid in the ground while the group were in a standoff with two more agents, one of them being an injured Jimmy. Lori and Becky moved forward, slowly creeping up from the entrance of the room. A couple bullets struck near the entrance of the room, forcing Lori and Becky to stay back.

Eddie ran inside the Palm Room from the West Wing entrance.

"Fuck's going on here?" he asked.

"Sir, the group's on the other side," said Jimmy.

"Push 'em!" screamed Eddie.

The two Service agents moved up ahead, heading towards the residence entrance of the Palm Room. They peeked outside and found no one.

"There's no one here," said an agent. "It's safe. But I'm hearing gunshots somewhere else. From the East Wing."

Eddie walked out of the Palm Room and entered the residential part of the White House. He and the agents marched into the East Wing. As they passed the North Hall, the agents were quickly met with gunfire as Lori sprayed her AK-47 at the agents. Eddie ran ahead and into the staircase, darting past the first floor as Lori chased him. She placed the gun strap around her chest and ran up the stairs with her Python while grabbing the walkie-talkie.

"He's going up the roof!" Lori said into her walkie-talkie.

Meanwhile, a couple residents were running out into the courtyard, holding their bags and their weapons. George walked up to a family of three and noticed the mother holding a weapon.

"Are you part of the Service?" asked George.

"Yeah," said the woman. "But I'm not going to harm you. Any smart Service agent would be smart enough to run outta this building. The ones attacking your group– those are the assholes who love doin' this shit for fun."

The woman grabbed her son's arm and her husband's hand as they walked out into the courtyard, leaving the building. Lincoln smiled as he walked back into the Palm Room. He stopped.

"Drop your weapon," said Sheila, aiming her gun at Lincoln.

Lincoln tossed the M1911 into the floor and raised his arms. He took a deep breath.

"Look… Sheila. That's your name, right?"

"You're that kid I saw earlier. You're attacking my people."

"They're not your people," said Lincoln. "You only care about your mom. And that's good– I'm not judging! I just… I know you're better than this."

Lincoln dropped his arms.

"You don't really want to do this," he said. "You can't do this anymore. That's okay. You don't have to kill me. Your mom is out there, looking for you. You can just go. Just go and never look back."

Sheila lowered her gun. She placed it in her pocket and ran out into the courtyard, following the dozens of other survivors who did the same. George and David ran into the Palm Room.

"That's all of them," said George.

"Okay," said Lincoln. "I'm going to the roof. I have to make sure they really aren't coming back."

David and George nodded as they ran to the armory. Lincoln ran past the North Hall and into the staircase where he met up with the rest of the fighting group. They ran up the stairs, leaving stains of blood on the red carpet.

The door to the Promenade, the porch that wrapped around the White House roof, burst open. Eddie fired his pistol at the door while running away, his shots missing wildy. Lori ducked and used the door as cover. She then peeked her head out and aimed her revolver at Eddie. She took a deep breath and steadied her aim before firing, the bullet striking Eddie's right arm.

The pistol dropped on an ashy crater in the porch. Eddie held his bleeding arm as he passed by the debris, before stumbling near a missing balustrade. He crawled towards the edge of the porch, the evening sun shining on his face.

"Allen!" yelled Eddie.

Lori quickly turned and shot the sniper in the head. Eddie panted as he faced her. With her approaching closer, Eddie pulled out his flare gun and aimed it upwards.

"Step any closer and I'll fire it!" yelled Eddie.

Lori stopped in her tracks and continued to aim her revolver at Eddie. Lincoln, among with the other fighting members of the group made it up to the roof porch. They walked up to Lori before standing behind her.

"That's what you want, right?" shouted Eddie. "You want this place! You know how good it is! How valuable! You know how badly I wanted to keep it!"

"So badly, you would kill others for it, right?" said Lori.

"YES! It was the only place I could live without worrying about being eaten alive by– by–"

Eddie stood up and looked over the capital, pointing his flare gun at the roamers in the distance.

"...by those things! No humans. No dead ones. No worries. The Service never had to worry about getting their families killed the way my husband and son were killed. You know…"

Eddie pointed the gun at Lincoln.

"...my son was a lot like him! Young! Full of spirit! Courage! But people… they didn't give a damn! I cooked for our government, you know! I provided service to them. But they left me to rot in this shithole place!"

"People would kill for this place," said Lori.

"I know… I know! This place is a glimmer of hope. I thought the government would come back and take us outta here. That's what the flare is for. They're coming back…"

"There is no government," said Lori. "Just anarchy. You had the chance to create a real government. But what did you do? Kill people and take their shit."

"I know! I know…. There's no way to excuse my actions. I only wanted you to understand."

"We understand," said Lincoln.

Eddie looked at him.

"So you know…" said Eddie.

"Yeah, I know how bad people can get," said Lincoln. "But look at yourself. Do you not realize you're becoming just like them? Like the people who killed your husband? Your son?"

Eddie panted as Lincoln continued talking.

"Please… respect their memories. Throw away the flare gun. It's the only way you're getting out of here alive."

"Shut it, Lincoln," said Lori before turning to Eddie. "Just know, I'm going to kill you, no matter what. Shoot that flare and I'll feed you to the dead that come here."

"You're not killing me," said Eddie, tossing the flare gun to the ground. "Thanks, kid. You tried. You can have this place. If no one else is coming to save me, then no one is coming to save them."

"That's nice to know," said Lori, raising her revolver at Eddie.

"Lori…" whispered Lincoln. "Try to hold on. He's not a threat anymore. We can exile him. Please, Lori, please."

Lori gulped. She lowered her revolver.

"Like I said, you're not killing me," whispered Eddie. "But you know what? Take this place. Fuck this hopeless world. You're better off living here than I am."

Eddie then looked at Lincoln.

"Don't make this mistake again, kid," he said. "Don't ever try to spare someone like me again. I'm a lost cause."

He sniffled and closed his eyes as he stepped backwards off the edge of the roof porch, his body leaning back and falling as his screams descended closer to the ground. David and George looked out the windows of the Palm Room before seeing his body land on the courtyard, blood splattering into the glass panes.

"Christ," muttered David.

The wind blew against Lori's hair as she looked down at the ground, finding Eddie's corpse stiff in the ground with a pattern of blood behind his head. Her eyes were wide as she was unable to close her mouth.

Lincoln ran to the edge of the roof, prompting Lori to hold him back as he fell to his knees, looking down. Shocked and confused, he covered his mouth as he struggled to take his eyes off of the corpse.

Lori shook her head and placed her revolver back into her holster as she lifted Lincoln back up. She looked back at the group, who were all left speechless.

"Did you get them all?" asked Lori.

After a moment of silence, one member spoke up.

"Yeah," said Becky. "There weren't that many."

"Well… this place is home now. Let's get something to eat."

Lori walked back to the porch entrance.

"I can take bodies out and burn them," said Hana.

"I'll help," said Kotaro.

"Me too," said Ronnie Anne. "I don't really feel hungry."

 **V - Leader of the Free World**

The evening sun set down as the candles were burning in the Navy Mess Room in the West Wing. The large room consisted of many circular tables, though the group only took up four of them. In one of the empty tables sat the stock pot filled with chicken soup.

Lori laid her head on her hands as she placed a spoon into her mouth. It was cold, but the group didn't care. It was delicious compared to any of the cold food they ate. She looked at a table ahead, finding Carol glaring at her. She was drinking a cup of tea as her eyes continued to judge the leader.

Lori then looked at Becky, who was sitting next to Carol. They glanced at each other before looking away. Lori then caught Vonda staring at her, though the red-headed girl quickly looked away.

Loud slurping noises coming from Lana filled the tense air as Carol finally looked away, shaking her head. The awkward silence couldn't get more awkward than this.

The lamps on the side of the walls turned on as the group stepped foot inside the stair landing of the second floor of the residential building. Jeffrey held a book with the interior blueprints of the White House, along with modern pictures of the rooms. He flipped pages and looked around, as the group observed the chairs and tables in the center hall.

"To our right are three rooms," said Jeffrey, looking into the book. "Each room should hold two people. The Master Bedroom, which is where the President and the First Lady slept, is the second to last door straight ahead."

Lori turned around and looked at the group.

"Anyone wanna take that room?"

The group remained silent, some of the members with smiling faces. Lori tilted her head in confusion.

"Looks like no one's saying it, but are you kidding?" said Lincoln. "The _Master_ Bedroom! It's fit for a leader. It's obvious you should take it!"

"And Bobby too!" said Clyde.

"Well…" said Lori as she shrugged, "if you insist, then alright! I guess I'll sleep where Michelle slept!"

The group scattered as they looked inside the rooms, Jeffrey carrying the book around.

"This is the West Bedroom, two separate beds," said Jeffrey.

"Let's take it, Uncle Jeff," said Preston.

Jeffrey nodded as he turned around, looking into a room with a smaller bed, though wide enough for two people.

"Well, this is kinda obvious," said David, looking at Lana and Lily.

Lana and Lily walked inside the room, finding a mirror, soft blankets, and carpeting. Lily ran up the bed and jumped into it, feeling the fluffy mattress. She closed her eyes and smiled.

Jeffrey returned to the stair landing, looking ahead at the East Sitting Hall.

"To the left is the Queens' Bedroom," said Jeffrey. "Royal guests loved to sleep there."

Luna and Sam came out of the room, holding hands. They smiled at the group.

"Bed's comfortable," said Luna. "And uh, is it okay to call dibs?"

"No," said Luan, causing Luna to frown. "Just kidding! Hahaha…!"

"Sure, take the room," said Jeffrey. "There are a lot more rooms upstairs. Now, to our right is… well, I think the room already decided who it is for. After all, it shares your namesake, Lincoln."

"No way, the Lincoln bedroom!" said Clyde.

Lincoln walked inside, placing his backpack to the floor. He stretched out his arms before looking at Clyde.

"How about we also call it the Clincoln McLoud Room?" said Lincoln.

"I'd love that!" said Clyde, walking inside the room.

The group walked away from the room, with Jeffrey leading them upstairs. He continued showing the rooms to the survivors. David sat on a chair in his own room. George dismantled his pistol and placed the parts on the table of his room. Hana sat in her bed, looking at an art painting while Kotaro sat in the other bed, faced the other way. Carol looked out the window from her bed and Becky's, looking at the moon hovering in the distance while Jace laid in his own bed in the same room. Ronnie Anne washed her hands in the bathroom of her room, while Lynn and Vonda placed their bow and arrows next to their bed in the same room. Lisa looked into the mirror, tears rolling out her eyes as she remained alone in her room. The running water turned off as Luan came out of the bathroom, drying her hair. She walked inside her dimly lit room with a drenched yellow shirt.

"Did you shower with your clothes on?" smiled Benny.

"No, smart guy," giggled Luan. "I forgot to take a towel, so I used my shirt. I'm not that wet, right?"

Benny rubbed his fingers down on her wet hair strands, leaning close to Luan's lips. He kissed her as they closed the door.

"You're very wet," said Benny.

"I'm not the only one," said Luan.

She kissed him back, shoving him to the bed. She sat on top of him and smiled as she reached into her pocket.

"Look what I found in the bathroom," said Luan, blushing.

She held out a condom packet. She bit the wrapper off as Benny pulled down his jeans. As she began applying protection on Benny, she looked at him in the eyes.

"Are you ready?" asked Luan, biting her lips softly.

"Oh yeah," said Benny. "You're gonna go from laughing at my jokes to moaning at my strokes."

Luan burst into laughter as she tossed away her jeans.

"That's a good one!" said Luan. "Please be gentle, though."

Benny nodded as he and Luan went back to making out. He felt her body rock against him faster and faster.

"Luan!" chuckled Benny. "You're not being gentle!"

Luan giggled as she continued to rock back and forth. She pulled out the blanket and covered the couple. In the distance, a roamer looked at the dim lights in the White House window and began to jog towards it, passed by a tent marked with a large symbol on the canvas. It was an X.

-One Day Later-

"It lacks specific supplies," said Lisa. "Equipment is in remarkable condition, however."

Her eyes moving around, Lori nodded and smiled. The large room had a bunch of metal machinery, glass containers, barrels of chemicals in closets, and cups of chemicals in cabinets. There were FEMA and CDC hazmat suits on racks.

"This is great," said Lori. "Even after everything that happened yesterday, you're still going to try?"

"Of course. It's my contribution to the group."

Lori crouched and looked at Lisa straight at her eyes, placing her hand on her sister's shoulder.

"I know you're still thinking about her," said Lori. "You're so intelligent. You calculated the risks. You took the safe route. You chose logic over emotion. I don't want to say it's the wrong decision, but you should also consider the fact that the safe route won't always bring the best results."

"If I were to relive that moment again, I would try to save Zoey," said Lisa.

"We all face different kinds of dilemmas," said Lori. "Some are more difficult than others. You had good intentions. I'm not gonna punish you for that. There does come consequences for your actions, but they're not gonna be coming from me. You will feel regret. But you don't have to go through it alone. You can always talk to me."

Lisa closed her eyes and hugged Lori as she smiled.

A knock on the door prompted Lori to turn around and release Lisa. She opened the door and found Becky and Vonda. She walked outside and closed the door.

"What is it?" asked Lori.

"We came here to help you with the whole punishment thing," said Becky.

Lori groaned.

"N-No, wait, hear us out," said Vonda.

"We should make some areas off-limit to Lisa and Lana," suggested Becky. "Keep them in the middle building and never allow them to enter the West Wing or East Wing. Well, except the lab. Lisa has to work on the cure. I don't want to see her wandering outta there without one of us knowin'–"

"Hey, Becky, stop," said Lori.

"It's a good idea," said Becky.

"Yeah, we're not exiling them," said Vonda.

"That's house arrest," said Lori. "We're not doing that to them. They're not criminals."

"Dude, they did some pretty bad stuff. I don't really feel safe around them."

"They're not innocent," said Becky.

"Are you?" asked Lori. "I'm serious, Becky. Don't act like we're all law-abiding people. We're not saints. We did things that we regret and we'll continue to do them. But we do them with the group in mind, for their benefit."

Becky crossed her arms and scoffed, rolling her eyes.

"Of course you're not punishing them," she said.

"Oh, then you want me to punish you?" asked Lori. "You think I didn't notice the way you killed that cook yesterday?"

"She was screaming, she was going to alert–"

"I know, that's why I told you to fucking knock her out. Your intentions were for the benefit of the group. That's why you're not punished. And that's why I won't punish Lisa and Lana."

Becky nodded and walked away, before facing Lori.

"I understand what you're saying. I'm pissed, but not at you. But Carol? You gotta make her understand."

Becky then walked away. Vonda looked at Lori.

"I hope you made the right choice," said Vonda.

"I hope so too," said Lori as she walked back inside the lab.

A few pigeons flew across the White House as Lincoln looked outside the window of the Solarium. The door opened and Kotaro let himself in.

"Hey, man, you alright?" asked Kotaro.

"Not really," said Lincoln. "You and my dad talked a lot back in Houlton, right?"

"Yeah," said Kotaro. "Why?"

"What does he think about killing?" asked Lincoln. "I guess what I really wanna know– to be specific– is how he would feel about me killing our enemies."

"Can't say he wouldn't be surprised. He wasn't upset when he found out that Lynn and Luna got their hands dirty before. But you? I don't mean any offense, but you don't come off as the tough type."

"Well, none taken. You're just being honest."

"He wouldn't be mad, if that's what you're wondering. In fact, I think he'd be glad. He'd be glad that his son will do whatever it takes to protect his family. You should take pride in that, man."

"I know you mean well, Kotaro, but I think I'd believe it more if I heard it coming from my dad instead."

"I miss him too, kid," said Kotaro, patting Lincoln softly. "Keep your head up. Brighter days ahead."

Kotaro walked out of the Solarium.

Meanwhile, Becky stormed inside the Game Room and found David playing pool and Jace throwing darts. She took a deep breath as she paced around.

"What's up, Becky?" asked Jace.

"Nothing, I'm fine," she said. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for Preston," said Jace. "I'm practicing my aim in the meantime."

Jace tossed his three darts, one landing on the bullseye and the two others landing near it. He pumped up his fists as Becky raised her eyebrows.

"Hey, let me try," she said.

Jace grabbed the three darts from the board and handed them to Becky.

"You ever thrown darts before?" asked Jace.

Becky tossed the darts with immense strength, two of the darts hitting the walls and one landing on the edge of the board. She huffed and puffed as Jace looked at Becky worriedly.

"No," said Becky.

"Well, damn," gulped Jace. "You didn't have to throw it that hard."

"Just releasing my anger," said Becky before giving Jace a soft smile. "You have really nice aim by the way."

"Thanks," said Jace as Becky walked away.

The sun began to set down as Lori looked out the window in the Oval Office. Her eyes looked weary as Bobby walked inside the office. She turned around and walked to him, grabbing his hands as the sun shone on the side of their faces.

"It's a beautiful view outside, right?" said Bobby.

"Yeah," said Lori. "Too bad we stopped people from seeing it anymore."

Bobby frowned as Lori looked at the sun.

"I changed, Bobby. I'm not the same girl you met three years ago. I'm more hardened. Capable of taking people's lives. Brutally. And I almost don't feel bad. And then there's you. You haven't changed a bit. You're still that sweet, sensitive guy with a good heart. You still trust people. You're still capable of caring."

Lori looked away from the sun. She looked at Bobby.

"Do you still love me?"

Bobby looked into Lori's eyes and smiled before he closed his eyes and kissed her, holding her face softly. He released his lips, holding Lori's face closely.

"I do," said Bobby.

Lori smiled and hugged Bobby as she cried softly. The sun continued to shine on the couple.

-One Month Later-

The large freezer was opened as Lincoln and Vonda reached their hands at a tray inside it. They each grabbed one of the sides and carried it out of the freezer as Vonda kicked it back with her flats. Her magenta dress moved with her along the kitchen as she helped Lincoln carry the cake. They left the kitchen, with Lincoln's dress shoes moving up the stairs. He kicked open the door to the East Room, his orange buttoned shirt and khakis unstained. He looked around the room, seeing white table cloths and lilacs and folded napkins around tables in the side of the room near the entrance. But no chairs. They were all in the back of the room, facing the altar, where the curtains were open. Many of the group members, whom were all wearing dresses, buttoned shirts, suits, or ties, were chattering among each other as Bobby paced around in a tuxedo that he found in the closet room upstairs.

"Lil' nervous?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Yeah, a bit," said Bobby. "Where's Luna? It's about to be noon!"

"I don't know, probably getting dressed up. She prob' hates wearing dresses as much as I do."

"It's a good thing there were a bunch of clothes our size," said Preston, wearing a suit. "Definitely feels like a real wedding."

"'Cause it is a real wedding," said Vonda. "Well, the cake's done!"

Lynn patted Vonda as she licked her lips.

"You did a hell of a job, Vee," said Lynn. "Cake looks damn delicious."

"Thanks, but your brother did most of the work. Thank him too."

"Yeah, like I'll ever thank that dork."

Lynn snickered before calling across the room.

"Hey, Stinkoln! Nice cake!"

Lincoln scoffed. Bobby groaned as he walked away, leaving the East Room. Lynn walked up to the cake and reaching to grab a bit of frosting before Lincoln smacked her hand away. He shook his head.

"Rude," said Lynn.

In the left row of seats, Jace approached a lonely Lana, sitting next to her. His hair was gelled back behind his ears. Lana's hair seemed oily as always, even more so that she was not wearing her red cap.

"What's wrong?" asked Jace.

Lana rubbed her arms as she looked up at Jace. She looked down.

"I'm scared. I wanna feel happy 'cause my sister's about to get married and we're gonna eat all this good food, but… I can't enjoy it 'cause I'm scared."

"Why are you scared?"

"Well, there are people are scared of me. Remember when I was scared of Weber? We were both terrified of each other but I killed him. That's what I'm afraid of. The redheaded gals may not do anything to me, but what about Carol or Hana? If they think I'm dangerous, they won't hesitate to… to…"

"Don't worry about it," said Jace, wrapping his arms around Lana. "They're like the only ones that aren't here. But I'm here for you. I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make sure you're safe. You're like a sister to me, Lana. I want to protect you and keep you safe. If anyone wants to get to you… well, they gotta get through me."

Lana smiled.

"Weber was a weird kid," said Jace. "I was suspicious of him myself too. I don't really like weirdos. Don't tell Hana, though."

Lana giggled.

"I do miss my pets," said Jace. "A lot. Something definitely wasn't okay with Weber– no offense to him. But we'll get new ones. Right?"

Lana nodded. Jace rubbed her head as he stood up.

Meanwhile, in a dark room, moaning and kissing and other sounds of love filled the air as "Careless Whisper" played in the CD player on the desk next to the bed.

"Yeah, you like that, right?" huffed Luna.

"Oh, Luna!" giggled Sam.

They kissed each other softly as the bed continued to rock back and forth slightly. Sam grabbed Luna's arms and tossed her down at the bottom as she climbed on top of Luna. She bit her lip as she continued to grip Luna's wrists against the bed. She leaned close to her lover's face before the door opened, the light coming from the hallway shining on the couple.

Luna gasped as Sam yelped. Bobby screamed as he closed the door.

"Ah!" exclaimed Sam as she covered herself with a blanket. "Shit!"

Bobby caught his breath as he placed his face against the door.

"Are you guys–? Luna, it's about to be noon!" he exclaimed.

"I know, I know!" exclaimed Luna from behind the door. "I'm sorry!"

"You guys have to get dressed now!"

"Yeah, we're getting dressed now, dude! Just give us a few minutes!"

"Ah, man!" whispered Bobby to himself as he walked away.

Bobby walked up to the altar and stood for a few minutes, looking at the clock, nervously tapping his foot. Lincoln, who was Bobby's best man, gave him a handkerchief to wipe his sweat off.

"Thanks, man," said Bobby.

Lincoln nodded. Luan stood across Bobby below the altar, wearing a yellow dress and holding a bouquet of flowers. She called out to Bobby.

"Just relax," said Luan. "Lori's not known for being punctual."

Becky entered the East Room.

"She's coming in a minute," she stated.

Bobby gulped as he looked at the grand piano in the corner of the room. Suddenly, Luna ran inside the East Room, fixing her choker and purple heels. She grabbed a hair clip and moved her hair away from her face and behind her left ear before placing the clip to secure it. She grabbed the handkerchief from Bobby's hands and wiped it across her face before tossing it away, finally taking a seat near the piano.

Sam followed her and ran across the aisle to her seat with her sneakers, tying her messy hair back into a ponytail. She dusted off her teal dress and sat down, taking a large breath of relief. Her eyes observed Luna's hands flipping piano sheets.

"Are these all Christina Perri songs?" Luna whispered to herself. "Not even in alphabetical order. Ah. Here it is."

Luna quickly read over the piano notes as she continued whispering to herself. She then placed it on top of the piano as she heard the door open. She placed her fingers on the piano and then began to play a solo piano cover of "A Thousand Years." Lily pranced through the aisle, tossing petals around. She smiled as she took her seat.

David wore a gray tuxedo as he walked the bride down the aisle. Her sleeveless trumpet dress moved gracefully along the carpet. She kept her bouquet of white roses close to her chest below her pearl necklace. Her blue eyelids and dark eyelashes blinked as her blue eyes looked at her groom, who was wiping a tear from his eyes. Her glossy lips smiled as she passed by her family and friends. Lynn, Lana, Lisa, Lily, Ronnie Anne, and Clyde stood up on one of the rows of chairs. Becky, George, Kotaro, Sam, Benny, Jace, Preston, and Vonda stood up in the other rows of chairs. Luan, the maid of honor, and Lincoln, the best man, were radiating with joy as the bride approached the altar. David then let go of the bride before standing over his own seat.

Lori stood on the altar, passing the bouquet to Luan, as she kept her eyes locked on Bobby. She held the groom's hands as her their eyes twinkled. Jeffrey opened up a book and stood near the center of the altar as Luna grabbed a harp and began to play "Canon in D."

"Dear friends and family, we are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the union of Lori Loud and Bobby Santiago in marriage. Today, as they join in marriage, they also create a new bond and new sense of family– one that will undoubtedly include all who are present here today."

As Preston continued talking, Carol slowly opened the door to the East Room, wearing her purple tank top and jeans. She looked around, not caring how underdressed she was. The scent of fresh food and flowers caused her to stick around in the room, as she walked to the corner of the room. She placed her head against the wall as she watched Jeffrey speak.

"Seek from within yourselves, the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things that you must, and the wisdom to know the difference. Live each day, one day at a time, enjoying your time together, one moment at a time. Seek the wisdom of experience, learning all that you can from each other. Accept hardships as the building blocks of experience, realizing that accepting both the good and bad are simply a part of being alive. Strive to make as many things right as is humanly possible in your life together– that you may be reasonably happy in the life you share from this day forward."

Lori glanced at Carol, smiling. Carol tried looking away, but she couldn't hold it back. She smiled softly too.

"Do you, Bobby Santiago, take Lori Loud to be your lawfully wedded wife, promising to love and cherish, through joy and sorrow, sickness and health, and whatever challenges you may face, for as long as you both shall live?"

Bobby placed the ring in Lori's finger.

"I do."

Jeffrey turned towards Lori.

"Do you, Lori Loud, take Bobby Santiago to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do you part?"

Lori placed a ring in Bobby's finger. In the blink of an eye, her mind raced with the memories of her soulmate always being there for her, through the best of times and the worst of times.

"I do."

Jeffrey closed the book.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss."

Lori and Bobby leaned close and kissed each other as the group cheered. Carol placed her hands inside her pockets and smiled before leaving taking a seat by the bar table.

The dim lights surrounded the room. Luna sat by her drums, holding her sticks while Sam now sat by the piano with a microphone next to her. She then began to sing as she played the piano melody to "Arms" from the sheet music filled with Christina Perri songs.

" _I never thought that you would be the one to hold my heart…_ "

Lori and Bobby cut the first slice of cake together, laughing while they did it. They placed the slice on their plate and began to eat it together.

" _But you came around and you knocked me off the ground from the start…_ "

Lori threw the bouquet of flowers, which Luna and Sam caught at the same time, both young women blushing.

" _You put your arms around me and I believe that it's easier for you to let me go…_ "

The newlyweds danced on the floor slowly together. They looked at each other's eyes before Lori placed her head on Bobby's shoulders.

" _You put your arms around me and I'm home…_ "

The group members joined the newlyweds on the dance floor, moving around. Lincoln and Clyde were moving around wackily, embarrassing some of the others.

" _How many times will you let me change my mind and turn around?_ "

Lincoln tapped Ronnie Anne's shoulders and reached out his hands. She raised her eyebrows, hesitantly grabbing his hands. She smiled as she began dancing slowly with him.

" _I can't decide if I'll let you save my life or if I'll drown…_ "

Sam continued singing and Luna continued drumming.

Becky's green dress moved above the dance floor while Carol's jeans remained trapped to her legs. They both held each other closely as they looked at each, slowly moving across the room.

"Still at mad at Lori?" asked Becky.

"Mad at everything," said Carol. "But I'm still her friend. I have to show up for one of the happiest days of her life."

"Hmm. I get that. But you could leave now. Doesn't seem like you like it so much here."

"Being in the same room as Lisa and Lana? I get any closer to them, my blood boils. Feels like any day now I'm going to explode and do something I might regret."

"You can always talk to me," said Becky.

"I know."

"Not that I don't want you here, but why are you still sticking around? It ain't exactly the best place for your anger," asked Becky. "Liking the food here?"

"Sorta. And I'm here 'cause I hate being alone. I don't know how Hana can deal with it. The loneliness. You know that's one of my worst fears? Being alone. Dying alone? That's bad. Living alone? That's worse."

"I hate being alone too," said Becky.

"Good thing we still got each other. You're one of the reasons I'm still alive. You're a really great friend, Becky. I like how you protect me all me the time. Even when I don't need it."

Becky giggled.

"Well, what can I say? I am a damn good friend."

"Ha. You're a cute one too."

Carol smiled as Becky blushed slightly.

"Carol Pingrey. Don't tell me you came here just to dance and flirt with me."

"Darn, ya caught me!" said Carol before giggling.

Becky and Carol locked eyes as they continued moving along the dance floor.

"I guess I'm the cure to your loneliness?" asked Becky.

Carol's smile turned into a frown. Becky gulped as Carol stopped moving.

"I did not mean it that way," said Becky. "Fuck, I just made things awkward, didn't I?"

"No, no. You didn't say anything wrong. It's just– don't say that word. I hate hearing that word."

"What, loneliness?"

"Cure!" Carol whispered loudly. "I'm sorry, Becky. I gotta go."

Carol walked out of the East Room, leaving Becky alone in the dance floor.

Becky groaned and walked to the bar table. She grabbed a bottle of red wine and filled a glass of it. She began gulping the glass as Lori approached her.

"Hey, did you taste the cake yet?" asked Lori.

"Yeah, it's tasty," said Becky.

"Right?" said Lori. "Lincoln certainly outdid himself!"

"Yeah. Hey, um, how's this wedding feeling like?"

"Like the best day of my life!" said Lori.

"It feels real to you?"

"It is real! I know since there isn't any actual government it may not seem like Bobby and I are married, but who needs a marriage certificate? Oh, I gotta go, Bobby wants to dance again!"

Lori returned to the dance floor as Becky grabbed the wine bottle, pouring herself another cup.

"It isn't real," Becky said to herself. "Whole thing's just an illusion. A distraction."

Becky drank the cup and moved it away as she began to drink from the bottle. She remained alone as the others danced.

Lori and Bobby slowly spun around. As Lori held Bobby's arms, she looked away into empty chairs.

She blinked.

Hector and Rosa sat next to each other, smiling at her. And next to her was Frida and Rita. Then, Lynn Sr. and Carlos. Then, CJ and Lucy. Then, Lola and Carl. Then, Carlota. Then, Leni.

She blinked again. The table was empty.

"Let's go," whispered Bobby. "I'm getting tired, but I got a surprise for you in our bedroom."

Lori looked back at him and slowly nodded. They both ran off to the exit of the East Room, giggling and skipping.

David grinned widely before George nudged him.

"What you so happy for?" asked George.

"It's just… I don't know. Lori's happy. I'm real happy. She's kinda like…"

"The daughter you never had?"

David nodded.

"I get it," said George. "In this world, familial love don't come around that often. They always dwindle. It's no surprise we seek it out in those we trust and care about."

"Right," said David. "I'm gonna get myself a drink."

"And I'm following you," chuckled George.

The men approached the bar table, grabbing a couple bottles of wines while Becky continued drinking hers. It was one of the happiest days ever. But not for everyone.

 **VI - Trick or Treat**

-Day 883-

Pages flipped in a calendar. A mouse looked at the small blonde child as it ate its cracker. The glowing chemicals in the flasks were bubbling.

"It is indeed October 31st, 2018," said Lisa. "I can also confirm that today marks the 883rd day since the necrosis flu went global."

"Big number," said Lily. "Halloween!"

"How did you know?" asked Lincoln.

"Lana told her," said Lisa. "I warned her not to remind Lily of such ludicrous ideas from the past. Halloween contains aspects that we simply do not have the luxury for in the current state of the world. As such, it can't be celebrated."

"So no free candy?" asked Lily. "I not remember tastin' candy. Lana tells me she loved it."

"Halloween was not just about free candy," said Lincoln. "It was the scariest day of the year. People would wear costumes, decorate their houses, and try to scare the living daylights out of people out in the streets or through haunted houses or… haunted mazes."

Lincoln looked down.

"Like corn mazes."

Lincoln looked back at Lily.

"Halloween was Lucy's favorite time of the year. Three years ago, in the… _pre-GIE world_ , Lucy made a haunted corn maze. It was really fun. We scared two bullies–who by the way ate the candy that you and some of your sisters got– and it felt good. All the horror that went along with the day, it was all in fun."

"People delighted in being frightened," said Lisa. "I would do anything to return to that world. To only be frightened for one day out of a whole year, instead of your whole life."

"So no candy?" asked Lily.

"Actually, we can still loot some candy from the stores," said Lincoln.

"They would taste stale," said Lisa.

"Not if you batch up some artificial flavoring. Most candies have it anyways, so it's not like it's anything different from real sugar. And then we can even get other ingredients and stuff to make some actual candy!"

Lisa grabbed a notepad and pencil.

"It's possible," she said. "But you have to know what you're looking for. I am currently listing essential candy-making ingredients for you to use while out there. I heard Lori is going out on a supply-run today?"

"Yeah," said Lincoln. "I don't think she picked anyone to go with her yet. But I gotta let her know about this! Oh boy, Lily! We're not going to be walking around knocking on doors but we're still getting candy regardless!"

"Yay!" exclaimed Lily. "Candy!"

A few hours passed. The sun was high in the air, though it was not radiating warm air. The brisk air and the falling warm leaves made it more comfortable for the supply-run group to wear more clothing, such as Lori, who wore a denim bomber jacket. Lincoln, wearing an orange hoodie, carried a map of the capital and a bag of the ingredients that he gathered from the stores he looted. Behind him and Lori were Bobby, Luan, Benny, Lynn, Clyde, and Lana, each carrying a backpack.

"Remind me again why the hell do we need a map for?" asked Lynn. "Big white monument over there. We can't get lost."

"We need to know what stores we hit," said Lori. "I don't wanna repeat the mistake we made back in Maine when we would hit the same places again and again. It wastes time. It wastes energy."

"That's smart. Wasn't your idea, right?"

"So irritating," whispered Lori.

"Uh huh, it was my idea," said Lincoln.

The group walked inside a tiny corner store. They grabbed canned food, water bottles, batteries, anything useful they could get their hands on.

"So… are you two planning to have a child?" asked Clyde.

"You noticed it too, right?" remarked Luan.

"Noticed what?" nervously chuckled Lori.

"You're looking for formula milk, diapers, pacifiers, cribs, small clothes, all that baby stuff," said Benny.

"She is?" said Bobby, turning towards Lori. "You are?"

"Well…" sighed Lori.

"Oh my god, you're pregnant!" said Luan.

"You are?" asked Bobby. "Babe, this is–!"

"Woah, woah, woah!" said Lori. "I'm not pregnant! I'm just– it doesn't hurt to prepare, alright? Besides, Bobby and I aren't planning to have a kid anytime soon. World doesn't seem safe enough. Maybe it'll be safer when the cure works."

"But what if… you accidentally have a child?" asked Lynn.

"Lynn…" groaned Lincoln.

"What? I'm just asking the real questions around here."

"Then I'd raise it," said Lori. "What, you think I can just give it up for adoption?"

"No, but there's gotta be some abortion pills lyin' 'round here."

"Lynn!" exclaimed Lincoln.

"What? I'd do it. Baby's gonna die out here, so might as well prevent its suffering."

"People used to argue about that all the time," said Lori.

"So what if it's a touchy subject?" groaned Lynn. "We watched people get torn apart and die. No sensitive people left in this world."

"I know we live in the White House," said Lori, "but I refuse to get political."

"I'm not tryna' start a debate for no reason," said Lynn, walking towards the exit of the store. "I'm legit curious."

"If you're genuinely curious about pregnancy, then we can discuss it, but later. Not in front of an eight-year-old."

Lana shrieked. Lori pulled out her revolver and ran towards the corner of the store, finding Lana in the floor, crawling away from a closet where a corpse laid against the wall. Flies buzzed around the corpse as a Walther PPK/S pistol lied in its hands. Lori closed her nose as Lynn leaned close to the corpse, grabbing the pistol. Lynn slid the chamber back and pulled out the magazine.

"Guess it's mine now," said Lynn.

Lincoln helped Lana to her feet. Lori closed the closet and motioned the group to leave the store. The bells rung with each survivor opening and closing the door.

"So we're still going to go ahead and loot, right?" asked Clyde.

"Yeah," said Lincoln, squinting ahead across the intersection. "Hey, look over there. There's something at the stop sign."

The group walked over to the stop sign, which was next to a white semi-truck with black tinted windows that had an arrow painted on the trailer, pointing ahead in the road. Below the stop sign was a map of D.C. tied to it. The White House was circled with letters imprinted on it. 'WATCH OUT FOR THE SERVICE. GOVERNMENT ARE KILLERS.' Then, there were arrows leading to the Washington Circle Park, about six blocks from the White House, and only two blocks from where the group was at. There were more words imprinted on the map. 'ENEMIES OF THE ENEMIES. FRIENDS OF YOURS. NO GOVERNMENT. SAFE HAVEN.'

"I suppose they're not talking about cell phone service, right?" said Luan.

"I guess the enemies of our enemies are our friends," said Bobby. "Looks like these people hated the Service."

"If only they knew they weren't real government agents," said Clyde.

"Should we check it out?" asked Lincoln.

"I say we should," said Benny. "These people deserve to know about us working on a cure."

"Hell yeah," said Lynn. "The more people we tell, the more people we save."

Lori shrugged.

"Let's just check it out for now," she said, taking out her walkie-talkie. "Hey, George. If we don't come back in two hours, check around Washington Circle Park."

" _Got it_."

The group headed for the Washington Circle Park, leaving the map on the stop sign behind. The arrows on the map led to an intersection. An intersection with roads that ran diagonal. It created an X where the intersection was formed.

The hand continued ticking on the clock. Crows landed on top of the hospital. The wood planks clacked against each other as a man carried them towards the center of the park, tossing them in a large bonfire. Another man then grabbed a large trash can and tossed it into the fire, with cloth covering their mouth and nose.

" _Calvin. We got newcomers at the southeast road._ "

One of the men uncovered the cloth around their lower face. He grabbed his walkie-talkie.

"All right," said Calvin, placing his walkie-talkie away. "Moose, keep burning the trash."

Lori, Bobby, Luan, Benny, Lynn, Lincoln, Clyde, and Lana arrived outside of a fence gate. They saw the smoke coming from the park in the center of the protected area. A woman wearing a pencil skirt chewing meat on a stick approached the fence gate. She smiled while she grabbed a napkin.

"New survivors!" she exclaimed. "Sorry. I didn't expect new people to arrive during my lunch break."

The woman wrapped her lunch with a napkin and placed it in her pocket. She rubbed her hands on her jeans and took out a notepad and a pen.

"Hi. My name's Nora. I assume you guys are here for refuge in our safe haven?"

"We're here to check it out," said Lori. "I don't really see anyone though."

"Oh, that's because our shelter is that hospital over there. George Washington University Hospital. People don't really like to go outside all that much. You understand."

"Yeah. I do."

"I can't let you guys in yet, but… I can ask you guys a few questions. If you don't mind."

"What are you doing out here alone?" asked Lori. "You're exposing yourself to a sniper shot."

"Oh, I'm not alone," said Nora. "It could be the other way around."

Calvin and a couple men came out from behind the parking lot building. They walked towards the southeast road, approaching the fences separating the group and Nora. The armed men opened the fence gates.

"Kinda risky," said Calvin. "You're exposing yourself out here to a sniper shot."

"That's what I tried telling them," giggled Nora.

"Well, they have nothing to worry about now," said Calvin. "I'm Calvin. There hasn't been a Serviceman spotted in months."

"My name's Lori. How do you guys know about The Service?"

"We have some people that came from the White House," said Calvin. "Dissenters. It must've been the first year, post-GIE. Then, we started coming across them in the streets."

"Let me tell you, they're territorial as hell," said Nora.

"Indeed," said Calvin. "You're bewilderment of the fact that I mentioned them means you have encountered them yourself. Am I correct?"

"Yeah," said Lori. "We killed some of them."

"I'm glad to hear that," said Calvin. "So is this it? This is everyone in the group?"

Lori nodded. Calvin cleared his throat. His men approached the group members, though some of them flinched back.

"Relax, we just need to see your weapons," said Calvin.

Some of the men patted the survivors. Then, they whispered into Calvin's ears.

"All right, come with us," said Calvin. "I hope you're planning on staying here because I'm going to give you a tour of the place."

"So, who's the leader of this group?" asked Nora.

"I am," said Lori.

"Of course. Are any of you vegan?"

"No, it's impossible to live on a vegan lifestyle nowadays."

"Of course. Umm, how long have you been out in the road?"

"Quite a while," commented Lori.

Lori's group followed Calvin and his people. They walked down the road, before taking a right turn. The buildings shielded the south road from sunlight. Small trees grew on the sidewalks. There were X's marked on them.

"It's a surprise you people managed to last this long out there," said Calvin. "We usually don't get newcomers like this. Heh, that's why we're kinda at a lost at words."

"It's alright. Place looks nice."

"Agreed," said Calvin. "You know, this place used to hold soldiers during the invasion of…"

Lori looked around. There was a survivor whose face looked burnt. There was another one with an X scar across his face. She looked as Calvin and his men began to walk closer to the building. There was a parking garage in the side of the building, the entrance blocked by a simple traffic gate. Faint screams could be heard upstairs.

"This building is where we get our clothing," added Calvin. "People usually park in this parking lot…"

Lori continued to look around. She saw the X marked over the parking lot sign.

"What's this place called?" asked Lori.

"A… parking garage," said Calvin.

"I mean the whole place. Does it have a name or…?"

"Yeah. We call it the D.C. X-Zone. It's marked by diagonal roads. And also, X marks the spot! Everyone's heard of that phrase…"

Lori's heart began to beat faster. She stopped in her tracks. One of the men was ready to open the metallic doors.

"Wait," she said. "Can we leave? We took an RV here. My group and I need to think about everything we're seeing. You know, we gotta think it over in the RV. Just before… I get overwhelmed."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Nora.

"Well…" said Calvin. "You could try to leave."

Calvin and his men walked away from the driveway leading to the parking lot. Lori discretedly reached for her revolver as she looked around.

"Lori?" whimpered Lana.

Lori turned towards Lana, noticing a red dot moving around her chest. She looked at the rest of her group, finding multiple red dots moving across their bodies. Moving her hand over her chest, she found the red dot moving around it.

The lights to the parking garage turned on. There were armed men and women, each holding a rifle or SMG. They aimed it at Lori as she looked at Calvin.

"You don't have to raise your arms," said Calvin. "You'll just toss your guns on the floor. That's all."

Lori took a deep breath. Her pupils began contracting as her breath became shaky. Her heart was racing so fast, she felt it was going to jump out of her chest.

The overcast skies covered the entire capital. It was silent. It was relaxing. Birds could be heard chirping. And time appeared to be moving slowly.

Two survivors were on the roof of the White House. A trainer and a trainee.

Luna took a few almonds and placed them in her mouth, chewing them softly. Jace reached into the bowl of almonds and took one, placing it in his mouth, and softly chewed it.

"I don't like it," said Jace.

"Nuts aren't for everyone," said Luna. "Remember that prone pose I taught ya?"

"Yeah," said Jace, going on his knees.

"Nah, bro, hold up. We're gonna be crouching a bit for now."

"Oh, okay," said Jace. "So what are we working on now?"

"Just some more target practice," said Luna. "This time, I want you to be more comfortable with zooming in with your scope. There. Front green car."

Jace tapped the scope of his suppressed MSR-10, and looked at his surroundings. There were warm-colored trees around the White House, in both lawns. He looked past the trees and at the surrounding buildings. Some of the windows were missing. And inside one of the buildings, more than a hundred meters away, he saw a silhouette moving around a cracked window. It was limping around slowly before moving away from the cracked window and behind another window.

Jace gulped as he moved his sniper rifle downwards at an abandoned green car. He fired the rifle and saw the bullet fly forward then downwards. A small hole then appeared on a green car. Another green car a couple dozen meters back.

"Damn," said Jace.

"Mmm, that's okay," said Luna, stuffing another almond nut between her teeth. "Just fix your aim."

"How?"

"Here, look."

Luna grabbed Jace's arms and lowered the barrel of the sniper rifle so that it pointed slightly downwards, not even an inch lower. Luna then gripped Jace's left hand and placed it under the barrel.

"Zoom's comfortable, right?" asked Luna.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"Mhmm. Take a shot at it now."

Jace nodded and looked into his scope before pulling the trigger. The bullet hit another car, though it was closer to the green car.

"Nice," said Luna.

"What do you mean nice?" scoffed Jace. "I completely missed it!"

"But you're getting closer. Just keep practicing. No worries, dude. Sooner than later, you're gonna be safer and more comfortable shooting the dead. No need to fear them from a distance."

" _It's been two hours_ ," said George through the walkie-talkie on Luna's belt. " _No sign of them yet?_ "

With worried eyes and a developing frown, Luna looked at the long road that stretched out to Washington Circle Park. She reluctantly clicked her walkie-talkie.

"No. Nothing," she replied.

" _Alright. It's rescue time. Come down, Luna._ "

Luna and Jace headed back inside.

Guns clacked against each other. Switches were slid. Magazines were inserted. Hammers were cocked. Bags of ammunition were distributed.

Luna and Jace arrived downstairs at the entrance hall. Sam, holding her AR-15 and a Glock 42 on her holster, handed Luna her M110 as well as an M9. George cocked his shotgun and walked over to David.

"Your leg still feel bad?" asked George.

"It's good enough for me to come with you," replied David.

"We can't take the risk. Think you can go up on the roof, watch this place?"

David nodded. He walked to the stairs.

"Follow me, Jace," he said. "Let's put that sniper training of yours to use."

The search party walked out of the White House. It consisted of George, Sam, Luna, Hana, Becky, Bobby, and Preston. They walked along Pennsylvania Ave NW, inspecting their surroundings. They looked at every building, every store, behind every car, intersection, windows.

"Anyone want to outdo Lincoln and create a plan?" asked Bobby.

"For now, we just keep looking around this avenue," said George.

Looking around, Preston stumbled upon a stop sign with a map from a couple meters away. He walked up to it, glancing at the white semi truck with the painted arrow.

"Hey, guys! Look!" he called out.

The search party all gathered up in front of the map, except Hana. She stayed back and walked inside a corner store.

"They must've read this," said George. "It claims safe haven."

"But what is it, really?" asked Bobby.

Becky reached her hand out. She moved her fingers along the diagonal roads that met at the circled park.

"It makes an X," said Preston.

"It's a trap," said Becky. "How did Lori not see it?"

The black tinted window of the truck rolled down completely. The group quickly pointed their guns at the open window, finding a curly-haired Latino survivor in the driver's seat.

"I thought Lori didn't have anyone else in her group," said the survivor. "She fuckin' lied to us. Man, that shit makes me feel kinda good though."

"Who the fuck are you and where the hell is she?" asked George.

"They call me Guillermo. Worried about where she is? You're gonna see her soon. We're holding her. Keeping her breathing. Also, before you shoot me, just look at yourselves."

The search party looked at each member, finding lasers pointed at their chests. Then, they looked up at the roofs. There were other survivors, many of them holding G36's.

Guillermo opened the door, exiting the truck.

"The government ruined us, but they also left behind many things. Laser sights. Pretty damn cool."

Guillermo then grabbed a shovel from his truck.

"Are you going to kill us?" asked Bobby.

"Yeah," said Guillermo. "We're feeling hungry."

Two survivors hopped out from inside the trailer, holding the door up. Guillermo walked over to the stop sign and looked at the map, shaking his head while smiling.

"You guys are part of the X," said Luna, shivering softly.

"We created the X," said Guillermo. "Drop your weapons. Walk to the truck. Now."

"You know, we killed your people back in Baltimore," said George.

"Shut up, man. Just listen and go inside the fucking truck."

"We'll kill all of–"

"Hey, man, shut your mouth!"

"–you. We'll do it! You'll all die! You'll all–!"

Guillermo lifted his shovel and aimed it behind George's head. With one fell swoop, he hit him.

And he blacked out.

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 _ **Don't forget to leave a review if you have any thoughts to share! Follow and/or favorite the story if you enjoyed!**_

 _ **P.S. this is now officially the longest chapter I ever wrote so far. And thank you for the awesome review, Brizillaking1!**_


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